gathered during routine health inspections like these actually play a key role in san francisco s ongoing efforts to stamp out human trafficking. we rescind and revoke permits and close places. we can build cases against bad places and eventually over time, suspend or revoke their massage establishment permanently. san francisco police. can you open the door, please. in 2010 our cameras were witness to one such closing. the notorious sunflower massage parlor at 450 b jones street in the city s tenderloin district. we are here to serve the order, indicating that your license has been revoked. this revocation came only after a hard fought six-year court battle. health department. and our documentary investigation that revealed sunflower to be little more than a brothel, hiding behind the facade of a massage parlor. this is a house of prostitution.
be tight for tomorrow s annual marathon. massachusetts governor says there will be a consider be considerably larger police presence. the bombing last year left 260 injured. back to msnbc undercover. san francisco police, can you open the door, please? in 2010 the city of san francisco finally succeeded in closing down sunflower. a notorious hot spot for prostitution, masquerading as a legitimate massage parlor. they were closed. the owner left. the owner of the building rented the facility to somebody else. we had a moratorium on that location. we re not going to issue massage permits there. all the potential human trafficking at that location. unable to get another city permit for a massage establishment, the new owners at
here? massage? spa? but donna isn t asking for help and so there is little more they can do for her tonight. you can translate for them. this is what i m going to tell you. at least for tonight, this establishment will be unable to skirt the laws of san francisco. yeah, in violations here. operating a massage establishment without a permit. unlicensed workers and operating after 10:00. relax. do you actually do massage here, not relaxation. is so-called comfort spa will be cited for illegal massage and closed for the evening. wait, wait. i have a ticket. just sign here. i have ticket. so after almost a decade of countless investigation hours and paperwork to stamp out the business of sex for sale at this
why was she here? she left already. we saw her already. no, no, no. they go looking for her stuff but we throw everything away. what s really weird, when she came out of the trapped door she said everything was fine. like, you know, i m not in trouble. i m in fine. i m here on my own volition. down here with my friend and having fun. it s like, this is not right. this is how you have fun in the basement of massage establishment? so there are no girls hiding down here? no, ma am. nobody. nobody hiding. nobody s having sex upstairs? new york city we don t. what are they doing? massage. need to have a job, working. now everything, no job working. everything business slowly. but why san francisco no more job. we have to move. i think everybody have to move to houston. work in houston. why would you have a trapped door?
the women freed in the federal raid testified that they never left the massage parlors. double-locked gates and elaborate security cameras monitoring their every move and conversation. walsh says there s no reason a legitimate massage establishment needs that kind of security. you re going to see these facilities that are built like ft. knox. you ll have like double iron gates. you ve got to be buzzered to get in. there s cameras also throughout the facility, usually a hidden camera at the point of sale where the john goes and pays his $60. there will be cameras up and down the hallway. there will be cameras at the back door. the last stop for the task force is a parlor on the brink of being shut down for repeatedly violating city laws and where the fbi recently searched but didn t find a woman who called claiming she was being held captive. the massage parlor denies employing trafficked women. come on out. health department. have a seat. have a seat. we ll be right back.