Home

Back to Essays

 



Sunday, May 27th, 2001

Porn Mafia

XXX writes: Wow Luke.....are you now after long island porn mob connections?..... Its so funny that you ran that item because I have some detailed info about whats been going down as of late on Long Island. NYC/LI.porn mob control stuff, distribution, retail, price fixing controls...and lots of west coast connections. There was a price fixing plan attempted in December of last year in New York City but it didn't work, so it didn't go into effect. This involved the entire adult retail business in New York City and like it or not, you had to go along. I believe that this price plan will still be going into effect soon.

The whole Steve Kaplan thing reeks of being little more than a game being played out for the delight of the spectators. A few things do not add up.

#1 Steve Kaplan was indicted on a 97 count federal offence including RICO. yet they did not seize his assets.

#2 The Gold Club continued to operate unhindered, despite the fact that one of the offences was operating a business enterprise solely for illegal purposes.

#3 When an attempt was made by the city to shut the Gold Club down and revoke the liquor licence a federal judge re-instated it.

These may seem minor but they are huge and they all point to one thing. Kaplan is "playing ball" with the feds, the rest is just window dressing.

The Prodigy and the Playmate

Benjamin Wallace writes about the adventures of stock market whiz kid Mark Yagalla in the June issue of Philadelphia magazine. It's a far bigger and grander tale than Wayne Wang's new movie Center of the World which is based on a similar premise.

Yagalla spent millions of dollars on whores including such Playboy Playmates as Tishara Lee Cousino (Playboy's Miss May 1999) and Sandy Bentley, the girlfriend of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner.

Yagalla graduated from high school with $125,000 in the bank. He day traded his net worth well above one million dollars and started taking on investors.

Never comfortable with women, Mark began purchasing prostitutes in high school (his first at a nursery convention in Chicago). He compulsively procured high priced escorts, bringing them with him on yachts and expensive vacations. Bored renting hookers, Yagalla made the rounds of New York strip clubs with $10,000 in his pocket. He burned through the strippers and turned to the internet in 1999 where he found NicisGirls.com. Nici pioneered internet escorting.

For $5000, folks like Yagalla could join Nici's "Millionaire's Club," a harem of porn stars, Playboy Playmates and Penthouse Pets.

Nici first set him up with a pin-up girl who came to his home and flew with him to Puerto Rico. The four day adventure cost him $28,000 plus airfare.

After that positive experience, Yagalla ordered two new Nici girls a week to his home in Wilmington, paying out $10,000 to $20,000 for their services. Soon Mark began flying regularly to Los Angeles to experience such as Nici specials as porn star Jenna Jameson (for reportedly $25,000 for two days).

Jenna Jameson told Luke that she does not escort.

Yagalla would page through issues of Playboy magazine and order the girls through Nici who had access to almost all Playmates.

Nici set Yagalla up with two Playmates of the Year as well as Tishara, who cost Mark $40,000 for the introductory weekend.

Mark bonded with Nici, the new Heidi Fleiss. They were both young, had grown up ordinary and then discovered certain lucrative skills. Both in their early 20s, they enjoyed talking about Nici's clients and how screwed up Nici's girls were.

Wallace writes: "On a Thursday afternoon that summer [1999], a chestnut-haired, gypsy-eyed, silicone-bosomed young woman named Tishara Lee Cousino...reclined on a gently rocking bed and looked expectantly at Mark Yagalla, whom she'd just met. They were in the Florida Keys, aboard a 125-foot yacht Yagalla had leased for the weekend. "Do you want to do anything with me?" she asked."

Yagalla felt put off by Cousino's bluntness. He wanted a more romantic liason. He said he only wanted her when she wanted him. He wanted her to join his program - where Mark would set her up with a car, a place to live, a credit card and an allowance in exchange for being at his beck-and-call.

Yagalla bought Tishara a black Mercedes SL 500 and a house for $450,000.

In August 1999, Tishara called him on a threeway phone call with fellow Playboy model Sandy Bentley. Sandy was half of the platinum-blond Bentley twins, who were regular girlfriends of Hefner.

On their way to a Cher concert at the MGM, the three stopped at Crazy Horse Too where Sandy used to strip. Sandy said she wished Mark would be her boyfriend too. "We'll be a happy family," Tishara said.

At the strip club, Yagalla balanced on Tishara on one knee and Sandy on the other. When the club's stripper wondered what his secret was, he replied, "I'm f---ing loaded."

The next morning Mark bought Sandy a Mercedes SL 500 for $97,000 and took them to lunch at the Venetian. He told the girls he'd give them each monthly allowances of $20,000 to $25,000 each. Tishara suggested they all get HIV tests.

Mark promised Sandy a house and she found a 6,700 square foot two-story Italian villa that cost $1.7 million.

Unlike Tishara, Sandy did not push to have the house put in her name. She even said was wanted to visit him in Delaware. Just one problem - she didn't want to fly commercial.

When Dempsey arrived in Philadelphia the next weekend, Yagalla picked her up in his red Ferrari. They went back to his home in Delaware and watched Pretty Woman on DVD.

Sandy told Mark that possessions meant nothing to her. Over the next few months, Yagalla gave her a red Ferrari FI355 Spyder, a Range Rover, a black Cadillac Escalade SUV, a pair of fur coats from Bloomingdale's, two Rolexes, a platinum-and-diamond bracelet from Fred Leighton in Vegas and $190,000 worth of jewelry from Venetzia in Vegas. Each time Mark gave her a new gift, Sandy would light up and and clap her hands with joy.

They made an odd couple. Mark stood 5'3 and flabby. He didn't smoke or drink or do drugs or even dance. Sandy was almost 5'9", with hair extensions and breast implants paid for by her pre-Hefner boyfriend, slain Vegas mabster Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein.

One night at the Mandalay Hotel in Vegas, after they'd had sex, Sandy wandered outside their room. Security eventually called Mark to say there was a naked woman outside his door. Sandy had gotten lost.

Sandy, who called herself "Princess," introduced Mark to her twin Mandy who liked to call herself "Superstar." The girls used gangster slang and called each other "nig."

Yagalla and Sandy talked about marriage and having kids. To mollify Tishara, Mark bought her a new house for $850,000. They never ended up having sex.

Mark got new investors from Florida madam Rita Johnson. Sandy undertook a $1.3 million renovation of her $1.7 million house.

Yagalla and Sandy took a vacation to Cancun with Sandy's friends - future Playboy Playmate Brande Roderick and Chicago Bears quarterback Cade McNown. Mandy and Sandy had to call Hefner every day to check in.

Hefner paid Sandy and Mandy $100,000 each - $80,000 more than the going rate - for their nude layout in the May 2000 issue of Playboy. In April 2000, the twins and Hefner appeared throughout the media, from The Daily Show to Late Night With Conan O'Brien.

Wallace writes: "Flanked by the twins in matching hot-pink cowboy hats, Hefner swaggeringly maintained the facade of a relationship, gushing about the power of Viagra. (The heterosexual icon, Sandy had told Yagalla, had trouble finding satisfaction through intercourse; instead, he liked the girls to pleasure each other while he masturbated and watched gay porn.)"

Late in the year 2000, Yagalla's financial empire crashed and the girls left him.

Nici from Nicisgirls.com kept emailing him until April, 2001, telling him about her latest hot girls. Finally Mark told her he wanted nothing more to do with her "harem of whores."

Meni69: Nici never booked Jenna
Meni69: Jenna doesn't hook
Meni69: why do you post that crap?

FearZeus writes: Lukey, I don't know who this character Benjamin Wallace is and where he gets his stories from.....but I can assure you that Jenna Jameson did not escort herself to Mark Yagella!!! Especially for a lousy $25,000 for two days!!!! Jenna would tell you herself but she is on vacation right now in Hawaii. When I went to visit her at her home I personally talked to her about this topic of porn stars escorting and how she felt abbout it. Let's just say she turned down an offer that would resemble the movie "Indecent Proposal".

Ray writes: I know that Jenna has escorted in the past for approximately $20,000 per evening. I'm not so sure if Nici has booked Jenna though.

Heather Barron writes: I'm probably the only one thinking this, but why doesn't Jenna escort? Porn is f---ing on film for money. Escorting is companionship for money. Wouldn't Jenna rather take 1 low profile gig for 1 million bucks basking in the sun with a rich entrepreneur in Rio than do 500 adult films over a period of 10 years?

Is porn for Jenna about putting away money so she can live well one day?
Is it about doing a volume of films?
Is it about ego?
Is it about being high profile to crossover?

Actually, I think Jenna would be a smart business woman if she'd take an accompaniment gig in lieu of or in addition to her current endeavors. If the strategy is to keep up the image that she's untouchable or can't be bought, then enough said. I think any porn star calling an escort site a "hooker site" should consider that adult film is actually artistic hooking with a lower tab in most cases. Legitimate modeling isn't hooking but it is making a living with one's body. Adult modeling (ie: playboy) isn't hooking. It is cleanly depicting erotic images. Adult modeling with intercourse (ie: hustler) is almost hooking since it is depicting erotic images more blatantly, thus selling the suggestion of sex. Adult film which includes the f---ing, sucking or licking of genitals is selling one's body for money. It is only "acting" if you are pretending to f---, suck or lick. Otherwise, it's real. Maybe it's method acting and I have this all wrong. I am liberal minded and don't judge anyone. I'm just not all that clear on Jenna's arrogant comment that appeared on this site "I am not on any hooker sites." That wording bothered me immensely. I would hope that Jenna would be the last person to judge what people chose to do with their lives and to label them. Choose your adjectives carefully or fans might think you are condescending.

How Big Is Porn? Numbers Wildly Inflated

Lawyer Dan Ackman writes for Forbes.com:

The idea that pornography is a $10 billion business is often credited to a study by Forrester Research. This figure gets repeated over and over. The only problem is that there is no such study. In 1998, Forrester did publish a report on the online "adult content" industry, which it pegged at $750 million to $1 billion in annual revenue. The $10 billion aggregate figure was unsourced and mentioned in passing.

According to Adult Video News (AVN), an industry trade magazine, Americans spent just over $4 billion to buy and rent adult videos last year. This figure is baseless and wildly inflated. From there, the numbers get even more obscure.

Does the adult video market have $4 billion in sales? Not even half that.

This figure comes from Adult Video News, an industry trade paper--not from Variety, the Hollywood trade paper, which [Frank] Rich cites. How Adult Video News gets this number is not clear. We asked Adult Video News' managing editor, Mike Ramone. "I don't know the exact methodology," he said, "It's a pie chart." Asked to break the figure down into sales versus rentals, a standard practice among those who cover the video industry, he said he didn't think it was available and suggested we call the editor-in-chief, who didn't return our calls.

In fact, there is no chance that the adult video business has revenues of even $2 billion. This hardly compares to the sales and rentals of legitimate videos, which were roughly $20 billion last year, both according to Adams Media Research and Variety. (Neither Adams nor Variety track porn sales.)

No one tracks the adult video business with any rigor or precision, Adams says. But his "most generous" estimate is that sales and rentals combined are no higher than $1.8 billion.

Is Porno A $10 Billion A Year Industry?

From my 1/18/01 archive:

In November, 2000, the New York Times published: "Spurred by changes in technology that make pornography easier to order into the home than pizza, and court decisions that offer broad legal protection, the business of selling sexual desire through images has become a $10 billion annual industry in the United States, according to Forrester Research of Cambridge, Mass., and the industry's own Securities and Exchange Commission filings."

I distrust these figures. I talked a month ago to a mainstream journalist (David Whelan of Inside.com) seeking confirmation of them. I told him to be very distrustful of the stats compiled by AVN and FCI (Flying Crocodile). He examined their stats, talked to their reps, and decided he did not trust their stats.

I felt proud that he did not buy the industry BS.

Luke: "Everyone else just accepts AVN stats as though they came from God. The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, etc just complain porn is a ten billion dollar industry."

David replies: "Though probably many stories get killed because editors don't trust the AVN, FCI stats...

"How big the industry is, is a fascinating story. I wonder where Martin Amis got his stats in the February issue of Talk magazine."

Luke: "I bet he just bought the report of the New York Times.

"Few people from the mainstream who write on the industry give a damn about getting it right. They just want an interesting and easy story. So they talk to the industry mouthpieces like AVN. And it helps their story if they can say porn is $10 billion rather than $2 billion.

"Eric Schlosser spouted all sorts of stats in his February 1997 cover story in US News & World Report. But his stats are highly dubious, though much repeated. Few if any mainstreamers approach porn industry stats with any seriousness."

David says: "There was a Forrester Research report in 1998 which estimated the annual intake of the industry at $10 billion but the guy (Mark Hardy) who made up the report is no longer there and Forrester does not stand behind the report. Hardy now runs an internet music startup.

"You ask Forrester about their methodology and they don't have a straight convincing answer."

David says: "I questioned the veracity of FCI stats as soon as I realized they were right in the middle of it and had their own agenda to spin."

Luke: "And that Andy Edmond comes from a background in promoting hallucinogenics, and posed naked with a bunch of guys at Burning Man does not bode well for his credibility.

"His naked willy flying in the breeze may not directly impinge on the veracity of his stats but...it doesn't help."

Whelan says: "AVN didn't seem that professional and with all the shennanigans they pull with the awards etc as detailed by you and Gene Ross.

"I've tried to track down reports from legitimate research companies but nobody covers the porn industry seriously."

Anthony Fiato Emails Luke A Message For Russell Hampshire, Walter Gernert

Anthony Fiato, a former mob enforcer turned government informant, and the author of the 1998 book 'The Animal In Hollywood,' emails Luke: "Hi Walter [Gernert], don't you think it was strange that Russ never wanted to prosecute Harvey Ross when he stole all those videos from your place?"

Sportsman's Lodge Sitdown

Many of the top mobsters on the West Coast, from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, had a sitdown a few years ago with leading pornographers at the Sportsman's Lodge in Studio City. This sitdown was secretly taped by the FBI, the Los Angeles Police Department's Organized Crime unit and the Orange County Organized Crime unit.

One porn guy leased a car for a CAPO.

FBI Operation Reveals Mob Control Of Porn

From Newsday.com:

Five prominent organized-crime figures have been convicted in a series of related cases that the FBI and federal prosecutors say show the mob controls the adult entertainment industry in Suffolk County [Long Island].

As part of a sting operation, the FBI helped run an adult video and entertainment center in Lake Ronkonkoma for two years. During the course of the sting operation at Cherry's Video at 1787 Lakeland Ave., the operators of that business and other similar ones nearby were approached and threatened by prominent members of the Gambino, Luchese and Bonanno organized-crime families, according to federal prosecutors Leonard Lato and Andrew Genser.

The mobsters from the various families, who are bickering over control of many of Suffolk's adult businesses, wanted either a piece of the businesses or up to $500 a week in protection money, according to testimony by FBI organized-crime specialist Greg Hagarty at a recent Central Islip trial involving the Cherry's Video sting. The businesses usually feature a variety of activities, including the sale of X-rated videos and magazines, topless dancers and lap dances.

When one of the operators of Cherry's complained that he should not have to pay for protection, an organized-crime enforcer, recorded on an FBI tape, told him: "Think of it like this. You gotta pay Lilco....You gotta pay your phone bill. You gotta pay your...rent...And you gotta pay us." At another time, as recorded by the FBI, when the Cherry's operator said he could go to the police for protection, he was told by a mob figure: "You could gear up that place with 28 guys every night, but you know what? One night they ain't there [laughing]. That'll be the night the guys roll up. You know what I mean."

As a result of the sting, five organized-crime figures, including two close associates of former Gambino family head John Gotti, either have been convicted at trial or pleaded guilty in interrelated cases at the federal district court in Central Islip.

Luke says: Even after AVN publisher Paul Fishbein reads this Newsday article he will still tell credulous news media like Frank Rich of the New York Times that he's never heard of mob involvement in porn.

I've publicly maintained since 1997 that the Mafia plays a significant role in the porn industry. Since then I've read numerous mainstream articles like last Sunday's New York Times Magazine article which accept the word of industry leaders like Fishbein that there isn't organized crime in porn.

But because I publish my own web site, and nobody can tell what to write, I can provide the details on the Mafia's extensive role in porn.

Porn shops and companies are regularly shaken down for protection money by the Mafia. Do you really think that the above porn shop is an exception? That it is the one porn shop in the United States that received threats from the Mafia?

Poeta writes: Uh, my dear Luke, Just because some "thumbreaker" attempts to shakedown a video store on the east coast does not prove anything other than just that. This is NO more than a simple case of attempted extortion. It does not prove "mafia" influence or control in the adult industry by any stretch of the imagination. That's like drawing a conclusion that the NFL is run by the mob because some "crime family" attempted to extract money from one the owners. Stop posting non-sequiters and calling them facts.

Ian writes: Hi Luke, Of course Paul Fishbein, and other porn luminaries, are going to disclaim knowledge of mafia involvement in their industry. One of the things that is good about your site is that you seem to publish the truth as you find it. You wouldn't feel good about yourself unless you did so. However, this admirable trait in a journalist seems likely to put you in harm's way. Perhaps you court martyrdom - it could well bring you posthumous respectability in the Jewish society to which you long to belong. However, none of this applies to Paul Fishbein, etc. He just wants a quiet life in order to pursue his money as best he can (I'm making an assumption, but a realistic one.) He doesn't owe you or your readers the truth, especially if it will potentially harm him. Very few people, indeed, yesterday or today, take much notice of Kant's 'categorical imperative' to tell the truth. And why should they?

MHJ writes: Hi Luke. You asked what I think of the Mob's role in porn? Well, I think your stuff is interesting; not altogether surprising but not really very disturbing, either. Frankly, I always have thought the Mob's role in porn was overstated and I still think so. Perhaps we'd have better quality and things would would be better run if the Mob actually WERE more prominent in the biz (LOL!). Now it sounds like the FBI is in the porn biz too! Based on my own observations, I don't think the Mafia's that huge in the adult entertainment business except in certain pockets of the country. Yeah, I'm sure they're there and, yeah, I've run into them from time to time but the Mafia isn't nearly as scary as the Feds. On the whole I have a lot more respect for the Mafia than the federal government and its myriad scary minions.

Dan writes Luke: You have a story of Mafia control of porno in Suffolk County. Duh. What doesn't the mob control in Suffolk County? Most of New York City is mob controlled.

Publicly Traded Porn Companies

MHJ writes: I did some checking and found that, indeed, Penthouse is NOT publicly traded. Metro's symbol is no longer MGMA but MGBL and is trading at about 90 cents a share on NASDAQ -- way less than its peak of $11 a few years ago when it made front page news in the WSJ (it was called South Pointe Enterprises then); later it was NASDAQ-listed as MGMA but was delisted in 1999 and then returned as MGBL, which it is listed as today.

You Don't Want To See Lisa Lipps

GirlsBestFriend writes on BigDoggie.net: you woulndt want to see her as she currently is belive me, i saw her at aphrodite's in south fla a little over a month ago and she was very heavy and did not look hot at all like in some films i own that feature her.

Nick55 writes: Do a search on the Vegas board...I do not think that you will like what you see.

Eddie Garcia writes: i've talked to her many times and she doesn't escort.the best thing she'll offer you is a private show.thats it.she is really into safe sex big time. thats why there's no reviews.

My Date With Chloe Vevrier

Iam writes on BigDoggie.net: Chloe Vivrier is an internationally famous Men's magazine model . She has appeared in hundreds of photo spreads and dozens of mostly soft core videos . Recently she appeared in two XXX videos . I've followed her career since she started and have a collection of her work . You see, Chloe is an all natural , very large breasted lady, beautiful, and in great shape . She exudes womanliness and health . She may be the most sought after "big-boobed" model in the world today. 'Score' and 'Voluptuous' have had her in their magazines , continuously since she started about nine years ago as a teenager.

Chloe has just started escorting through Nici Girls , (www.nicisgirls.com) who work with Adult Star Fantasy(www.adultstarfantasy.com) in arranging her schedule . Both agencies are very competent and very busy.

In my dream , when the door opened , there stood Chloe in the flesh . Her adorable smile and spectacular figure disarmed me , and a mature, experienced, accomplished gentleman became weak in the knees . In person , this angel of my dreams, was tender , caring , sensitive , interesting , highly intelligent( and educated , she is a degreed Dr. of Holistic Medicine), at the same time being beautiful, cute, seductive , and romantic . Treated tenderly and lovingly , she responded with a GFE that was awesome . I was captivated by her for the entire dream. Chloe is not tall ( my normal preference), being 5'3" , but this actually adds to her allure . Nature and good habits have combined petite with curvaceous/voluptuous . She has beautiful shaped legs with muscular , prominent calves , a flat abdomen , and the loveliest set of natural ta-tas I've ever experienced , in life or dreams . And, she is one of those even more unique ladies that loves to have them fondled, squeezed, kissed, and caressed , all with TLC .

Our time together was hypnotic for me , being a truly romantic experience . All regular exercises were tried with safety equipment employed . Chloe is all natural and doesn't use a razor . What a grand delight and change from most American models ( Chloe is German and resides in Berlin ). She is multilingual and loves to hear and speak the french language . Since I studied that language in high school and college , I was delighted to speak to her thusly, for an extended period . Such a mellifluous and delicious language . It was a true two way conversation for quite some time . Other languages were practiced with great feeling and virtuosity . It was a grand coming of two quintessential lovers. Afterward , we cuddled and talked some more , and laughed with each other.

My dream was coming to an end , but I wanted it to continue . I hope it will come again . Was the experience with Ms. Vevrier worth it (world class, all natural , angelic European models are very expensive ) ? Yes, it was a once in a lifetime meshing of spirits of two individuals with similar tastes and desires . A most blissful experience and a memory to be cherished to the end .

Logan LaBrent Update

Logan LaBrent writes: Luke how are ya? Thanks again for putting Mike and Metro in touch with me! I've just finished some films with them plus more next week. I've just received a huge project as well upcoming in the next few weeks. Will get back to ya regarding what it is when completed. Was a pleasure and lots of fun working with both Mike's and Metro. Love the company and atmosphere. Ron Jeremy is great and a sweetie as well! loganlabrent@earthlink.net (new)

Jeremy Steele's Starving Porn Star Fund

Jeremy Steele writes on his email list: Your Donations are Welcome to The Starving Porn Star Fund. Please send your spare checks, canned foods, old pornos, bathroom tissue, soap, books, vinyl albums, or anything else your willing to part with to: Jeremy P.O. Box 2732 Hollywood, Ca 90078 Save a Porn Star Today! All donations are tax deductable.

Jeremy Steele writes: Hey Luke, I'm sitting around on a Saturday afternoon, getting ready to watch The Devils in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and I caught Playboy Playmate Rebekka Armstrong on E! talking about how HIV has devistated her life and what not, so I thought, ok, put myself in harms way again and see if I might try to reach out and offer her alternative information to have a more balanced portfolio of information sources about a subject that has completely changed her life. I thought of trying rebekkaarmstrong.com and behold!, but still there is no means to contact her. I noticed she has publically spoken with Sharon Mitchell, about safe sex and health and this reminds me how, sadly their is absolutely no options about all sources of information on the subject. We supposedly care about people's health, but all lines of thinking are singular, thoughtless and fascist. Even Washington D.C. has two major parties of "thought" which are acknowledged, but science has only one: The Established Line. The only way to really know what is true is to look at all sides of the issue. Why is this not presented, or even available, if we supposedly really care about people's health? Let's look at all the information that's out there and THEN, decide what we each believe. If anyone is interested in links to other sources, email me at jeremysteelexx@hotmail.com

Hey Everyone. It's Captain Cumshot*, Jeremy Steele, star of over 150 xxx movies. I shoot a big load. See pics of me in action at this free site, and read some funny jokes too. I'm available for work, so please email me. I can fax my Adam Film World Guide 1998 pic/bio if you don't believe me. :>) (* Captain Cumshot is a registered trademark of Jeremy Steele) www.groups.yahoo.com/group/jeremysteelefanclub

What's Up With Gauge?

Ridley99 writes on RAME: can anybody give me the scoop on Guage. i hear she has left the bizness. i know she had a suitcase pimp who she worked with in 80% of her vids. my questions are: did she leave the suitcase pimp where is she from how many movies did she do did anybody meet her personally, what was she like. what was her first scene. what is she doing now she had to be the cutest girl i've ever seen do porn, big blue eyes, strawberry colored lips, perfect body with great tits. and a chemistry with the camera that was intrinsic. girls like Guage amaze me. a little girl who can handle situations like Double penetrations, 6 men blowbangs, rough throat f---ings, and basically working with the scum of the earth, men who see women as nothing more then walking pussies and asses, and some how she handled it. women may not be physically. as strong as men but they can sure take a lot more s---.

JustEd writes on BigDoggie.net: Next I ordered some films she was in, saw her in action, and decided to call ASF to make it a reality. To my surprise Mike, ASF's absentee owner, answered the phone. I had not dealt with him since I first got started with ASF last September, and after chatting for a while I remembered how much I enjoyed talking to the guy. He was quick and efficient, and even caught up with me on my cell phone shortly before the appointment to do a last minute check in.

Gauge is something completely different in the relm of pornstars. Lolitaesque, even pixyish are words that I would use to describe her, although she is of legal age (at least everyone assures me she is--I don't want to pull a Rob Lowe!).

While amazingly petite, Gauge has full natural breasts (please don't ever change that, Gauge) and a cute full butt that is to die for. Couple that *tight* body with the flexibility of a gymnast and you get an idea of what she can be like. Plus, she has an indescribable sense of humor that seems to surface at times.

Gauge was friendly and accomodating, and it was a totally different experience being with someone so petite. Though I had a good time and even extended for a bit, for a number of reasons that I won't get into on the board (not the fault of any agency or girl) I just wasn't as driven as I had been in the past and I couldn't muster the intensity, and I don't think I really clicked on a personality level with Gauge the way I had with some other stars I've been with in the past.

Sergio writes: She's all the rage here in Brazil, and now I hear that she's retired! What the f---? Is that true?

Luke Gets Mail

Alisha Klass writes: To Brandy Alexandre- The movie critic Roger Ebert gave "the movie," "Center Of The World" two thumbs up. Not myself! I've never claimed to have played an important part in the film. I consulted on the film and have a cameo appearance. Kevin Moore of Stunningcurves.com, wrote about a different film "Surfbroads." I have the lead female role, playing a ruthless leader in a girl gang. This film has "No Nudity" and "No Sex Scenes," just lots of ass kicking! Perhaps you'd like to come to my home and watch the trailer for "Surfbroads." This way you will be educated on my life and the roles I'm playing prior to offering your incorrect opinion. I hope you're having the "Best Holiday Weekend Ever." Always Smiling, Alisha Klass

Noah writes: Luke, You've managed to piss off just about everyone in the porn industry. Now one of the guys in your posse is mad at you, Rob Spallone. Next you'll piss off James DiGiorgio then you'll have no one to protect you. Be careful, dude, you're setting yourself up for something evil.

I read an article where it said that at least 75 to 80% of pornstars have herpes. Is this true? Ask some stars about this. One male star and one female star would be cool to see how they the different sexes respond. L8r.

Ian writes: Hi Luke, I was touched by Ruby's welcome. If I lived within reach I would be sorely tempted. Living in England, as I do, I can only send my best wishes, and repeat that she seems to be the kind of person that gives prostitution a good name. It is the oldest profession, after all, and Aristotle's definition of goodness was being as good as one can be at what one does. Pleasuring and respecting one's customers seem to me to be essential qualities of a good prostitute.

Ruby writes: Luke, How are you? I'll be home on the 31st. I didn't expect to be up here this long, it was so slow for my first 9 days, I had to tack on another week and a 1/2. Things are kickin' for Memorial Day weekend, so I should be able to take a month off to recharge. Maybe we can get together sometime in June? No Souplantation, please! Outback Steak House has veggie dishes, and it's my favorite. I'm kind of bored, but I had a busy day, closed for repairs for a while. What dates are VSDA? I had a new cat adopt me up at the ranch, got him neutered and his shots. He's going to be HUGE, I think he was born under the ranch last summer. Nobody could catch them they were too quick, I think he might be half wild-cat. I named him Mr. Trickster, but his nickname is " Big Face". your favorite ho, Ruby.

Richard writes Luke: Regarding Viktor's message to you. Luke: He makes his case well, and I do give you credit for posting it. If indeed you are a devout Jew (or any other religion, for that matter), you would sell or remove your site.

Bob writes: Regarding Roger Ebert's thumbs-up for Alisha Klass's movie "Center Of The World", along with the reference to Russ Meyer, it might be worth noting that Ebert wrote the script for Meyer's "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls" in 1970.

YouWish writes: Of course Meni is going to talk s--- on Tera because he is up Jenna Jameson's ass. He is on her payroll and would eat her... Lots of people know that Jenna and her Backstreet Boyfriend Jay call Tera fat and make fun of her. However, Jenna really needs to get her head out of her ass and stop being a jealous cunt. It is true that Jenna is now one of the richest porners in the world. Jenna makes an arm and a leg dancing and some places charge $40 a seat to watch her dance. She really should stop blowing all her money on retarded s--- like cars and trips, etc…she's gonna be el chica broka when she gets old if she doesn't start planning now. Mainstream popularity? Jenna can't act her way out of a paper sack. I guess she could go the Traci Lords route and make little moany sounds to techno music but that wouldn't really get her far. Tera is a lot hotter than Jenna was when Jenna originally came onto the scene. She's natural, not an x-rated plastic barbie doll. Her breasts are real. Jenna had to pay for breasts as big as Tera's. Tera will never have to have her tits and face carved up so that the public will buy her movies like candy. Sure, Tera could get surgery to look like a Jenna clone, but no one will ever look like RoboJenna without surgical means. Meni, keep talking s---, it just makes you look like the bottom feeder that you are.

Jennarazi writes: To say that Tera is better than Jenna, You Wish! If Tera made half of what Jenna made, maybe she wouldn't have to wear the same clothes at the conventions the last 3 years! To call Jay a Backstreet Boyfriend, try telling that to his face, do you think you'll come out of that conversation alive? You Wish!

Meni writes: Did I talk s--- about Tera? Or a press release? The press release, that's what I was talking about. I believe it was a little inaccurate to why the luncheon was shut down. I love Tera, I love Adella. I had a problem with some of the press releases. Where's the love?

Brandy Alexandre writes: I found out that the FSC is a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization. If someone feels like doing the research as to whether or not they have had a DUTY to disclose certain financial information to potential members or donors on request, I would certainly appreciate it. I think their Form 990 would be quite interesting to take a peek at. Whatcha think Mike?

Gloria Leonard responds: In response to Ms. Alexander's post about FSC's status and books, if I've said this once, I've said it more than a thousand times - ANY member in good standing (read, having paid their dues) may inspect the books and records at anytime. She already knows this but just enjoys the occasional foray into being a ball breaker with an ill-informed nugget of misinformation.

Brandy replies: You mean you want the information kept only amid the private cabal. I'm talking about possible legal requirements to have available the information to EVERYONE, especially when soliciting funds from non-members, such as the tickets for the Night of the Stars. And I even admitted as much that I'm not sure and invited others to look into the legal requirements of disclosure for a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization. Spin away, dear. It's amusing to watch.

John writes: Dear Sir: I am appalled and disgusted by the preponderance of interracial activity (black man/white woman) in porn films. I'm not sure if this is a reflection of what's going on in 'regular' society or not, but it's an alarming trend. I am assuming that most of the white starlets in porndom are either drug addicts or prostitutes and that they will do anything for money. But, I wonder, how do the black male actors defend themselves against charges of self-hatred and hypocrisy? The alleged 'fascination' that white women have for black men, I think, is largely a myth, perhaps perpetrated by the mass media itself. No white women that I know find negroes attractive or desirable. On the other hand, I know many black man who love white women, and I suppose, these interracial porn videos satisfy this fantasy of their.

Raptor writes: I was wondering if you will be doing anything about Billie Piper. She's the teenage pop star from England. Apparently she's as big as Britney Spears over in the U.K. Well if you haven't heard, she just married 35 year old Chris Evans. (millionaire of coures) Will you have any news, gossip, or pictures regarding this? I sure hope so, I know Billie isn't a pornstar but she sure is slutty! I've seen pictures of her flashing audiences in during her concerts! Interesting indeed!

Let's Talk About Luke

Dianna writes Chaim: Luke already has the love of a "fine Jewish woman" who would never force him to choose between her and a porn site, because a truly fine Jewish woman would never force her man to choose, period (and I don't mean menstrual). If Luke would open his heart to my love, Christ's love would enter without reservation. Because all is forgiven when one is loved unconditionally, as Luke is loved, and has been loved, and shall be loved.

Dianna writes Rumdar: Luke wants his deepest desires to be accomodated. He is selfish, and self-centered -- oh, how typically male he is! If "she" really loved him, really wanted him, she would accompany him to shul or to the Center of the Earth, if that's what he asked of her. Since Luke entered my life, he has stabilized me. If he challenges his Rabbi, remember I once gave mine a blow job. Luke falls in love with every woman he dates: I love only Luke. Some day that will make sense. Meanwhile, I'll just let guys hit on me, and Luke will pursue women who can't stand him. Believe it or not.

Dianna writes Viktor: Gee, I hope a guy saying this stuff to Luke registers, 'cause me saying it never has, and I've said it more than once. I love porn (and sex) and I try hard to be ethical in every other aspect of my life, though I've yet to find a religion I can support wholeheartedly. Luke loves porn, hates sex, and is rarely ethical. He has one set of rules for himself and another for everyone else. I love him because he loves porn, as do I; he perceives that as a fault. He pursues women who would despise him if they knew him as I do; he scorns me, because I love him, and he knows he is unlovable. Luke has "fallen in love" a dozen times in the last two years since I've known him, but none of the objects of his affection return same. And the common denominator? It's Luke himself. Are all these women nuts? Or is Luke the one with the loose screw?

Whoever this poor chick is, she doesn't deserve this phony infatuation of his. Ruby the 'Ho adores him, but he will never accept his true nature and bond with her. In the last three weeks, since I entered the non-porn workplace, I've had men hitting on me left and right, but Luke is afraid to see me as desirable, and though I may be "inked like a Hittite cult priestess," I am far more ethical than Luke F-rd will ever be. But that is his redemption: he has won my love, and my respect, despite his nadequacies. And my love is unconditional, as described in the New Testament, not because Luke is a wonderful, attentive lover to me. I see his work, I participate in it, and I love him more all the time. Yet he persists in becoming infatuated with women who would be horrified if they knew what he truly was. But I gotta cut him a break...men are, after all, irrational by nature.

Charles Socarides Responds

Dr. Charles Socarides, the psychiatrist influential in causing the Psychiatric Association in 1973 to stop classifying homosexuality as an illness, purportedly writes:

Dear Mr. Ford: First, thanks for offering to post my views on reparative therapy on your site. I'd like to express my own appreciation and that of my colleagues at NARTH.

In response to your personal questionnaire, I'd like to show how my theory consistently explains intensely erotic visual attraction in male homosexuals, and answer your question as to why reparative cures don't necessarily result in visual erotic attraction to females. You may find this information to be of some personal value as well, given the concerns you expressed about your own sexual orientation and the confused gender identity issues you raised.

In my book, The Pre-oedipal Origins and Treatment of the Sexual Perversions, I explain that the intensely erotic, visual attraction in homosexuality(and other sexual perversions)is self-reparative of a pre-oedipal(maternal)separation/individuation crisis,and that it serves the function of creatively substituting for a pathologically rejecting, or intrusive mother. Please note that I define sexual perversion to mean any "unusual sexual practices."

My theory explains, for example, why male reparative homosexuals may continue to lack visual erotic attraction to females even after they successfully achieve full heterosexuality in therapy, since the perversion itself, namely homosexuality, originally served a self-reparative function, in a pre-oedipal, erotic/competitive splitting of the maternal imago into a pre-visual, sentient/sensual mother on the one hand, versus an intensely visual, idealized maternal substitute on the other.

You see, a homosexual lover is simply an idealized masculine, or feminine "twin" or "mirror" that repairs a defective or incomplete sense of one's own gender identity. The love object is intensely visual/sexualized precisely because it is both erotically competitive with, and intensely revenge-driven against a mother, or other primary caretaker, who was either withholding, or engulfing. However, at best, the perversion can only achieve a problematic compromise separation, and only a precarious sense of self-identity, since the perversion is always a regressive return to the precise point of pre-oedipal (maternal) separation/individuation crisis and fixation.

My reparative view of pre-oedipal trauma and visual socialization, centered around female and maternal estrous, also consistently explains why hunting for meat peaks in chimpanzee males(and theoretically, early humans)in the presence of estrous females: namely, carnivorous competition for meat is a sadistic, oral/aggressive displacement for pre-oedipal competition for the sexually unavailable and withholding estrous mother(i.e., a form of displaced revenge). See http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/projects/esm/Stanford_99.html for a discussion of the central role of meat-eating in human social evolution and patriarchal society.

My theory also consistently explains why the incest prohibition first evolved in male and female primates: in male bonobos, traumatic pre-oedipal reaction to the maternal estrous serves the function of desexualizing the maternal relationship, enabling male bonobos to adaptively remain with their mothers for life; while a similar pre-oedipal crisis in pre-pubertal and adolescent bonobo females internally drives them to separate from their mothers and out-migrate when their first sexual bumps begin to appear, in order to avoid sexually competing with their mothers and/or mating with their unidentifiable fathers(for a discussion, see Frans de Waal's book, Bonobo: the Forgotten Ape).

For these reasons, maternal(i.e., pre-oedipal)identification and separation was a crucial evolutionary development. The Chimpanzee line(as opposed to the pansexual bonobo) shows what would have happened to us humans had we not developed language as a means for identifying paternity with resulting human patriarchal society. Paternal identification and Oedipal separation were essential developments for both polygamy in human males, and monogamous capacity in human females.