NYPD crackdown on seedy migrant ‘Market of Sweethearts' gets results — but sex workers still have tricks up sleeve

New York Post

24-06-2025

Cops have put a major dent in Queens' sleazy 'Market of Sweethearts' migrant sex-peddling strip, but officials admit there's more work to be done — given some illicit hookups are simply moving to nearby cars.
Police said Tuesday that crime is down 28% so far this year along Roosevelt Avenue — where an open-air sex market has become the symbol of migrant crime in the Big Apple — thanks to stepped-up efforts from the NYPD to crack down on the seedy strip.
Mayor Eric Adams said the enforcement effort — dubbed Operation Restore Roosevelt — along with the recent bust of members of the local 18th Street Gang that has a hand in the seedy operations has sent a message.
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5 City officials said stepped-up NYPD efforts have led to a 28% drop in crime along Queens' 'Market of Sweethearts.'
J.C. Rice
'At the heart of it, what we talked about over and over again, [was] the participation of violent illegal migrants in our city, and one of them was the 18th Street gang,' the mayor said. 'We zeroed in on them, and we were successful in taking them down with our federal partners.
'We are going to collaborate with our federal partners when it deals with criminal encounters,' Adams said. 'And we're using every tool possible, and the numbers speak for themselves. We have a 28% drop in crime along Roosevelt Avenue year-to-date.'
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But officials also acknowledged that some of the migrant sex trade has moved around the block, where women are now turning tricks inside parked cars to dodge New York's Finest.
'We didn't notice any activity until we got to around 90th street,' Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry said. 'But we have anticipated this.
5 How The Post told the story.
5 City officials acknowledge that a police crackdown on the migrant sex trade forced some of the seedy activity to simply relocate nearby.
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'We had tips coming in, and the tips were, when you guys are focusing on Roosevelt avenue, they are just going to go on the side blocks where the activity is just going to get pushed to the side blocks,' Daughtry said.
'The team was right on top of it. We anticipated that, and I just wanted to acknowledge what the commissioner was saying before and thank you to the commissioner for keeping her foot on the gas when it comes to Roosevelt Avenue.'
The bustling Queens strip had been turned into a virtual red-light district, with sex workers walking the avenue in broad daylight, while drugs and stolen goods were also peddled out in the open.
Since the start of the year, police reported 2,500 arrests, including nearly 400 tied to the sex trade, issued nearly 28,000 citations and confiscated 877 illegal scooters and mopeds on Roosevelt Avenue.
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Cops have also inspected more than 900 vendors and confiscated 94 dangerous propane tanks.
5 The NYPD said its crackdown on the seedy strip is working.
For the New York Post
5 The Roosevelt Avenue hot spot is plagued with issues.
For the New York Post
'For too long, Roosevelt Avenue was overwhelmed by illegal activity — from prostitution to unlicensed vendors to violent gangs operating in plain sight,' NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement.
'This isn't about quick fixes,' Tisch said. 'It's about long-term commitment, and the results speak for themselves.'
In the latest blow to the migrant thugs, federal prosecutors last week unsealed an indictment against eight members of the 18th Street Gang, an offshoot of the notorious '54 Tiny Locos' that was heavily involved in drug, gun and prostitution activity along Roosevelt Avenue.