In the shadow of the red light

A new book by Manfred Paulus

by Dr Barbara Hug

Roberto Scarpinato is  Chief Prosecutor of the Direzione Antimafia Distrettuale di Palermo. He is one of the most protected personalities worldwide. Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were his colleagues, murdered in 1992 by ignited explosives. Scarpinato warned Germany of the “Grant-Let”, of “Mafia Romance” and thus of the genuflection concerning organized crime. A democratic society is threatened by the scale of the Mafia Billions of dollars and the resulting influence on the economy, politics and government. Democracy – where is it going to disappear?
In his latest book Manfred Paulus speaks – after decades of own experience – about the crimes behind sparkling facades, the sex slavery, the red light district, the human trafficking of women and children and, coupled with this, the arms and drug trade. One medium does not exist without the other one. The “Goods woman” is exploited mercilessly, the business flourishes in rich Germany. Prostitution is always enforced, usually it is offered in because of poverty. As street prostitution is’nt to everyone’s liking and the suitors like to remain anonymous, the milieu is transferred to alleged accepted Spa Hotels, for example near the airports in rich Germany. Wellness, fine dining – nobody suspects that the graying men are looking for a dominatrix, a victim from the Balkans, which has to be of service, for one or two hours.
Paulus takes the reader into the past, as well as into the presence of his nocturnal police trips and experiences in the milieu of Ulm. It remains unknown how many young women he found dead or suffering by his task forces, However, the characterisation of the perpetrators, the profiteers and their brutality, gets under your skin. Organised crime (OC) always needs the social acceptance of their actions, which can not be hidden. As the OC tried to implant the acceptance of illegal drug use by skillful propagandist ways via the media and other channels, so the OC behaved in the range of the red light. Popular here is spreading the tale of voluntariness, which the poor young women from eastern Europe supposedly have, when they start prostitution business. Paulus unmasks this tale, based on conversations he had with young women. Even just by recruiting and smuggling of partially very young women a loop is going wrapped around their necks. If they want to get out, the loop often leads to immediate death. Everything voluntarily?
Especially now, when brothels are stomped from the ground  by Germany at the border to France, when Switzerland is overrun by suitors feeling threatened by larger financial penalties in France, right now this book is of an exceptional topicality. It  earns a wide readership.    •