Title supplied by cataloger.; Photograph was edited for publication purposes.; Photograph also used in articles dated July 16, 1940; July 31, 1940 and August 16, 1940. On April 22, 1940 a white slave ring operating from Los Angeles, but spanning from El Centro to Seattle, was uncovered when a young woman, an intended victim by the name of Maxine Rayle called LAPD Sheriff, Captain Walter Hunter to say she and another woman were being held captive and gave an address where they could be found. When police raided the location, they arrested two men and one woman on suspicion of pandering - they were identified as: 43-year-old Charles W. "Monty" Montgomery, leader of the operation; 21-year-old Bristol Barrett, in charge of finding, wooing, and luring the young women; and 33-year-old Ann Forst, aka Anne Forrester "The Black Widow", an asserted key figure in booking girls and placing them in disorderly and ill-reputed houses. It was discovered that Ann Forst ran multiple houses of prostitution, promising girls net incomes of $300-$400 a month. Evidence indicated that approximately 200 women made up Forst's white slave ring. Montgomery and Barrett were charged; though it is not known how much time they served. Also indicted were Tim Tullis, an accomplice of the slave ring; Dolly Dupree, operator of one of the houses in San Bernardino; and Serena Peine, who served one year for pandering. Ann Forst (birth name Almerdell [sic] Forrester) was booked on pandering charges and spent 3 or 4 years of a 1 to 10 year sentence at the women's prison in Tehachapi. She moved up north upon her release and then to Arizona and Nevada, where she ran highway motels with her husband. Forst died in obscurity in 1998. Photograph caption dated July 30, 1940 reads, "Ann Forst, above, known as the "Black Widow" in the alleged Los Angeles white slave ring, today was to take the stand in her own defense at her trial on pandering charges. She claims the state has failed to prove its charge she lured girls into lives of shame."
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;24 x 20 cm. on sheet 26 x 21 cm. Photographic prints
Trials (Prostitution)--California--Los Angeles Procuresses--California--Los Angeles Prostitution--California--Los Angeles Women--California--Los Angeles Trials--California--Los Angeles Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
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