Cops say prostitution ring tied to Chinese mob

COLONIE - Police say prostitution busts at two Colonie beauty salons is linked to Chinese organized crime and reached into western Massachusetts and all the way down into New York City.

Investigators say they were first tipped off three months ago and have been working on the case ever since.

The Albany County Sheriff's Department says the women were offering sexual favors inside Jasmine Beauty and Massage on Central Avenue and Tao Beauty Salon on Old Loudon Road.

Earlier this week undercover county sheriff's investigators, posing as customers, busted the businesses.

Forty-year-old Kuen Ling Cheng, the owner, and her father are charged with promoting prostitution inside Jasmine Beauty. Three employees were arrested as well.

"The girl that was in charge of it," Inspector John Burke said. "She had a camera hooked upstairs in her bedroom on a TV screen. She saw how many people were coming in and how much money was coming in."

Burke says they also arrested one worker from Tao Beauty Salon. He says the owners there had no idea what Zhe Lu was allegedly offering behind closed doors.

Police don't know if there is a link between the two Colonie busts.

"It seemed funny the prices were almost the same and that we also had information that certain girls from Jasmine were working at Tao," Burke said.

One thing is for sure, Burke says it's all part of a bigger regional problem linked to Chinese organized crime.

In fact, the Albany County Sheriff's Department played a big role in a recent bust over in the Springfield, Mass. area. Earlier this month authorities there raided eight massage parlors.

"We called over there and told them they were going over there because we received information from an informant that they were setting up," Burke explained.

From western Massachusetts and the Capital Region down to Flushing Queens, Burke feels the cash is getting funneled back into New York City through its mob ties.

"It's going back to one or two locations, back into the city, back into Chinatown," Burke said. "And again, the girls are working the circuit, whether they're working Western Mass, New York, upstate New York."

Burke says three of those arrested earlier this week are being held in the Albany County Jail on a retainer by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.