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An expensive, ostentatious car lets everyone know that although prostitution is a seedy industry, there's always room for some class. Shiny chrome, powerful engine, some colored fur in there somewhere will raise it all above the riff-raff. Think about it. What kind of sex could possibly be procured from a pimp who drives a Geo?

But sometimes the gilded image can work against a pimp. When Montreal police sentenced Pierre Gagnon for running a prostitution ring last week, for instance, they hit him where it hurt the most. The $27,500 fine paled in comparison, as the Canadian government seized Gagnon's home, his two Jaguars and a 28-foot Bayliner boat.

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Gagnon was first arrested in 1998 for running his Sexxx Enr escort service, using classified ads in the Journal de Montreal newspaper. According to police, clients paid about $140 for the home-delivery service. A driver received $20, the prostitute got $70 and Gagnon pocketed the rest. Cost of doing business wasn't cheap. The classified ads ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was such a big client of the newspaper that the publisher even invited him to a golf tournament.

"His revenue was pretty impressive," the prosecuting attorney told the court.

Although his squadron of hookers and drivers brought in an estimated million in cash annually, Gagnon declared bankruptcy 10 years ago, and has insisted he has had no income since then. All paperwork for his home and cars was placed in the names of friends, because if you're flat broke and need to hide ownership of your Jaguar XJ6, that's what a friend is for, isn't it?

Gagnon's attorney assured the judge that his client has moved into another occupation, presumably one that will allow a man to commute to and from work using public transportation. Gagnon is truly his own start-up company now, because the Canadian government confiscated nearly everything he owned, adding up to several hundred thousand dollars. Every item in his house was seized, says the Montreal Gazette.

But Gagnon won't have to rebuild his life completely. In a rare moment of compassion, prosecutors allowed Gagnon to keep a handful of things, including two chandeliers and a window shade.
salon.com | March 27, 2000

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