Comments on: Tragic Result

By: Natalia

Natalia — Sun, 04 May 2008 12:12:19 +0000

Speaking of Heidi Fleiss, she was working in California, her clients were in the entertainment industry, which is probably why she’s still alive today. Don’t mean to harp on a possible murder conspiracy too much – it’s just that I’m really upset by this. :(

By: Lab Lemming

Lab Lemming — Sun, 04 May 2008 11:51:10 +0000

From the NYTimes:

“Randall L. Tobias… resigned as a deputy secretary of state after acknowledging to ABC News that he had used Ms. Palfrey’s service for massages”

So that’s at least one fucker (john is such a euphemistic word) who didn’t make a clean break.

By: Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne — Sat, 03 May 2008 21:44:44 +0000

Also, a book deal would probably be off the table. It’s illegal to profit from a crime, and so any profits from the book would be seized by the government.

(A) "Son of Sam" laws are unconstitutional according to the Supreme Court, so there's not much that could be done. (B) Even if they were able to seize her profits, which victims of her crime will be recompensed for her making a profit off it? There is no provision for someone who committed a crime without a victim (the government doesn't count as a victim in a money laundering case) to have his/her profits taken away. (C) You might want to tell Heidi Fleiss that she wasn't allowed to write a book about her experiences as a prostitute and madam even though she was convicted on those charges, because she doesn't seem to know.

By: tenacitus

tenacitus — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:27:43 +0000

I really wish that she was not dead. I hate sex work, as a man I wish that the pimps and madams who pray on the prostitues were locked up. That being said I think that she got a very raw & injust deal. Why was she and her employees painted as such terrible people but the wealthy powerful johns get clean away?

I feel very bad for her and consider her to be a victim. I truly hope that justice will really be served.

By: Natalia

Natalia — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:27:57 +0000

I think people were just really angry with her. I think she let a lot of people “down” by getting caught (in their minds, obviously). A memoir would have had to insure public repentance (am not 100% sure she would have gone for that, but who the hell knows), but it would have also insured cash, and I can think people feeling very vengeful in that regard. She would never have to name names or incriminate anyone further (she would have been barred from that anyway), but she is clearly one of those “inconvenient” figures on the public landscape.

Even if it was a straight-up suicide, her death speaks volumes about the hypocrisy of our society.

It’s just awful.

By: Natalia

Natalia — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:07:21 +0000

There are definitely ways to profit personally when it comes to publishing tell-all memoirs, even if you were convicted of a felony. I think it all depends on having a brilliant editor.

By: D.C. Madam commits suicide, pigs sprout wings, and the aliens bring back Elvis « Natalia Antonova

Fri, 02 May 2008 18:03:01 +0000

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By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:36:19 +0000

Unless she was going to try and trade those names for the prosecution asking for a lesser sentence. Or was planning (or had written) a book naming names.

It might not be logical to kill someone because you’re afraid she’s going to name you as one of her clients, but murder is rarely based on logic.

Like I said, the system has done such a good job of covering up the names of the johns that it seems very unlikely that the prosecutors would give a lesser sentence in exchange for naming her clients. Also, a book deal would probably be off the table. It’s illegal to profit from a crime, and so any profits from the book would be seized by the government. All in all, given that the johns have been protected so well so far, there seems to have been very little reason for them to fear.

And actually, murder is usually very logical, if you assume a very low value placed on the victim’s life.

By: Natalia

Natalia — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:10:33 +0000

I’m glad to see I’m not the only one a tiiiiiny bit suspicious about this death. I’m sure she had a lot of enemies, knew a lot of secrets, and I’m also positive that practically any publisher would have taken her up on the offer of writing a tell-all book. Killing her before the trial would have immediately aroused suspicion, but this way, this death can be brushed aside.

Well, what else is new? The men go on with their lives and women pay the price for being “sluts.” It was true 500 years ago, and it’s true today.

By: Mnemosyne

Mnemosyne — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:00:41 +0000

The murder hypothesis, like Thomas said, is illogical just because the system does a good enough job hushing up the names of powerful johns.

Unless she was going to try and trade those names for the prosecution asking for a lesser sentence. Or was planning (or had written) a book naming names.

It might not be logical to kill someone because you’re afraid she’s going to name you as one of her clients, but murder is rarely based on logic.