Students on their way to classes in Queens may no longer have to run a gauntlet of prostitutes after authorities shut down a busy brothel in New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D) district – part of a neighborhood blight persistently ignored by the congresswoman, neighborhood advocates say.
The brothel, called the “bodega brothel” by locals, was operating on the second floor of a local convenience store just off Roosevelt Avenue. That particular stretch is known for prostitutes openly soliciting on sidewalks, say local leaders.
The brothel is also located across from two public elementary schools. Students and parents have been forced to walk past the sex workers outside the illegal operation on their way to and from class for months.
The New York Police Department shut the operation down this week.
A video taken inside shows several small makeshift rooms divided by panels and shower curtains, each holding a bed. NYPD removed the beds and padlocked the door.
“This place is clearly unsightly and unsanitary, and, quite frankly, disgusting,” Hiram Monserrate, a former Democrat state senator who organized four rallies to shutter the brothel, said.
He told Fox News Digital, “The shutting down of the ‘bodega brothel’ was long overdue, but it finally got done.”
Locals have been organizing and protesting since last year to try to clean up the rampant street prostitution and other illegal activities on Roosevelt Avenue. As Breitbart reported in October, they have received no help from Ocasio-Cortez, their congressional representative.
Ramses Frías, a local Republican city council candidate, said Ocasio-Cortez never attended any of the recent demonstrations either. “It took the people to come together and rally against this bodega brothel,” Frias told Fox Digital.
Ocasio-Cortez’s office told Fox it is not commenting on the closure.
The prostitution problem in the congresswoman’s district is partly the result of the massive influx of illegal aliens under the Biden administration, neighborhood advocates say.
Monserrate said many of the streetwalkers are working under the command of migrant gangs like Tren de Aragua. A majority are reportedly Venezuelan migrants.
Last fall Mayor Eric Adams launched “Operation Restore Roosevelt” to try to clean up the two-mile stretch of Roosevelt Avenue. The effort has apparently made some headway, with hundreds of arrests and a 37-percent drop in crime this year in the area.
But more needs to be done, Monseratte said. He has asked the FBI to get involved because of the drug trafficking, illegal gun sales, identity theft, and violent crimes in the area but has yet to receive a response.
