In the 1980s in Toronto, Canada, unregulated sex work was rampant. Pimps were known to procure young, vulnerable girls in bars and offer them work in exchange for safety.
However, the promise of safety often turned to threats of violence against the girls and their families.
Police identified a suspected pimp named Tony Provo. Canadian police assigned young officer Carol Cooke to go undercover to investigate Provo.
Ex-cop Carol Cooke shares stories from her time as an undercover cop on the Crime Insiders podcast:
Cooke’s role was to pretend to be a teenager who wanted to start sex work. Cooke and her assigned partner started by making themselves known at a local bar and eventually, they were invited to sit down at Provo’s table.
“Tony Provo said to us, look, I know how I can get you some work. And we were like, well, tell us about it, you know. And he said, no, no, no, I just want to get to know you first.”
Once Cooke started gaining Provo’s trust, he started to tell them how they could make money by “working the streets”.
Cooke wore a wire under her shirt to record their conversations. Provo told the girls what they would have to wear, how to deal with other girls, and that he would take a small amount of money in return for his protection.
To make sure they had secured enough evidence to prosecute Provo, Cooke asked him: “We just have to know what exactly we have to do?“
“He says, I’m sure you’ve both had sex before? And of course we’re like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah… I decided that it was time we had to let our office know,” she said.
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