THREE BRONX BROTHERS SENTENCED TO PRISON IN SEX TRAFFICKING OPERATION; PROMISED WOMEN JOBS AS DANCERS IN MUSIC VIDEOS, THEN FORCED THEM INTO PROSTITUTION

 Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that three Bronx men who are brothers have been sentenced to prison and must register as sex offenders after pleading guilty to Sex Trafficking and Kidnapping of women they lured with promises of video dancer jobs only to force them to be prostitutes. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “These defendants ran a brutal prostitution business. They preyed on teenage girls and young women, luring them with promises of a glamorous job and then holding them captive as prostitutes. Now they have been held accountable for demeaning and debasing their victims.” 

 District Attorney Clark said Mijsach Thompson, AKA “ATM Billz,” 21, of Melrose Avenue, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and 10 years post-release supervision after pleading guilty to two counts of Sex Trafficking, second-degree Kidnapping and Criminal possession of a Firearm; Mizraim Thompson, AKA “Racked Up Rally,” 22, of Melrose Avenue, was sentenced to five years in prison and six years post-release supervision after pleading guilty to Sex Trafficking and second-degree Kidnapping; and Cordell Cooke, AKA “K, Kooli,” 29, of Melrose Avenue, was sentenced to eight years in prison and eight years post-release supervision after pleading guilty to two counts of Attempted Sex Trafficking. All three defendants must register with the state Sex Offender Registry.

The investigation began in April 2017 when one of the victims went to a Bronx hospital and told authorities she had been held captive by Mijsach Thompson and Cordell Cooke. The victim said she had been recruited to be a dancer in a music video, but when she arrived at the apartment she was kept there and forced to have sex with men who saw her advertised on the now-defunct website Backpage. During that time, she was choked by Cooke as well as raped by Cooke and Mijsach Thompson and subjected to other acts of violence, as were two other victims. There were numerous other victims identified in their prostitution enterprise.

District Attorney Clark thanked Anthony Scoma of the New York City Department of Correction; and Detective Judith Moreno and Analyst Anastasia Clark of the New York City Police Department’s Human Trafficking Team, under the supervision of Lieutenant Christopher Sharpe, Sergeant Faoud Zahirudin, Captain Thomas Milano, and Inspector James Klein, Commanding Officer of the Vice Enforcement Division, for their work on the investigation.