Sunday, February 22, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Taxi test rides yield long-hauls, prostitution offers

Taxis travel the Interstate 215 tunnel beneath the McCarran International Airport runways. Scores of local cabbies lengthen trips to Strip and off-Strip resorts by taking the tunnel rather than direct surface streets out of the airport. Cabbies can legally take the longer but quicker route if a customer specifically requests it. Photo by John Gurzinski. Click image for enlargement. Graphic by Mike Johnson.

As we top 80 mph on Interstate 15, I ask my cabby why he isn't taking a more direct route from McCarran International Airport to The Mirage.

"Don't worry about it," responds Mico Misokov, a driver for ABC Union Cab. "Your company is going to pay for this, right?"

I nod, and Misokov then returns to performing his other job: part-time pimp.

Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, Misokov reaches back from the driver's seat to hand me a card featuring a naked blonde in a lewd pose. He tells me I should call the phone number on the back.

"They're going to get you the best girl you want. You want blonde, you want Chinese, Asian?" he asks. "If you don't like the girl they send you, send her back and they'll send you another one. If you don't like her, call me, and I get you a better one."

Misokov assures me as he hands over another card with his cell phone number that these women are not escorts or exotic dancers.

"She will do everything for you," Misokov says and then launches into a litany of sex acts.

Misokov was the most unabashed of the cabbies I encountered Tuesday, when I spent the day taking cabs from McCarran to investigate long-hauling, the illegal yet widespread practice of taking unsuspecting passengers on nondirect cab rides to boost fares.

Posing as a tourist, this reporter was long-hauled on two of the six cab rides I took out of McCarran between noon and 8 p.m.

None of the six drivers on the return rides long-hauled me. The Taxicab Authority says cabbies are less likely to long-haul tourists returning to the airport for fear of detection; these passengers would be more likely to notice an indirect route differing from the route they took from the airport.

Just as noteworthy, three of those 12 cabbies plied me with business card-size flyers featuring naked or half-naked "entertainers" on them, along with a phone number. The cabbies encouraged me to call, informing me that the companies' dancing, escort service or other unspecified service was just code for prostitution.

Ken Smith, the Taxicab Authority's chief of enforcement, said cabbies caught giving passengers such cards are written citations for soliciting prostitution or using a cab in the commission of a crime, both of which are misdemeanors.

"I guess we need to do another sting, especially considering this happened on 25 percent of the cabs you took," Taxicab Authority Administrator Yvette Moore said. "That's just frightening, and it's grossly inappropriate."

Maybe something about my appearance suggested that I was in need of illegal intimacy. But I don't think so.

My tourist disguise was understated and along the lines of business casual: gray slacks, black short-sleeve shirt, leather loafers and a rolling suitcase with a Southwest Airlines baggage tag on the handle.

Because the cabbies would be handling my decoy luggage, I added a little heft to it by packing a laundry bag loaded with dirty clothes.

Specifically, I wanted to see if I would be "tunneled," the scheme by which cabbies lengthen trips to Strip and off-Strip resorts by taking the Interstate 215 tunnel rather than direct surface streets out of the airport.

Cabbies can legally take nondirect routes if a customer specifically requests it. They can also ask passengers if they'd like to take a route that might be faster, but a bit longer.

"The key is they have to inform the passenger and let them make the decision," Moore said.

I didn't target any company or particular cabby. The taxis were hailed from a line by the cab stand attendants at the airport and resorts I went to.

After waiting in line a few minutes at McCarran's cab stand, my first trip, to the Hard Rock Hotel, is uneventful.

My ride back to the airport features my first encounter with a flesh-peddling cabby.

After asking if I enjoyed my time here, Western cabdriver Richard Predmore tells me I should call an escort service the next time I'm in town.

"They'll get you a whore in your room. Now, you're going to spend four or five hundred dollars, but you're going to like it," says Predmore, an amiable guy who appears to be in his 40s.

"This ain't no (expletive). They look like that," he says, handing me a card featuring a topless brunette whose denim shorts are pulled down past her thighs. The card advertises "Las Vegas' Hottest Babes ... Direct to You ... Anytime, Anywhere!" above a local number.

Predmore has scrawled his four-digit cab number on the back of the card. When I ask, he informs me this is because he gets a cash kickback for referrals to the prostitution businesses that front as escort services.

He also encourages me during my next stopover in Las Vegas to visit the Crazy Horse Too, the Industrial Road topless club raided by federal agents last year.

Predmore maintains that the beauty of the dancers there is unrivaled locally.

"If I was a rich man, I'd change my address to the Crazy Horse," he says before dropping me off at McCarran.

A few cab rides later, Yellow cabdriver Cetic Zoran gives me two cards for outcall services as we zoom toward Caesars Palace.

One shows a buxom woman in pink lip gloss whose dress is revealingly positioned, while the other features a blonde wearing only white stockings as she eats a banana in front of an open refrigerator. "Bored Housewife" the latter card is labeled.

On the back of both cards, Zoran has written his name, cell phone number and "Yellow," referring to the company that employs him.

A few rides later, on the way from Bellagio to McCarran, I ask Yellow cabdriver Richard Boehne if he ever takes his passengers on longer routes than necessary.

"This is a Christian cab," he responds. "No long-hauling. I don't want to rip people off."

Next up is Misokov, my first long-hauler. After getting in his cab, I tell him I'm going to The Mirage. He takes me through the I-215 tunnel without asking me how I want to get to the Strip.

During a rather graphic chat about spike-heeled ladies of the night, Misokov gives me tips on dealing with Las Vegas hookers.

"When the girl comes to your room, you've got to negotiate. They're going to start high, but you can talk them down," he says before explaining how much I should pay for various forms of sex.

Upon arrival at The Mirage, the meter reads $19.60, nearly 60 percent more than it would if we had taken a direct route on surface streets, according to the Taxicab Authority.

I mention to Misokov that this is more expensive than I expected. He then hands me eight blank receipts, informing me I can use them to be reimbursed by my employer for cab rides I won't actually take.

After I return to the airport, one of my final cabbies, Star cabdriver Sarkis Zakarian, takes me on a long-haul to the Rio. I confront him en route by asking him why we're on a highway.

"This is not highway," the Armenian-born driver says in broken English. "This is 215. This is the best way to go."

Upon arrival, my fare is $17.20. A direct ride should cost about $5 less, according to state regulators.

After I shared these stories with Taxicab Authority officials, they said they planned to investigate the cabbies.

Attempts on Thursday and Friday to reach Misokov, Predmore and Zoran for comment about their actions were not successful.

Zakarian declined comment through his supervisor, Yellow-Checker-Star Director of Operations Bill Shranko.

"He's not denying he long-hauled you," Shranko said, noting that Zakarian has had a good record during the 10 years he's been driving for the company. "He made the error and he's going to take his discipline."

The supervisor said the fare Zakarian collected would be refunded, a standard company policy upon learning of a long-haul.

Shranko, who also supervises Zoran, said soliciting for prostitution was a more serious violation of company policy, as well as of the law. But the company had not had a chance to interview him by Thursday afternoon.

"A member of the news media has obviously witnessed what we consider very seriously inappropriate and illegal," he said of Zoran. "(Prostitution) is about as serious as you can get. ... It could be considered pimping and we will not allow that."

Shranko said the company's cabdrivers are allowed to recommend legal brothels outside Clark County if a passenger expresses interest in a prostitute. But they cannot hand out the cards for illegal prostitutes masquerading as dancers or escorts.

"That is illegal activity," Shranko said, declining to say whether Zoran faced firing.

The Taxicab Authority officials said that complaints about drivers soliciting for prostitutes out of local cabs are rare.

"I'd say we get one complaint every six months," said Moore, the authority administrator. "But then again, a tourist who takes them up on it isn't necessarily going to call and complain if they're dissatisfied with the result."