Posted by David Sherman on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 13:01:17 :
In Reply to: Re: Where's "Magic valley"? posted by Tom @ Snake River on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 00:29:53 :
Actually, the FBI raid wasn't about prostitution, which is not illegal by federal law. It was about gambling. I'm not sure what triggered it, but they took all the gambling equipment they could find. There were of course rumors of what was about to happen, and many of the slot machines, craps tables, roulette wheels, etc are still around, but there's no commercial gambling any more. I wasn't here when it all happened (1988?), but I've heard that the cat houses were dwindling away anyway for various reasons. Still there seem to be lots of old guys with fond memories of the Oasis, the U&I, and the Lux and Luxette. I've heard the ladies gave an annual government-appreciation-day party once a year in which all the pillars of the community were welcome and all the services, including drinks, were gratis. The madams, of course, also gave generously to all the worthy causes including the schools. It's odd that such an island of "vice" could survive in the Mormon state of Idaho, but up until the silver crash, the Coeur d'Alene mines were the great source of revenue to the State budget, so apparently the Mormon farmers in the south were willing to overlook the drinking, drugging, gambling and whoring of the miners and loggers up north. Even now, Shoshone County seems to be pretty much wide open for vice so long as it's kept more or less out of sight. Everybody knows who grows dope or cooks meth, but the cops never bust them unless they get into other crimes like murder or excessive burglary. Gambling for serious stakes still goes on at "private" parties attended by respectable men and no one batts an eye at it. One teenager recently told me of a house he visited where the woman had a mattress laying on the floor, a pile of clean sheets on one side and a pile of dirty sheets on the other. He seemed to think the service he received was good, but at his age it was probably sufficient that the "service" consisted of a live female human. I think I was in there after she abandoned the place because although there were no sheets, there was a mattress on the floor and empty bottles of personal lube strewn all over.
I don't know who all took the rap, but it would be hard for the police chief to avoid it. That won't be a problem now because we no longer have a police chief. I do know a lot of people who were involved directly or indirectly kept their mouths shut well enough to limit the FBI's investigation.
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