QUEENS, N.Y. — A well-known local brothel near two schools in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s red-light district has been shut down by the NYPD, according to local leaders who say the progressive congresswoman did not play a role in its closure. The establishment, known as the ‘bodega brothel,’ operated on the second floor of a local bodega just off the Roosevelt Avenue strip in Queens. Here, prostitutes are known for openly soliciting sex on sidewalks, local Democratic district leader Hiram Monserrate told Fox News Digital.
Video from inside the brothel reveals five cramped, makeshift rooms divided by wooden panels and shower curtains, each just large enough to hold a bed. The bodega is located across the street from two public schools, and students have been forced to walk past the sex workers outside the brothel on their way to and from class for months. An hour before Ocasio-Cortez’s town hall earlier this month, Fox News Digital observed children walking by with their parents as three women stood outside.
On Monday, the NYPD removed the beds from the brothel and padlocked its makeshift wooden door. Monserrate, who led the campaign to shutter the location, stood outside and praised the police for acting.