Caught in the vice grip
He told the Escort Ireland website that he had just spent a half hour with Diams in her apartment. This was on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in Dublin. The service cost him €100.
He was just one of dozens who reported back to the website about their times with Diams and the services she supplied. They all were very happy with the accuracy of the six photographs posted of her in lingerie and topless.
Diams’ profile advertised a prostitute who was Czech, aged 21, and willing to perform bisexual acts with her friend Jessica from Spain.
Thirty minutes with either woman cost as little as €80. This rose to €250 for an hour of activity away from their base in Dublin 2. They were available for various acts and for full day sessions if required.
One of the underlying trends in most of the reviews given for Diams, in the latter half of last year and the first half of this year, was that this prostitute really enjoyed what she was doing.
ROMANIAN prosecutors believe Diams’ real name was Lazar Elena Daniela. She turned 24 in May. And was the daughter of Danut and Florentina who lived in the Romania village of Malu Florii.
The friend she spoke about is understood to be from the same locality and her real name is Dina Ioana Bianca, who celebrated her 21st birthday in July.
Both women grew up near the Romanian town of Targoviste, where a deadly criminal gang has its epicentre.
In recent years this gang, nicknamed Ghenosu after its leader, grew more and more powerful in the area by threatening officials and demanding protection taxes from those who crossed its path.
But Romania was not lucrative enough and this group, notorious for the level of violence it has been willing to use, turned its attention to Ireland to capitalise on the appetite for sex on sale. This followed similar expansions to southern Europe in the late 1990s.
As far as its Irish arm was concerned, in a short space of time it began raking in extraordinary sums.
In the first three months of this year Dina Ioana Bianca told gardaí they made between €25,000 and €30,000. During another spell in Dublin last year, she made up to €80,000 selling her body. But these were not the only sources of revenue.
Lazar Elena Daniela and Dina Ioana Bianca are accused of being among dozens of women who became implicated with this group but were not trafficked. Others were trafficked but those who were not now face jail because of their actions.
The case against the gang developed following an investigation by the Romanian organised crime inspectorate who worked with the gardaí to sensationally break up the Ghenosu vice operation.
As a result, Lazar Elena Daniela, Dina Ioana Bianca and six other prostitutes, will stand in the dock along with the mob bosses accused of sending women to Ireland as part of a ruthlessly efficient sex and human trafficking operation.
The Irish Examiner has secured a translation of the extensive and detailed prosecution case.
In this the women, and others facing trial in Romania, were said to be answerable to one man who controlled their movements and their business with an obsessive degree of micro management.
This man is Ghinea Florin Nicolae. Born on December 1, 1974, in the town of Targoviste, he had already been locked up in France for his role in human trafficking through Nice 10 years ago.
He was repatriated to Romania where he was released early and returned to live at his mother’s villa. Last October, he was re-arrested, on separate charges, after which he is said to have brazenly continued to pull the strings, issue threats and monitor the cash flow emerging from his Irish-based vice ring.
While in prison, he delegated the policing of his gang to his cousin, Naecscu Eugen Flori. He made it quite clear that he would not tolerate dissent.
“You cannot argue. If you argue with Eugen, you argue with me too,” he told one member as he grew increasingly suspicious of mutiny within the group.
Ghinea Florin Nicolae was described as being “constantly preoccupied” with ensuring his associates did the specific jobs they were charged with. Each man and woman had a task and they were only involved in crimes if their skills or specialities were required.
Evidence suggests he received daily reports from prostitutes and gang members about the money being made and any developments in the operation.
According to prosecutors, Ghinea Florin Nicolae used the “substantial profits” from the Irish business to look after those who worked for him to ensure his position was not threatened. It has also contributed to a lack of support from within the group as the prosecution sought to build a case in recent months.
“The money obtained from the practicing of these sexual relations were split between the group members, including the young women practicing prostitution, thus ensuring the elimination of the possible reasons of discontent and consequently an uncooperative attitude towards the investigation bodies,” the indictment said.
Wire taps, which have been produced by prosecutors, have also revealed Ghinea Florin Nicolae’s increasing frustration, while imprisoned, with the conduct of his associates.
“If I were out I would have destroyed everybody, I swear it on my family… I swear on my grandparents and my mother, I would have destroyed everybody. I would have beaten everybody up. I do not care about anything.
“I would… I would have shown them what they have never seen before. Maybe that’s why God had put me in prison,” he told one man during a spell in November. At this stage, there were numerous recordings suggesting acts of revenge and extortion.
The gang specialised in roughing up people who lived around the region they were based.
It created such notoriety that people in the region, including those charged with imposing the law, bowed to the gangster’s influence.
This was underscored by You Tube footage circulated of the leader, Ghinea Florin Nicolae, beating somebody up in broad daylight as a show of strength.
“The extremely violent nature of the accused Ghinea Florin Nicolae, by which he managed to frighten the inhabitants of Targoviste municipality also resulted from a video posted on the internet, in which the accused aggresses a person in a public place, in the street, hitting and spitting on the person several times and asking such person to tell him who the ‘Dodger’ in town was, and such person answers ‘you are, Ghenosu’.
“Such images were reproduced and broadcast by the national and international television channels, with a negative echo among the public opinion,” said documents prepared for the criminal court.
THIS local domination was underpinned and funded by crimes suspected of taking place in Ireland.
In 2008, the Ghenosu gang spotted a niche. Ireland was identified as an attractive destination because of the opportunities for prostitution and the profits that could be made in such an economically developed country.
They also like the appeal of the Escort Ireland website and considered replicating the prostitution portal in the major Italian market.
But in this country, despite arriving after the boom had turned to bust, the group was still able to raise extraordinary amounts of money.
These sums were smuggled back to Romania through a variety of channels and often in the possession of one nominated middle-man.
“[The gang] started to place young women in Ireland in different locations, especially in Dublin and Galway, providing them with accommodation and promoting their images on specialised websites such as www.escort-ireland.com, a site belonging to the company E-Designers Ltd registered in Great Britain.
“They created personal profiles, including photos, presenting the [women] in outfits, in positions with sexual connotation, their contact numbers, tariffs perceived in exchange for their services, as well as the locations at which they could be found,” prosecutors said.
The nominated middle man and agent in Ireland was, Mierloiu Petre, aka Samurai, according to the indictment.
He was the person who scouted here for locations to establish brothels. Once in Ireland, this man is accused of sourcing the advertising on Escort Ireland website and setting up photographs for the women’s online profiles.
Police believe that he usually collected money earned by the prostitutes and trafficked women directly. When he could, he carried the loot back to Romania with him.
But there has also been evidence of money being routed back to gang members through transfer companies such as Western Union.
Intercepted communications indicated prostitutes, and their friends, communicated directly with Mierloiu Petre to keep him up to date.
Text messages produced for the court show daily updates on relatively small amounts of money which were transferred to Romanian accounts he controlled.
Prosecutors say that he passed this money directly to Ghinea Florin Nicolae or his right hand man.
Prison boss
LAZAR ELENA DANIELA’S story is very similar to others included in the lengthy prosecution documents presented to the Romanian courts.
Translated for the Irish Examiner, these documents show the contradicting statements she gave to explain her time in Dublin.
In one section, it reproduced the content of a statement she gave to gardaí in Whitehall station.
“I started to advertise myself on Escort Ireland, the name I am using is Diams. The first photo I used on Escort Ireland was a simple photo, I took it from my mobile, but when I went back to Romania, I took some professional photos.
“I pay Escort Ireland.com €100 per week or €250 per month for advertising. My tariff is €80 for a half hour and €180 for one hour. I get this money from clients for sexual services.
“I have a few regular clients. I keep some money for me here and send the rest of the money home to my mother, through Western Union, the name to which I send is my mother’s name Florentina Lazar,” she said.
Lazar Elena Daniela accepted, in her statement to gardaí at Whitehall, that the phone number she used on the Escort Ireland website was 087-1525059. It is now no longer in use but the same number did show up during police taps of Ghinea Florin Nicolae’s network back in Romania.
This number also appeared in direct interceptions from Ghinea Florin Nicolae’s cell, these were obtained under a warrant.
In one instance prosecutors recorded Ghinea Florin Nicolae telling Lazar Elena Daniela to take care sending money back to Romania — using the code words “luggage” and “clothes”.
“Send me what clothes you have left there, this week,” she was told.
However, when she was arrested by Romanian police following her return home in April, Lazar Elena Daniela denied ever having worked in the sex trade.
She said the lived alone at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and paid €700-a-month in rent. She worked as a bartender, she said, and danced occasionally for up to €500-a-week.
The reason she was seen on Escort Ireland, she said, was that she tried it out for a couple of weeks without anybody else’s involvement but it did not suit her.
Romanian organised crime investigators have said her statements are contradictory and have asked the courts to convict her.
They have used the multitude of reviews posted on the Escort Ireland website as evidence of her actions in Ireland.
These men are named in court papers as Ragamuffinman77, Pussyman, Hotmale4f and Bigcock4u. Ragamuffinman was one of the few discontented customers because of the quality and duration of the oral sex he paid for.
This coaxed Lazar Elena Daniela into a response and she posted a reply to explain herself and the “inadequate behaviour” of the client.
According to wire taps from this time, she was one of eight women who worked as prostitutes in Ireland and relayed back information on the business to the group.
She warned Ghinea Florin Nicolae through coded text messages that gardaí had called and were inquiring about the fake references they had supplied. And, according to prosecutors, she dutifully ensured the money made its way back to the gang for distribution even when the middle man did not come knocking.
“Analysing the information transmitted following our request of Western Union representatives, we found that the accused [Lazar Elena Daniela] constantly sent considerable amounts to members of the organised crime group, amounts additional to the ones collected by Mierloiu Petre,” prosecutors said.
But while they were doing that, the punters in Dublin were shouting to others who paid for sex as to why they should call to Lazar Elena Daniela’s apartment. In doing so, they were selling opportunities to line the pockets of these Romanian gangsters.
“I’ve found my new Playboy bunny, great value .... Lads, what are you expecting for 80 yoyos. Couple of reviews gone in for Diams , this time was unrushed / relaxing & ‘Diams’ good,” reported scankman, who has reviewed 87 other occasions when he spent time with escorts.
As far as this gang was concerned all these were monitored. And the women working as prostitutes were under strict instructions. They were to document everything — each payment, each session, each act they engaged in.
This was all to be logged and squirrelled away until the gang’s man in Ireland, Mierloiu Petre, came knocking and collected the profits.
The same women would then wipe the slate clean, bin all their records and gather up what they earned for the next visit.
Even from his prison cell, Ghinea Florin Nicolae was uncompromising in his orders to the women and how they should manage their earnings.
In the first week of February, Ghinea Nicolae Florin was incarcerated in the Rahova jail.
Yet he still received 18 messages from women working in Ireland. He told them once the profit was handed over they went back to step one to ensure there was no trail of evidence.
“Ok, now we start again. Look, take this, bang, bang, bang. Every time you send it you destroy the papers,” one intercepted message said.
UNLESS you were in the business of paying for sex you would probably have little idea of how lucrative this Irish business was.
Nor would you have any inkling of the crimes which are suspected of being associated with the local vice trade.
The chain of command in Ghenosu was meticulously established to protect those at the top and allow for any evidence to be buried along with way.
The group was relatively small but had a lot of members pass through it down through the years.
It was strictly hierarchical. Some of the older members were dedicated almost exclusively to the prostitution and trafficking racket.
But new members were ordered to fulfil blackmailing, extortion and computer fraud.
Those involved lived in fear of the organisation.
According to the indictment, when the gang turned against people, its retribution was relentless.
“The characteristic of the activity of this criminal group is the use of sometimes extreme violence meant to generate fear on a large scale and thus to annihilate any form of resistance from the victims or potential victims.
“The behaviour allowed the members of the organised criminal group to obtain great amounts of money by blackmail, the methods used to force the victims to pay ‘protection taxes’ and alleged interest attached to real or fictitious loans was extremely violent,” Romanian courts have been told.
Some of those who have been blackmailed by group members have come forward to give statements and these have been summarised when the prosecution outlined its case at the end of August.
This revealed a group which left people in fear of their lives because of debts arbitrarily arrived and obligations they placed on people who crossed their path. Ghinea Florin Nicolae even travelled to Ireland to exert his influence and impose his will.
The following statement indicates how this mob boss is suspected of acting on the streets of Dublin.
“Since 2009, Ghenosu through various intermediaries, even friends of mine… told me that I had to pay him €50,000. I did not know the reason why Ghenosu asked me to pay him €50,000, but I understood that I allegedly disturbed one of his godsons.
“In the summer of 2010, while I was in Dublin, Ireland, with my girlfriend, [Ghinea Florin Nicolae] ‘Ghenosu’, accompanied by [another gang member] approached me. The meeting took place in the street and I asked ‘Ghenosu’ why he was asking for the amount of €50,000.
“He became irascible, aggressive and tried to punch me in the face but I avoided him. ‘Ghenosu’ threatened that his men in Romania would capture me or my friends and slash me and I would beg him not to kill me so that I do not suffer anymore.”
This was from a section of the man’s statement given to Romanian police.
Another victim of the blackmail racket told how he was ordered to pay protection taxes and was given little option but to cough up.
“At the beginning of 2010, on January 7, while I was in front of the Turkish Cafe in Targoviste, I was blocked with the car by Ghinea Florin Nicolae, aka Ghenosu, accompanied by Neacu Eugen Florin, aka Eugen Sarbu and [another man].
“Ghenosu got out of the car, swore at me and started to punch me, reproaching me that I had not made the payment, and requesting the money from another two friends of mine, [one man owed] — €50,000 and [another owed] — €20,000.
“Even if I could oppose Ghenosu’s violent actions, I did not do it, being afraid of the fact that Eugen Sarbu or Leonard would use firearms against me, knowing that they were carrying weapons.
“Then the discussion ended, Ghenosu continuing to threat to shoot my friends to death and then I left. Shortly after I left, I called Eugen Sarbu and asked him what they had against me and he told me that if my friends refused to make the payment, I had to pay the godfather, referring to Ghenosu, the whole amount of €70,000,” the victim, who is listed as a witness on behalf of the prosecution, said.
In another case a man who had been involved in trafficking to France with Ghinea Florin Nicolae had his execution ordered by his former associate.
This edict was made in Malaga while the group was in Spain for business. When he decided on the execution order, Ghinea Florin Nicolae is said to have sliced his palm with a knife and got one of his lieutenants to kneel down before him and drink the blood.
This was followed by a promise to kill the man who is now a protected witness.
THE reason those living in the town of Targoviste went along with the whims of the vice boss was obvious and driven by fear for themselves and their loved ones. “They threatened to beat me up or take my car and being afraid I started crying, but they did not understand that I could not get the money and told me to rob, to steal, do whatever I could, because if I did not give them the money the situation would have a bad ending,” another victim told police.
The fate of the Ghenosu gang and its leader, Ghinea Florin Nicolae, is now before the courts.
Romanian police busted the gang in a high-profile series of raids in spring.
They had been working with the gardaí to build up evidence on the Irish operation.
The ring leaders and eight prostitutes are in custody and have had the prosecution’s case presented to the courts.
They are charged with various offences from trafficking, organising prostitution, blackmail, kidnapping and extortion.
Regardless of the result of this case, the evidence already presented has shown the ease at which criminal operations can target black market businesses in Ireland and evade detection in this country.
Meanwhile, criminals that evoke intense fear and notoriety in their own country can walk with relative anonymity and impunity along our streets while their bank balances are inflated with money from Irish customers.
In its presentation, the Romanian prosecutors warned others that the criminals it is used to dealing with are now as likely to turn up in Ireland as in their home villages.
“Once perceived as a local threat, organised crime has turned into an international and extremely alarming phenomenon due to its consequences.
“Organised crime is not a new phenomenon. What is new is its fast propagation rhythm, the proportion of the networks supporting it or the ease with which they elude the law. Organised crime groups are more and more sophisticated and mobile,” they said.
They also warned that while international policing cooperation has got more sophisticated so have the criminals working to evade them.
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