Scoring illegal sex along Queens’ Roosevelt Avenue has never been easier — as the number of hookers has multiplied and prostitution-related arrests have plunged by 60% along the seedy strip since soft-on-crime socialist Zohran Mamdani became mayor this year.
John, a 40-year-old Manhattan horndog, said he has no problem schlepping on the subway to the notorious open-air sex bazaar — nicknamed the “Market of Sweethearts” — because the women are “cheap” and cops have their hands tied by lax laws and policies.
There, scantily-clad streetwalkers brazenly solicit passersby around the clock, offering “happy ending” massages and more in front of rows of two-story commercial buildings. Often the activity occurs within sight of cops on patrol.
The hookers walk their wide-eyed customers inside dozens of illegally operating brothels throughout the avenue’s red-light district, which stretches roughly two miles through Jackson Heights and Corona.
“I can get it done for $60 to $80,” boasted John. “In Manhattan . . . it costs $200 to $300.”
Negotiating a tryst is “super easy,” he added. “They just show up and that’s it, and when I get bored with those women, I head to Flushing.
“The Chinese women charge $60 for sex and $40 for oral sex,” he said. “They’re open to sex without a condom for $100 or more.
“Latinas are more expensive. With the Chinese women, you get 30 minutes; the Latinas are obsessed with watching the clock.”
He said the woman lead customers to a “place upstairs, in very small rooms.”
A Post reporter last week visited Roosevelt Avenue near 90th Street and spotted nine Asian women turning tricks while two others acted as hostesses or managers. They all declined to comment.
However, when the reporter later approached a group of Ecuadorian sex workers, they began competing for his business.
One offered “massages” using “three positions” running $100 for 20 minutes — which included $50 to rent time in a room of a nearby building.
The second woman offered a discount: “I can [give] you the hour for $300. Normally it’s just 15 minutes, but a half hour we can do it for $150. I give you four positions. We can do whatever.”
Clusters of New York City have been inundated with hookers and pimps brazenly operating on public streets since a state statute prohibiting loitering for the purpose of prostitution was repealed by far-left Albany pols in February 2021.
The change in the law has allowed hookers to operate more freely, with cops turning their attention to traffickers, pimps and johns.
NYPD officers reported making 193 prostitution-related arrests along Roosevelt Avenue this year through Sept. 13, records show.
That’s a massive 59% drop from the 468 arrests during the same period the previous year when ex-NYPD captain-turned-mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch led a major enforcement effort dubbed “Operation Restore Roosevelt.” The raids put a major dent in the migrant sex-peddling strip.
Major crimes like murders and shootings along the same corridor are down 3%.
Former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate said there’s no doubt that illegal prostitution and sex-trafficking markets have flourished along Roosevelt Avenue since Mamdani became mayor, largely because Hizzoner is making it more difficult for cops to enforce the law.
“It is becoming apparent that there is less enforcement, and I think that comes from the top.” said Monserrate, now a local Democratic district leader representing the besieged neighborhoods.
“The current formula is not working to keep our community safe. It’s a disaster. The problem has gotten worse, and this administration has done nothing to correct it.”
“Restore, rinse, release — that’s the problem with Roosevelt Avenue,” said a city government official. “The cops catch these johns and put them away, but they pop up like whack-a-mole. Enough is enough. Someone needs to shut it down.”
Others point the finger higher up the chain.
“I think the police commissioner is pretty committed to keeping things in check there, but I know that she probably doesn’t have the backing of the mayor the way she has under other administrations,” said a NYC-based women’s advocate who also declined to be identified.
A rep for Mamdani — a passionate supporter of decriminalizing prostitution before being elected mayor — said he “is committed to partnering with local organizations and neighborhood residents to address conditions on Roosevelt Avenue” and is “using every tool available to the city while treating victims and survivors with the care and dignity they deserve.”
“Our approach must therefore pair enforcement with the support and opportunity that help people build safer, more stable lives,” said City Hall spokesman Sam Raskin.
Many of the johns busted along Roosevelt Avenue this year include ex-cons with long rap sheets.
They include John Maddox, 52, who was arrested July 29 on Roosevelt Avenue near 98th Street for allegedly offering an undercover cop $20 for sex; and Mario Sanchez, 31, who was busted while allegedly offering $100 to an undercover cop for sex on June 11 near 80th Street, police sources said.
Both were charged with patronizing prostitution, which carries a penalty of up to a year in prison, and pleaded not guilty.
Maddox had 12 prior arrests, including one in 2024 for criminal sale of drugs, and Sanchez was previously arrested five times, police sources said.
John, the Manhattan horndog, said residents shouldn’t blame cops for the strip being so seedy.
“The police are always around, but it seems like there’s nothing they can do,” John said. “The women know New York laws are lax. Many come from other states . . . That’s what they tell me.”
