by Rebecca Kade
Finally, I thought, somebody is acknowledging what I had been doing for them. I looked at Linehan and thought, Maybe I can trust him.
R: I’m going to tell him that I’m going to tell the whole world about him. What he wanted. What he had done. I’ll tell him, “You will be so embarrassed in front of your family and friends. If I’m going down, you’re going down.”
Linehan: You have to talk about the kid. Be very specific.
DA Staffer No. 2: You have the main points about the kid. But if you start off easy, you go that way. If he resists—“I don’t wanna talk to you”—then you go that way. “You know what, [Edward]?” You say his name. “This is what’s going to happen. You’re throwing me under the bus, I’m going to throw you under the bus. I could get arrested here.” He has a lot to lose in terms of his status. There are people out there who are criminals who get arrested all the time. They live in that world. But people like [Edward], his world is really finance. He’s got investors.
R [role-playing]: “Once [your clients] hear about your fetishes, and your interest in little boys, you’re finished. They are not going to want you to touch their money. And people in jail do not like pedophiles. People are going to rape you in jail.”
[Staffers freak out.]
DA Staffer No. 1: Whoa! I don’t think you have to ratchet it up like that!
R: Our sessions were a million times worse than that. His sessions are . . . put it this way . . . for a week afterwards I would be locked in my apartment, recovering. He is a very sick man.
[Pause.]
Linehan: Why did you do it?
R: Money. Because he paid so well. Why do you think? He’s got a trust fund. Besides all the money he makes, he has family money. I’ve got to go back to being that girl.
Linehan: If it gets to that point, go off on him, then. But that’s your fallback position. You’re never going to have another chance again.
DA Staffer No. 2: What happens if you meet him outside of work and he wants to meet you another day?
R: He’s not going to be seen with me in public.
DA Staffer No. 2: You have to say “I have to meet with you right now.”
R [role-playing]: “We can go to your office.”
Linehan: How far does the transmitter go?
Techie: We don’t have the luxury of testing. I don’t know how high his office is. I’d like to put a recorder in also, just in case. If he goes in a place where the walls are too thick.
It was becoming obvious that they all realized what I had known about my involvement in any operation I had done for them. They were worried they could not get to me or hear me because the walls may be too thick for the transmitters to work through. They were worried that they couldn’t get to me quickly enough. For the first time, they realized what kind of situation they were putting me in and acknowledging it. I tried to convince myself it would be safe. I even tried to convince them.
R: He won’t go into a bar. I’ll be safe in his office.
Linehan: Will you be safe in his office? You’re about to put him in a position where his whole world is in jeopardy. Have you known him to panic? In terms of being aggressive.
R: Never with me. I’m the one in control.
DA Staffer No. 2: That’s a different scenario. Back into the office?
R: It’s a location that’s safe.
DA Staffer No. 1: What about his apartment?
Linehan: He’s not gonna take her to his apartment.
Female ADA: What if you walked up to the park?
Linehan: That’s not a bad idea.
DA Staffer No. 1: What about the Warwick?
DA Staffer No. 2: As soon as you text us the room number, we’ll have an undercover out in the hallway.
DA Staffer No. 1: He’s not going to want to have this conversation in a public place; he’s not going into a bar; it’s got to be in his office or at the Warwick.
DA Staffer No. 2: Say “They want to see me at the DA’s office tomorrow.”
R: Is it possible that Anna has reached out to [him], you know, that “if anybody tries to talk to you they could be an informant”?
Linehan: Yes, it’s possible. But you have to let him know that the DA knows about the kid, like [role-playing]: “I don’t know whether Anna told them, or whether they have the kid, or what.”
R: I’ve gotta make it that he can’t trust Anna. I have to convey that to him.
DA Staffer No. 1 [role-playing]: “Obviously, if you read the papers, you can see that Anna doesn’t care. She’s putting everything out in the media.”
DA Staffer No. 2: You have to dirty her up. You have to point out that she’s reveling in the media attention and that you and he aren’t like that.
Female ADA: If he says, “Oh, they’ll never find [the kid],” that’s tacit acknowledgment.
DA Staffer No 2: We’ll write out bullet points for you.
R: What if he has a meeting or something? Or a dinner?
Linehan: There is nothing so important that he’d have to go to that he wouldn’t want to stop you from going to the media with the story that he got a blowjob from an eleven-year-old. I don’t care if he’s meeting with the mayor.
They wanted me to do it immediately. Edward traveled around the world a lot, and their surveillance showed that he had been working late nights at his office lately. They wanted me to do it within two days.
I was taken near his office in the surveillance van with several techies and detectives inside. They dropped me off about a block away, and I walked up to the dark glass skyscraper that was the headquarters for his company. I sat down on a bench in their public plaza and positioned myself to watch the banks of glass doors in the lobby. I waited there for hours. I was beginning to despair that he had flown off to some European capital. To make matters worse, it began to drizzle lightly. I stood under the cantilevered eaves of the building and called the lead detective; he said he didn’t want me getting drenched. Just as he said to me, “OK, we’ll pull the job for today,” Edward appeared in the doorway with another man, exited, and turned right.
I walked at a quick pace to catch up to him, my heart racing.
R: [Edward], I have to talk to you!
Edward: I’m sorry, I don’t believe I know you.
R: I apologize for interrupting you with your associate, but may I please have a private moment with you?
He looked frustrated and nervous, but his eyes gave it away. Without a doubt, he knew who I was. Although I was fully clothed and not in one of the many role-playing outfits he required in our past sessions, he couldn’t miss me. He may have been in charge in his office, but he begged for me to be in charge of him outside of it. The real Rebecca is not that person. I am not a dominatrix. But I knew I would have to reclaim this role here and now to get him to listen to me.
Edward: How can I help you? I am sorry, but I honestly do not recognize you. [He was still trying to squirm away.]
R: You absolutely without a doubt know who I am. You don’t fly me to Tokyo and spend tens of thousands of dollars on ridiculous sexual toys and beg for me to beat your p—
He stopped me. He reached for my arm as if to ask in a silent way for me to be quiet. He whipped his head around over to the man he had walked out of the building with to see if he had heard anything I had just said. He continued in a hushed voice.
Edward: What do you want? Money? Is that it? Are you here for money? You want me to write a check?
This man truly thought he could buy his way out of anything. He wasn’t a regular client who asked for regular things. It was the main reason why he paid so much money for our time together.
R: NO! I don’t want your money. Stop pretending you don’t know me! Tell me you know who I am! Do not deny you don’t know me as your domineering Ashley through Anna. Don’t do that, or I will expose you to your work associates. I will tell the paper about you. I have people pressuring me because of you and us, and if you and I don’t talk and help one another, I will save my
self at your expense.
Edward: OK! I remember you. But what do you want? If you don’t want money, why are you here?
He was defeated. He flashed me a look that I recognized from our sessions, the expression that told me, You win and I am just a sad man who can’t do anything. I am powerless.
I was back in charge. And going in for what I came for.
R: Listen, you know very well why I’m here. The district attorney called me in, and they know about you and the boy. I didn’t tell them anything or even affirm I knew what they were talking about. I merely sat there and listened and eventually asked if they were finished talking and asked if I was being charged with anything. They said they would be in touch very soon, and then they let me leave. So, here is what I am thinking. I am coming to you because there are only three people that know about this: me, you, and Anna. I know I didn’t say anything about it to them, so it’s either you or her that has screwed me over.
Edward: Hold on for a minute . . .
He walked over to his associate with the umbrella and said something to him, and then the man looked at me with a glare before he walked away. My target came back in a rush, looking a bit flustered this time, and stared at me dead in the eyes.
Edward: So, again, what is it that you want?
That is all he would keep asking for a while. I think he was in shock. Finally, he got smart. He looked me dead in the eyes.
Edward [looking me dead in the eyes]: Are you wired?
R: NO! And how do I know you aren’t? Let’s go somewhere so we can talk about this and figure out a plan of how to deal with the DA or lawyers or Anna. . . . I don’t know and I will in good faith strip down and show you I am not wired!
It was my last move to show him that I was straight up on my own, and it worked. He calmed down instantly.
Edward: No, that’s OK. No need for that. But look, the DA has not contacted me. I am not involved. So I think you should find yourself a good lawyer and deal with this.
R: Are you kidding me? They are coming for you! They knew everything, and they weren’t getting it from me! All I can think of is Anna is sitting there in jail trying to make deals at our expense, and you and I are both going down. Look, you don’t know this because I never told you, but I am a mom, and I am not going to jail and losing my child over something stupid you did. You and I need to work together on this. If we help each other out, we can make this go away. You have a lot of money. I don’t. And NO, I do not want your money, but you can afford good attorneys. That is what you can help us both out with. An attorney can help figure out a way for you to deal with the DA when they come to you and charge you with some illegal sexual conduct with a kid.
Edward: Hey, look, they haven’t come to me yet. Maybe they never will. I’ll take my chances.
He started to walk away. I just looked at him and started shaking my head in disbelief. He looked back and said:
Edward: What? What’s the problem?
R: Really? You are going to walk away from me? I come to you with crucial information that the freaking DA is coming for you and wants to take you down, and you say you are going to take your chances? Fine! I am not helping you! I am going to tell them everything, and you are going down. Go home. Kiss your family and tell them good-bye, because you don’t have to worry about your chances. I can guarantee you that I will throw you under the bus to save myself. Whatever they want, I am going to give them! I don’t care. I asked for your help, not money, and you treat me like trash. I am not the help. I asked to team up and keep one another out of trouble because you could not keep your hands off a child and who knows how many others. You make me sick. You make me want to throw up! I am going to do whatever it takes to keep predators like you off the street! I didn’t do this job to make money so I could buy clothes and shoes and drugs. I needed it to save my family and put myself through school. I am not perfect, but I am not a monster like you! [He looked stunned.] So, run off to your meeting or dinner. Obviously making more money is more important than covering up your secret love for little boys giving you blowjobs!
Edward: Stop it! [He was breaking.]
R: No, you stop! The papers are going to love you, and, better yet, prison will definitely love you!
Edward rushed ahead towards a chauffered town car, face reddening and jaw tight. The driver jumped out and opened the door.
Edward shouted back at me, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Have a good night.”
He had obviously been expecting this ever since Anna’s arrest. The conversation wasn’t enough. I didn’t pull the job off. We would have to get him some other way.
TWENTY-TWO
the madam goes free
Since Anna had gotten out of jail late on the night of June 26, she had been lying low on her spread, albeit while wearing a clunky electronic ankle monitor. Three days after Anna was sprung, Jaynie Mae made a solo appearance in court, where Judge Merchan told her that she and Anna would be tried together. Jaynie Mae’s lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, didn’t argue, saying he was fine with fighting the indictment in a team effort with Anna’s lawyer, whoever that would be.
But then, on July 24, Anna got a clue that something was up with her co-defendant. Gottlieb filed a motion to get Jaynie Mae’s case dismissed with the brilliant argument that, since the undercover officer just watched Maz Bottone and Catherine DeVries have sex, a crime didn’t occur.
He told Judge Merchan that the secret video showed “the undercover officer meeting two other women at an apartment who eventually appear to engage in sexual contact with each other, but not with the undercover officer, which is confirmed by the video itself. The undercover officer apparently remains fully clothed, and merely observed the two women perform for him.
“If what occurred is considered prostitution, and what Ms. Baker allegedly ‘promoted,’ then every adult film director/producer and every owner of a strip club is guilty of promoting prostitution.”
(Note to self: If you ever get busted, call Robert Gottlieb.)
On August 14, just two days before Jaynie Mae and Anna were to sit side by side at the defense table, Jaynie Mae blindsided her.
“Hooker Booker Strikes a Deal,” trumpeted WPIX-TV.
“Jaynie Mae Baker has agreed to plead guilty to a violation,” reported Janon Fisher and Corky Siemaszko in the New York Daily News, adding that “it won’t leave a criminal record.”
Gottlieb wouldn’t tell reporters whether Jaynie Mae would take the stand to testify against Anna at trial in exchange for her get-out-of-jail-free card.
It was clear from comments made by Anna’s lawyer Norman Pattis that Jaynie Mae hadn’t even given Anna a heads-up call.
“I have every reason to believe we will be in court by ourselves on Thursday,” said Pattis. “I am unaware of anything Jaynie Mae Baker can say that would hurt Anna Gristina. If she wants to say things to help herself, we understand. We regret she won’t be sitting with us at the defense table.”
Anna then made a statement that surprised me. “She’s a good girl,” she told the New York Post. “She doesn’t deserve to be involved in this.”
Here, even as Anna was maintaining that she was innocent, that she didn’t run a prostitution ring, that her business was a matchmaking service, this statement seemed to be a tacit acknowledgment of her own guilt. In other words, Jaynie Mae was a “good girl”—but she was not.
Anna was the lone defendant in court August 16, but she wasn’t alone. Anna thought it wise to have her young husband, Kelvin, bring her teenage son, Stefano, and nine-year-old son, Nick. No doubt she thought it made her look like the beleaguered mom. But at what cost to the boys as they heard the proceedings?
Her college-aged daughter, Suzie, also showed up, along with the private eye Vinnie Parco and the two hulky bodyguards whom Kelvin always kept around him. Was Kelvin afraid some of our tougher clients might show up to have a word with him? They didn’t have to worry. Anna still wasn’t talking.
“It ain’t hap
pening,” her lawyer, Pattis, told reporters. “[Anna] is not cutting a deal. She is not cooperating. She is not interested in talking about the state’s suspicions.”
I had to wonder why Anna was being so stubborn. Did she fear more jail time? It was doubtful she would get the maximum seven years for a class-D felony, or even the four years that pimps sometimes got. Was she afraid of being deported back to Scotland? Or was she afraid of some of the clients?
But our clients had so much money, surely they could have rewarded her handsomely for her silence as they painlessly opened their wallets. If she went through the ordeal of a trial with her mouth shut, there were a lot of rich men out there who would be grateful. There was one in particular whom I truly felt she was counting on.
Kristin Davis didn’t name names in court, either, but she pleaded guilty and had to hand over $2 million in profits after doing four months’ time on Rikers. No, Kristin waited for the talk-show circuit to name names, including Eliot Spitzer and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. She admitted to “doing business” with ballplayer Alex Rodriguez.
Jaynie Mae and Jonas Gayer had flipped; so had Maz Bottone and Catherine DeVries. Not Anna. “We are going to trial,” Pattis said at the hearing, and Judge Merchan set her trial date for October 15.
But then the judge said something unbelievable. Charlie stood up and told Judge Merchan that at the trial he might endeavor to introduce witness testimony and wiretap evidence “about other incidents not covered in the indictment.”
Judge Merchan, perhaps annoyed at the prosecutors for their part in causing him to be reprimanded by the five-judge Appellate Division panel for setting Anna’s bail too high, snapped at Charlie.
“This is a very narrow issue!” he warned. “This is going to be a very short case. I’m not going to allow this to get out of hand.”
All the undercover work I had done and testified about in Judge Merchan’s chambers; all the testimony of other girls and confidential witnesses who had not been arrested; all that Jonas Gayer, Anna’s moneyman, had told the judge in his chambers—all of it was for nothing. All that was why Judge Merchan had set the bail so high—that, and because Anna was a flight risk. None of that was going to come out, because there was only one charge on the indictment. Why the hell did the prosecutors put me through so much if they weren’t going to wait to build a stronger case before they indicted Anna? Why did they get Maz and Catherine to agree to take the stand and testify about all they knew about the business?