Taking Down Backpage: Fighting the World’s Largest Sex Trafficker

by Maggy Krell

Insider details from the takedown of Backpage, the world's largest sex trafficker, by the prosecutor who led the charge

For almost a decade, Backpage.com was the world's largest sex trafficking operation. Seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, in 800 cities throughout the world, Backpage ran thousands of listings advertising the sale of vulnerable young people for sex. Reaping a cut off every transaction, the owners of the website raked in millions of dollars. But many of the people in the advertisements were children, as young as 12, and forced into the commercial sex trade through fear, violence and coercion.

In Taking Down Backpage, veteran California prosecutor Maggy Krell tells the story of how she and her team prevailed against this sex trafficking monolith. Beginning with her early career as a young DA, she shares the evolution of the anti-human trafficking movement. Through a fascinating combination of memoir and legal insight, Krell reveals how she and her team started with the prosecution of street pimps and ultimately ended with the takedown of the largest purveyor of human trafficking in the world. She shares powerful stories of interviews with victims, sting operations, court cases, and the personal struggles that were necessary to bring Backpage executives to justice. Finally, Krell examines the state of sex trafficking after Backpage and the crucial work that still remains.

Taking Down Backpage is a gripping story of tragedy, overcoming adversity, and the pursuit of justice that gives insight into the fight against sex trafficking in the digital age.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Crime, Memoir, Feminism, History, Audiobook

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 11, 2022

Reviews

[Book Clubbed · Rating 3 out of 5]

First and foremost: Maggy Krell is a hero. A true one, who does the unsung, gritty work to fight problems that most of us willfully banish from our minds so we can enjoy our organic smoothies in peace. If I had her job for just one day, and had to investigate sexual trafficking in America, I would require several (more) years of therapy and become celibate.

The story itself is rather simple, and is told in a straightforward manner. We follow how Krell becomes involved in this issue, the vacuum of interest that preceded her, and the tricky legal maneuverings required to take down a website that disavowed all connections to sex trafficking even as profited wildly from it.

This is all great, but we move rather quickly, never becoming fully immersed in the story or the characters. Everyone who helps her is awesome and smart, but we don't really get to know them. We hear a few stories about the victims, but maintain emotional distance here as well. This is understandable, and surely Krell doesn't want to exploit people for their trauma, but it is hard to pinpoint the narrative backbone of this piece.

For better or worse, we are compelled by stories. We need rising drama, an arc, and a triumphant finish. In an ideal world, logic would dictate our compassion and charity. In reality, we donate to the Red Cross because we saw videos of the earthquake aftermath or witnessed a harrowing slideshow of abused animals while Sarah McLachlan sings in the background. Police violence has been an issue for decades but only started receiving attention when visceral videos forced us to confront the gross injustices occurring daily.

The path towards justice described in this book is righteous. The story still needs work.

Listen to full reviews here.

[CarolG · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather unusual book with which to finish up the year (for me anyway). Although it has a fairly low page count it took me quite a while to read it.

This book tells the story of the dedicated and determined prosecutor who vowed to bring down the CEO of Backpage, a classified advertising website suspected of being used as a sex trafficking platform, especially the trafficking of minors. The story was well written in easy-to-understand language but I found much of it a little too dry and factual. Kudos to Maggy Krell and her team for their relentless pursuit of Backpage's key personnel. The sheer volume of paperwork was exhausting to consider. It's so sad to think that Backpage has probably been replaced by one or more sites devoted to the same practice. It's also sad to think about the damage that has been done to so many females as a result of being sold through ads on Backpage.

Thank you to NYU Press via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Publication Date: January 11, 2022

[Pooja Peravali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Backpage was an international advertising website that was overwhelmingly used by sex traffickers to perpetuate the abuse of women and children. In this book. prosecutor Maggie Krell relates her experiences in getting Backpage taken down and tightening Internet laws to prevent human trafficking.

This is an important topic, and I appreciated how clearly Krell lays out the legal proceedings. She takes us from the beginning to the end of the case, making everything easy to understand and eliminating jargon. However, there is a certain human element missing from the story - perhaps because Krell was writing as objectively as she could, and with a tight focus. We didn't get to know the characters very well.

With a longer book, she might have gone more into needed depth. Still, I enjoyed this book, and greatly appreciate the efforts of the team that took down Backpage.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Maggy Krell, and NYU Press for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

While there are many deplorable criminal acts that take place on a daily basis, few are surely as horrid as sex trafficking. It would seem to be something that could be easily caught by the authorities, but those behind it are not only sly, but also know how to hide things in plain sight. With the emergence of the World Wide Web, people have turned to websites to move and sell people for their own profit, one of which was backpage.com After learning about this and doing her best to comprehend what was taking place, Maggy Krell went on a mission to close down the site and have those who run it brought to justice. This is her story and some of the battles she faced along the way.

Maggy Krell was a young lawyer who sought to make a difference in her own way. She saw some of the horrible crimes of child exploitation and sexual abuse crossing her desk and wanted to make a difference. She came upon Backpage.com, a website with a variety of things for sale, but also large ‘escort’ and ‘adult services’ pages, one that was rumoured to be a front for sexual slavery, where people could post and sell young women for a price and the authorities would be none the wiser. Working in California to get the ball rolling, Krell started her hunt to ensure that those at the top knew exactly what was going on.

As she worked more, it became apparent that the site was used almost entirely to sell young women into sexual slavery, with the other parts of the site there as a shell or front. Krell began pushing for more and seeking evidence that she could use to show that those who ran the site were knowingly participating in human trafficking and profiting off of it. It was slow, tedious, and sometimes horribly graphic work, but Krell stuck to her guns and made things stick.

The latter portion of the book explores bringing those in positions of real power to justice and having the courts decide their fates. While defence attorneys sought to put an arm’s length distance from the events or First Amendment defences forward, Krell and her team did all that they could to ensure the dots connected. This would be a major coup if the judge could see the clear-cut argument and rule in their favour. But, those running Backpage would not go down without a fight.

While Maggy Krell was successful in her endeavour, this is only the beginning. Just because a platform for illegal activity is closed down does not mean things stop. Women, men, children, and many others are being exploited on a daily basis and there is little that can be done, provided it is all committed on the sly. Exploitation and human sex trafficking (in fact, trafficking of any kind) is horrible and leads to many victims. It is the dedication of Maggy Krell and many like her that promise to do their best to remove key bricks in the wall, in hopes that each loosened brick will mean the wall will one day come crashing down.

While I do not read books of this nature with any regularity, I do find myself drawn to learning things about which I know little. Disturbing though it may be, I come away with a major sense of education and preparedness when I scan the news headlines on a regular basis. Krell writes in such a way that I can take things away from the narrative without feeling as though it is all above my head. She educates throughout, providing details and explanations to make sure things are well understood and their impact is not lost. I needed a book like this to open my eyes to the truths that occur around me. Well-documented chapters provide the reader with a pathway of understanding, as well as some photos to personalize the experience. As I mentioned before, this is a horrible topic, but I feel better knowing a little more about it and how it fits into the larger picture of criminal activity.

Kudos, Madam Krell, for your hard work and dedication to ensuring the reader understands what’s going on behind the scenes.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this one, it’s an amazing story of a prosecutor who is a major advocate for victims of the sex trafficking trade. She decides to go after Backpage because of the ads they ran that became so commonplace for sexual encounters that contributed to the trafficking. She also knew that they were making a ton of money from it, and their normal ads were just window dressing, not real. It took a couple of years to identify the main people that owned and ran the Backpage site. She built one heck of a case against them, and I found it very inspiring. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Maggy Krell, and the publisher.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who adamantly consumes crime and true crime media in its many forms, this was just not what I hoped.
The story itself, literally the taking down of Backpage, is such an important piece of history. I remember when it all went down, the backlash, and the support. But this telling of it, from someone on the front lines of it all, was barebones at best. I described it to my partner as being like the author was recounting the story to a peer, and not writing a book about the experience.
We get little to no actual details of the case. The book feels like it’s centred on the legal jargon and roundabouts they have to take (which are also important!) as apposed to any actual details of the case.
Random girls names are thrown into the mix every once in awhile, and her story is recounted and then it very suddenly moves onto something else all together.
The timeline is also very fluid, but not in a way that works with this type of story. Bits and pieces of knowledge are added in at random times, often going into a tangent that leads into a flashback and then we’re brought back to where the story left off, with no discernible end to the previous memory.

Wanted to love this. Didn’t. But, still 2 stars because I feel like the actual work of taking on sex trafficking is very important.

@netgalley #TakingDownBackpage

[chantel nouseforaname · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Using the word “prostitute” or, worse, “child prostitute” defines people by their circumstances and wrongfully blames a victim for his or her own exploitation. A child who is being commercially sexually exploited is a rape victim. There’s no such thing as a child prostitute.”

Facts.

Maggy Krell is a real one. This was a fantastic look at the persistence of a lawyer and her team at taking down an empire of bullshit that does so much damage in the community at large.

“There is an inherent and complex tension among privacy interests, open-web interests, and the role of technology companies in moderating content and providing information to law enforcement. We need to protect a free exchange of ideas on the internet and the privacy of users, but this cannot be done in a vacuum without regard to our collective vulnerabilities or the unique vulnerabilities of children.”

As Apple is currently undergoing (yet stalling) in the implementation of features that would scan people's devices for child sex abuse images, they are experiencing more blowback than most would think possible after finally creating interventions that could potentially intercept the sexual exploitation of children everywhere.

This book is a cohesive look at a woman's fight to hold these companies accountable for their crimes. It does lean more on Maggy Krell's personal narrative and experience prosecuting Backpage, but no doubt it was exhausting, necessary almost unmountable work. This was infinitely readable. I think Maggy Krell did a fantastic job of illustrating the importance of this work. She effectively highlights how the use of Backpage disproportionately affects immigrant newcomers, and North American Black women and girls. Krell highlights how the Justice system has largely criminalized these women and girls when they should be targeting the perpetrators, and those making millions of dollars through sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

”When prevention fails and kids are caught up in the criminal justice system with cases of their own, we need to look at them through a public-health lens: they are children who have been subjected to severe forms of sexual abuse and trauma. While, depending on the circumstances, they may need to be held accountable for voluntary criminal behavior, they also need medical and mental-health treatment for the trauma they have endured. Addressing criminal behavior without addressing the trauma that caused it is short-sighted, ineffective, and unfair. Commercially sexually exploited children should not be prosecuted as adults or sentenced to lengthy prison terms.”

“This has been disproportionately true for Black girls and women whose oppression in the sex trade dates back to slavery. Current data reflect that Black girls are far more likely to be arrested for prostitution and are disproportionately represented in the juvenile justice population.”

“On the other side of the equation, we also need to address what is driving demand. Why do some men think it is okay to pay teenagers for sex acts? Is it entitlement—the idea that you can get whatever you want with money? Is it rape culture—a prevailing social attitude that has normalized or trivialized sexual abuse? Is it a lack of understanding or appreciation for the pain they are inflicting?”

“At the heart of all our work should be the survivors whom I have had the privilege to work with both in prosecuting Backpage and telling this story. They are incredible young women. It has been the honor of my life to stand with them as they speak up for justice.”

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this work prior to its release in January 2022. I think it’s an incredibly necessary read, especially for those who have children growing up exposed to the Wild West of the Internet.

Taking down Backpage doesn't eliminate the problem of human trafficking or the sexual exploitation of minors but it's a start. Learn what you can do today to support agencies fighting human trafficking in your state or province.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

As its publication by a university press may indicate, this is a very straightforward, no-frills legal case study about the logistics of why and how the case against Backpage was undertaken, as recounted by a prosecutor involved. As such, the account reads largely, though maybe not entirely. like something you might encounter in a course about criminal justice or the legal system.

As someone employed my whole life in mental health and social services, including to adults and children impacted by sexual assault, abuse, exploitation, and trafficking, I am aware of the risks that Backpage posed and thus interested and invested in learning more about this story.

(And just to be clear, and as the book well articulates, the war against Backpage was not waged because there is anything wrong with sex workers consensually using a site like this to help conduct their work, as many did. Backpage specifically needed to be taken down because of overwhelming evidence that it was being deliberately, persistently, unapologetically, and easily used by traffickers and abusers to exploit and seriously harm a high volume of nonconsensual victims, in particular but not exclusively underage girls. And those who ran the organization at very best deliberately ignored and suppressed repeated efforts to address this, and at worst cooperatively facilitated, encouraged, participated in, allowed to continue, and covered up these crimes along with a lot of money laundering and other shady antics.)

However, despite my strong interest and the importance of the story, the storytelling still left a little something to be desired, especially in terms of its lack of inclusion of more personal perspectives and voices from the author, participants, survivors and others involved - it doesn’t read like something that Patrick Radden Keefe may have written, for instance, and it is even more impersonal and removed than something like She Said, which I already found pretty impersonal and removed compared to Ronan Farrow’s book on the Weinstein scandal. All of this is to say that the author’s work is extremely admirable and the story still well worth reading, but I think there is room for another more artfully related account, whether written or via other media.

And to be sure, I think being “too” controlled and having “too” strict personal boundaries in the telling of such a sensitive story is definitely the lesser sin of the two that could have been committed here. It’s still a good book.

It should also be mentioned that unfortunately, this story does not end with Backpage; there are of course ongoing and continuous efforts by criminal elements to exploit and traffic others using Internet-based and other platforms that legitimate, consenting professional sex workers may also be using to facilitate conducting business. The ethics of free speech and free commerce must always be balanced with efforts to protect the vulnerable against systematic and relentless victimization.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book is fascinating and frightening because the laws don't always mean what we think they say, so many loopholes exist, and interpretation of the laws is not always black and white.
I really admire Maggy Krell and her determination to get Backpage brought down and those criminals held accountable. When the obvious crimes of pimping and trafficking charges don't hold up in court (which to me was surprising, sickening, and appalling), she finds other ways to make them be held accountable rather than just giving up. Persistence and hard work pays off. She put her heart and soul into this case.

[Molly K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, this was superb.

Krell offers a compelling narrative of the legal case she was at the forefront of for so many years. It was masterfully written - understandable to those who do not work in the legal field but also so revealing for those who do.
I was truly so attached to the figures in the book, I was rooting for each of the victims to seek and achieve their own justice.

I can only compare the jubilation I felt when the monsters behind Backpage were shut down to how I felt the day Weinstein was sentenced. Justice achieved for those who were justice-less for so long.

Maggie Krell fought for them from the very beginning, and I am honoured to have read this from her perspective.
I understand the publication date is not for a while - but I cannot recommend this book enough. I couldn't put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley and NYUPress for providing me with an ARC in exchange for this honest review.

[Rick Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this summer the movie Sound of Freedom was popular. In it, this guy basically goes Liam Neeson a la Taken to fight sex trafficking. It’s pretty absurd and unrealistic. But it makes for cinema and spectacle.

I found it interesting, because a lot of the fairly liberal sources media that I bump up against were very critical of it.

In that vein, I highly recommend this podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...)

But this is essentially the Californian democrat version of that movie. Little more based in reality but I couldn’t shake this kind of sad feeling the whole time that the people being discussed were never seen as people. There are a punchline. The author is a modern day Javert, single mindedly spent on pursuing her agenda, without ever stopping to consider the larger picture. The value of this book is as a first hand account of that prosecutorial overreach looks like from the prosecutions perspective.

A woman takes on scary sex trafficking organization. Not playing by the rules, she fights her way through bureaucracy until Justice and freedom and Skynyrd and eagles can prevail.

This book strikes me the wrong way, in the exact same vein that the movie did. It’s blind conviction that you’re doing the right thing. Time and time again she says “the victims were too victimized to realize they were victims“ like what are you doing? I get that there are structural issues, dynamics, and such that prevent people from speaking out. but that attitude is a really convenient way to silence those that you’re “saving” in an extremely dehumanizing way. It’s a blank check. You can justify any action because it’s in defense of the “children.” And you never have to think critically about what you’re doing because you’ve convinced yourself that your morality is 100% noble.

And I think the core issue is that she never attempted to address any of the underlying structural or social issues that lead people into positions where they are pushed into sex work. Not to mention other people who choose it. No she just goes after a single scum bag website and like 3 of the people who work there. Focusing on arguing with a website is the most sanitized way to be able to claim that you’re doing “good” while not addressing any of the core problems. Like the monolith of sex work is not going anywhere because of what this author did, it’s just going to be distributed through different means. You’re playing whack-a-mole instead of trying to unplug the machine.

The author seems well meaning but frustratingly engages in the same level of thinking while patting herself on the back the whole time. Throughout the book this author seems to think that the way that she views the world is the only way, and because she wields the power of the state no one is able to get a word in edgewise. She would’ve been just an absolute terror in the Milgram experiments.

Ultimately, this book is extremely frustrating on many levels. No one thinks sex trafficking is good. We should take a look at the systems and whether or not pushing people into further dark corners of the world is going to be the effective way to deal with this. Running your own personal crusade against some scuzzy company, single mindedly wielding the power of the state and claiming grand moral victory is deeply problematic however.

[Richard Propes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggy Krell's "Taking Down Backpage: Fighting the World's Largest Sex Trafficker" is the true story of Krell's essential role in the dismantling of Backpage.com, a former website generally regarded as having been the world's largest sex trafficking operation. It was such a large, seemingly untouchable operation that even the FBI had previously honored it due to its seeming cooperation anytime they'd show up with individual reports of trafficking or abuse.

Of course, as Krell points out, the actual cooperation was minimal at best. It was enough to allow the website to operate for almost a decade while simultaneously turning its key operatives into millionaires and having a key role in the exploitation and abuse of women, children, and others.

Krell starts off the book in a way that resonates with me - she acknowledges that all of her cases to be included involve women yet also acknowledges that sex trafficking also impacts men, the transgender community, and others.

Krell also acknowledges that while "Taking Down Backpage" focuses on sex trafficking there are other forms of human trafficking just as devastating and worthy of our attention.

Backpage.com was, for those who don't know, a website that mostly appeared like a somewhat seedier collection of classifieds. It operated 24/7, 365 days a year. It operated in over 800 cities nationwide and the owners would receive a cut of each transaction. It would take only a few moments of browsing to realize that Backpage received a good majority of its business from those who work in the sex field, though the truth was much darker. Backpage was raking in millions while women and children were being forced into the commercial sex trade through violence, coercion, and fear.

"Taking Down Backpage" is part memoir and part legal procedural/semi-thriller. The efforts to weave in the story's memoirish elements are not quite as effective here, Krell's personal elements obviously taking a backseat to the intensity of the evolving legal conflicts. While these personal elements help to humanize the story, and Krell for that matter, they're not quite as fleshed out as they could be and only one story involving Krell and a poorly timed phone call from former California Attorney General turned Vice-President Kamala Harris really clicks.

"Taking Down Backpage" is at its most compelling as Krell works alongside fellow prosecutors and cross-state agencies to assemble the pieces necessary to take down a behemoth that existed largely because of a legal system that had yet to keep up with the growth of the internet and its seemingly infinite potential for illegal activities and human impact.

Krell writes like a lawyer, both a strength and an occasional weakness here, because she is a lawyer. She's also a lawyer who was working in one of the most challenging areas of the legal arena and "Taking Down Backpage" possesses the matter-of-fact, procedural-based thinking that was required of Krell and her team to begin taking down the behemoth that was legally aware, well funded, well represented, and willing to exert as much influence as necessary.

There's no question that "Taking Down Backpage" is a jarring book. We "know" these things exist, yet we keep them at a distance. Krell makes them up close and personal and refuses to flinch in sharing the very real human costs of it all. At the same time, we get glimpses of a woman balancing a home life with marriage and kids and family vacations. "Taking Down Backpage" practically begs to be made into a film where Krell's stories can be developed even more fully.

If I had my preferences, I'd see a stronger balance between memoir and procedural here. The procedural components are absolutely necessary and shouldn't be compromised. Krell does a nice job of making them accessible and understandable though unquestionably simplified here. She explains in simple yet vivid detail how Backpage got away with what it did and the various steps that had to be taken to even make the case a legally viable one. However, it would be nice to enhance the human element of "Taking Down Backpage" and to further develop life after the website was taken down.

For example, as I recall, all of those involved are nearing the end of their prison sentences. What next?

While defense is a key element in due process, it's hard not to be jarred by the legal practices put on display here in defending Backpage. It's even more jarring to realize this kind of defense likely continues (as it's certainly not illegal).

As Krell moves toward story's end, we sense her own shifting personally and professionally. There's practically no way to deny that working in this field day after day would be immensely challenging. This may be worthy of more exploration.

I suppose it's a good thing, really, that "Taking Down Backpage" leaves you wanting more. Krell gives us, of course, the acute awareness that more is needed. As she transitioned to a new opportunity after this effort wound down, Krell also shares the current state of sex trafficking and the continuing effort needed. Shutting down Backpage.com was a huge step but hardly an absolute one.

"Taking Down Backpage" is, indeed, a valuable and necessary read for both the informed and uninformed. While it tackles a difficult subject, it's very seldom graphic other than honestly acknowledging the very human cost of sex trafficking. With several months until publication, "Taking Down Backpage" may very well experience additional tweaking along its editing journey but will undeniably remain a valuable, important story as we address sex trafficking and work to ensure the internet is not used as a weapon against humanity.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

CW: human trafficking/sex trafficking, sexual assault (commercial sex involving minors ie rape), court trials

Thank you to NetGalley and New York University Press for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This nonfiction book tells the story of dismantling the sex trafficking website Backpage and the people behind it. Though a heavy fight, the story is extremely interesting to follow. The author is the lead prosecutor, and her determination to get rid of Backpage is clear through her every word. I'm glad I picked this one up!

[Caroline Hodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Content and what Maggie Krell accomplished is wonderful. The story is eh. More of a legal description of what happened vs a great story that compels you to keep reading.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Thanks to NetGalley and NYU Press for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.]

This book about a legal investigation read like a true crime thriller. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be so enraptured by a chapter about floating through piles of emails and paperwork, but Krell's every word had me drawn back to the page. It's a little heavy on legal jargon, if that's not your wheelhouse, but by no means does it require a law degree (though I am now wondering about law school ...)

Before reading this, I'd heard of BackPage only very adjacently, mentioned every so often on the national news. Krell spins a compelling, honest, uplifting, but at times gut-wrenching tale of the men at the center of it all, and how lawyers for the government fought the government tooth and nail to put a stop to the most pervasive sex trafficking website in America. The statistics at the end stymied me, as I realized just how great an impact her case had on a global scale, not just on the lives of the survivors whose stories she brought to light. It reads just like a good crime drama watches: easily followed, but unpredictable enough that I never knew what was going to be on the next page. Fair warning, there is topic-relevant discussion of rape, abuse and human trafficking, but nothing graphic or vulgar.

[Jennilynn Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, in depth behind the scenes look into the investigation that ultimately took down Backpage and set into motion changing the way this country looks at sex trafficking.

This book does get dull, but it's not a fictional story. It's also not a "true crime" story. This is the equivalent of a film documentary only in print. If this is your sort of thing you'll enjoy this book, if it's not well then you probably won't. Personally I really enjoyed learning more about this, I had no idea the level that Backpage was contributing to the sex trafficking industry. While we still have a lot of work to do, and a huge trafficking problem in this country reading about how Maggy was brave enough to take on one of the biggest players in the industry was very uplifting.

I received an early copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Sarah Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A child who is being commercially sexually exploited is a rape victim. There's no such thing as a child prostitiute."

It's so easy to fall into the mindset that trafficking "doesn't happen here", and reading a book like this is really eye-opening. I love that Maggy explained the case in ways that were understandable to those unfamiliar with the law. She also gave credit to every person involved in shutting down Backpage, giving the reader a scope of how large this case really was. In closing, she helped me understand how things need to be changed moving forward, because this issue is far from solved. It was a really interesting read, and I learned a lot from it.

[Jim Beatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The function of freedom is to free someone else.
Toni Morrison

[Anne Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think many can agree that sex trafficking does not get the attention it should. Partly because of those whose names could and should come out. We just had the trial of Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell and yet they didn't allow it to air. Of course, that has left a very sour taste in our mouths to say the least. The author did an excellent job sticking to this case and being a thorn in Backpage's side. Because she refused to give up, she was able to help so many when this site was eventually shut down.

What I am most disappointed with is when she does mention Epstein, she also brought up Trump being his great friend. However, I do feel that Bill Clinton was an even better one. But she conveniently leaves that out. I feel if you are going to mention the elephant in the room you should certainly do it in a fair manner.

She did go on to say that due to a bill that President Trump passed she was able to bring down Backpage. Overall, I thought it was a professionally written book. One that is horrible in content but so especially important at the same time.

[sheephestia · Rating 3 out of 5]

though krell seems like a great prosecutor, her style of penmanship is not engaging and i found it boring. some thoughts seemed random, especially the quips of humor; it would've benefited from more contextualizing. i'd have appreciated more background on the survivors of backpage. i understand she placed some of their stories for emphasis but i didn't think of it as appropriate. she reserves one or two sentences for some sex trafficking victims, highlighting their death but does not delve deeper. their exploitation is important to the narrative, but requires more humanization and this isn't the method. to be clear, this is not a critique on krell's work, and i do not believe this was her intention - but it is how her writing read to me. overall, i would've preferred a more social focus rather than the legal. it read like a court document to me and i think something like backpage should not be limited to its legal aspect. however, we need people like krell and the work she does!

[Elyse · Rating 2 out of 5]

What should be a very compelling and important book was stifled by a very judgemental and dull tone. Rather than being informed it felt like I was being lectured.

[Brittany Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I learned that justice doesn’t keep score. There is really no such thing as a win or a loss. Each day, you go in, you do your very best work, you seek justice, and you pray to God that you can leave a lasting impact and make your community a little safer.”


Maggy Krell did make our communities a little safer… at least for the most part. More on that later.

I had never heard of Backpage before but when I saw the title of this book I was really curious and wanted to read more.

These days I feel like I hear more about people wanting to legalize prostitution and ‘sex work’ or the ever-expanding ‘sexual freedom’ rights people apparently don’t have enough of than I hear about anyone fighting human trafficking.

This book was an encouragement that there are people who are fighting the second largest criminal business in the world— human trafficking— and are having success!

“This is a case about a new generation of slave traders who have created an online marketplace to exploit the most vulnerable people in our society, all while pocketing millions and millions of dollars each month.”


What is Backpage?

“In 2013, the aider and abettor and the commercial sex industry’s biggest beneficiary was a website: Backpage.com. Virtually every sex-trafficking case we prosecuted included an online ad posted on Backpage.com. The brothels from Operation Wilted Flower used it to advertise. The street traffickers… often sold victims to more than ten men a night using Backpage. Gangs used it to move victims around in a horrifying network of exploitation and violence. There was no doubt that Backpage exponentially expanded this growing criminal industry.”

Operating in over 800 cities globally, Backpage was a website made to look like Craigslist, selling/listing things in a variety of categories: furniture, cars, etc. But “90-100% of their revenue was from the ‘escort’ section.”

It became a years-long battle that Krell undertook to try to shutdown this website facilitating the selling of trafficked women and children every night and profiting from this illegal exploitation.


The Legal Battle

Maggy Krell kept a post-it note on her desk with her three goals on this case:

1. Get a felony conviction.

2. Shut down the website.

3. Fix the CDA.

The CDA is the Communications Decency Act (CDA) which protects internet service providers from liability for the words or actions of their users. This is the shield Backpage was hiding behind with the charges brought against them. They claimed to be merely a platform that is not responsible for what people do on their page.

They cooperated with law enforcement on many occasions to take down ads for sexually exploited children. But it became clear to Krell that they were doing the bare minimum to appease law enforcement so they wouldn’t get shutdown.

Krell had the legal burden to show that the owners of Backpage knowingly accepted money for these crimes and also created this content on their site.

She attempted to charge the owners with pimping but those charges didn’t stick. Ultimately the charges that enabled her to bring the case to trial was money laundering and conspiracy.

The amount of work it took her and her team and the teams she collaborated with to accumulate enough of the right kind of evidence and obtain it legally took years.

Her ambition is incredible! Most people would have given up but her passion drove her to do what it took to accomplish her goals.


The book details all of the legal hoops she jumped through and her evidence gathering missions, but in short [SPOILER ALERT]:

1. The primary owner of Backpage cooperated with law enforcement to shorten his sentence and provided more evidence and information against his colleagues. Krell got convictions for all three primary financial beneficiaries.

2. The website is shutdown.

3. During his presidency, Trump signed a bill that changed the CDA to prevent it from being used as a shield from criminal enforcement, specifically of the crime of human trafficking. It also allowed “victims to privately sue an internet service provider that aided in their victimization.”

“National research study showed that following the shutdown of Backpage, sex trafficking declined by more than 25%. The study found, based on analytical data, that demand had also been reduced.”

I’m not sure how they obtained this information and whether it was global or just national, but regardless, this case made a significant impact against the sex trafficking industry.

Krell also made significant changes in the way law enforcement handles these cases by emphasizing that the women and children involved should not be prosecuted as criminals— they are rape victims and victims of trauma.

“I had no interest in prosecuting the women themselves or arresting them to coerce cooperation, even though that was what other departments were doing. These women were victims. But they would never say so. And definitely not in court. Traumatized, ashamed, terrified of their pimps and traffickers, they were rightly fearful that talking to law enforcement could cause harm to a relative back home or their own injury or death.”

Instead of going after prostitutes, going after the big players like Backpage is how we will see a decline of this horrific practice.


Decriminalizing Sex Work?

I’m not sure how anyone who reads this book would come away thinking- “Yes, we definitely need to decriminalize sex work. It’s a harmless industry full of consensual acts where people are just trying to make a living.”

It’s clear that human trafficking is a problem. Child sex trafficking is rampant. And what’s sad is that we can’t even get a clear picture of it because of under-reporting and that:

“Victims do not always self-identify as victims because of the way they have been manipulated and because they have internalized so much trauma.”

“Statistically, the path to sex work often includes being raped or molested at a young age, being sexually exploited by a trafficker as a teenager, lacking a stable family environment, running away from an abusive home or group home, growing up in the system, and never experiencing consistent, unconditional love.”

Seeing how this industry is so corrupt already, I fail to see how decriminalizing prostitution and sex work will make this environment better. It could only get worse.

If it is no longer a crime, how could law enforcement ever make headway on determining when people are being trafficked and when transactions are consensual? How could they ever get into the places to the people who need them if they need probable cause and the act is no longer criminal?

“While a commercial sex transaction may seem consensual on the surface, the lopsided power dynamic, the history of trauma and abuse, and the lack of options often make the consent illusory.”

Decriminalizing it will increase the demand substantially because people won’t have to risk being charged with a crime.

Increased demand will be filled one way or another. And we already see how that is accomplished.

It is absurd, not to mention extremely insulting to survivors of human trafficking, to think decriminalizing prostitution and sex work would be a positive for our society and our communities in any way.

“There need to be fewer on-ramps and more off-ramps when it comes to the commercial sex trade.”


Planned Parenthood

Let’s circle back to my comment that Krell has ‘mostly’ made our communities safer.

She did phenomenal work in bringing down Backpage and her sensitivity to the victims and advocating for them and helping them get the help they need mentally, physically, and to get a fresh start moving forward is amazing!

So imagine my confusion when I find out that she got a new job as the Chief Legal Counsel at Planned Parenthood.

Her idea of ‘victim’ is narrow because apparently she does not view the voiceless lives in the womb as needing advocates or worthy of life and protection.

She explains her career change:

“I really felt a calling toward Planned Parenthood. I read a study showing that 80 percent of trafficking victims seek medical care at some point while they are being trafficked— and not just through the emergency room: 70 percent visit a community clinic like Planned Parenthood…

...Traffickers often withheld condoms and birth control pills to control and manipulate their victims. Planned Parenthood was a safe space where women could confidentially access reproductive health care, as well as emotional support… and yet, under President Trump, Planned Parenthood and its patients were under attack.”

On the surface, this seems noble. However, there are numerous ways to support these survivors and help them than to offer abortions.

Of course becoming pregnant from such a terrible thing is traumatic, there is no doubt of that. But we don’t heal the pain and the injustice by taking the life of another, no matter the circumstances of the conception or how unwanted the baby is.

We offer support in all the other ways. And Planned Parenthood is not the only place doing this. Our local community has a place called Agape Pregnancy Center that does all the things Krell desires for survivors— except abortion. I’m sure there are many other organizations doing the same.

The ‘attacks’ she claims Trump was making were about abortion. The government offered to continue funding Planned Parenthood if they stopped doing abortions. They refused. Because pretty much all of their revenue is from abortions. Apparently they didn’t care enough about women’s health to get funding unless they were able to continue killing babies in the womb.

It is also confounding to me that as Chief Legal Counsel to Planned Parenthood, and being privy to the information that came out about the selling of body parts and the partial birth abortions and the other horrific practices done on a day-to-day basis at these centers, she would continue to defend Planned Parenthood and promote them. It seems so incongruent with her sense of justice and victimhood in the rest of this book.

She says,

“We need to continue fighting for a cultural shift to dismantle the stubborn legacy of misogyny and be a society that truly values women and girls.”

I’m not sure how I feel about her saying this.

First- I’m not sure the correct blame is placed on misogyny. The current case of Ghislaine Maxwell is proof that women traffick and abuse as well. I believe the blame is simply on sin and the increasing belief people have that they should be able to have whatever sexual freedoms they desire. And of course, people will meet about any demand if they see money in it. The claim of misogyny is too narrow and misses the larger and more important point.

Second- it’s hard to believe her stance on the 'valuing women and girls’ when I see the contradiction in her defending abortions.

She comments how young black girls are disproportionately affected by human-trafficking in greater numbers.

Yet she fails to see that the abortion industry is the same. More African-American babies are aborted than any other in the US.

She wants to value women and girls yet abortions are done on vastly more girl babies than boy babies. This also in turn creates a ‘shortage’ of women in countries like China and India which creates a market for human trafficking for men to have wives.

If she truly wants to create a world that values women and girls, she must rethink the moral dissonance she lives.


A Couple Critiques

My review for this book is largely on content, but there is one remark to writing style to address that I’m gonna slide in here quick.

The writing is not anecdotal and is heavy on legal proceedings. There is some dullness in this way. Yet Krell is a prosecutor telling it from her perspective as a prosecutor, and so these writing choices make sense.

As another reviewer put it, to provide a more ‘human’ connection some reviewers had hoped for would be to exploit these survivors again. It’s their stories to tell and Krell was sensitive to not provide more information on their lives than was necessary to explain the case.

Also, I wish she would have addressed more of the pornography side of this industry. Porn is largely accepted in culture today as if it is a harmless thing but it is intimately connected to sex-trafficking and we are naive to think we could ever separate them.


Conclusion

Maggy Krell has made a major accomplishment as described in this book, but I can’t ignore the double-standard she lives now as Chief Legal Counsel of Planned Parenthood.

My prayer is that she would recognize the victims killed at the hands of Planned Parenthood and take down the culprits just as she did with Backpage. She is more than capable.

All that to say, this does not affect my high rating of the book. I still recommend this book be read!

We need to be made more aware of this criminal industry so we do not view sexual exploitation as normal or accepted.

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

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[Andrew Breza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking Down Backpage offers the insider account of an unstoppable prosecutor's effort to destroy the world's biggest marketplace for underage rape. I was not familiar with this story and I was shocked that such a website could exist in the open for so long.

[Ashley Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine, but I’m not really sure who the target audience is. This book is a little too procedural to be for the general public but doesn’t have enough detail to really be for lawyers or law students. This book is interesting but I wish it had a little more detail.

[Annie Mondesir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Utterly unstoppable and compelling! I couldn’t stop reading! This book is essential for everyone to read. We need our children to know what they need to be careful of. I am so surprised that I really knew nothing.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a fan of true crime, I was intrigued by this story of the prosecution and take-down of the online site Backpage. While I was aware of some aspects of sex-trafficking, I did not know this particular story and was fascinated by the author, Maggy Krell's, account. A California-based prosecutor, she became aware of how young prostitutes were treated as criminals, rather than as unwilling victims, and that only a concerted effort investigating, prosecuting and shutting down the orchestrators and other enablers, such as motel owners willing to turn a blind eye and reap the profits at the expense of children, will make a dent in this societal scourge. This also became a mission of educating those in the law enforcement and judicial system, to help shift perceptions. (She also clearly makes a distinction between sex-workers in the profession by choice, as opposed to the underage victims who are trafficked by others more powerful.)

Krell offers an honest account of the time-consuming, painstaking efforts to piece together a case, while remaining under the radar enough to avoid tipping off the owners of Backpage. She introduces us (although superficially) to those who partner with her, working in tandem in other jurisdictions. She describes the tense, suspenseful moments when arrests are finally to be made, the crushing disappointments when the procedural bureaucracy of the judicial system stymies some of her efforts, and the creative problem-solving to finally bring about some measure of justice and the shutdown of Backpage.

My one criticism is that we see the story mostly through the author's viewpoint. While this is to be expected--she is, after all, the lead prosecutor that began this journey, the title of the book is "Taking Down Backpage" and the FBI also became very much involved in the final outcome. I would have liked to have understood more of their role.

Still, I appreciate the work that Krell and other dedicated true public servants do to protect vulnerable children, and knowing more about this story.

[The Horror Report -Angela]

I have long found fascination and abundant interest in not only law enforcement and forensic science but also the practice of law. As the daughter of a police officer I was fortunate enough to see a number of facets in our law enforcement and judicial system in action. I also got in trouble as a teen so I saw both sides of the law (and no, my father being a cop didn’t get me out of anything, I was treated the same as anyone else in that court). But, because Dad was a cop and I was around law enforcement all the time, and because one of his former partners on the force (the only female partner he had while a police officer) went on to become an Assistant District Attorney for our county, and later a judge where she still presides today, I was well exposed to the reality of the world we live in. And I was fascinated. Although I would later discover that careers in these fields would be too overwhelming for someone with my particular personality and health issues, the fascination remained strong. And thus began my consistent interest in true crime. So, when the opportunity to read this book came my way, I jumped at the chance.

This is a true story written by the prosecutor herself. Nothing can top a first-hand accounting of a case or situation other than being there and involved yourself. In this book, Prosecutor Maggy Krell tells the story of her long and arduous battle within the bounds of the law and the walls of the courtroom. But, she’s not telling about just any random old case that might be interesting or entertaining. This case is about taking down literally the largest sex trafficking ring in the world, Backpage.com.

Backpage was a website that, on the surface, looked like any other website that collects and runs personal ads. It was supposedly like the newspaper’s version of the personals section, publishing ads for things like handyman work, furniture sales, various services and items for sale including actual personal ads where people were looking to meet new people to date. It quickly became obvious that this website was mostly in the business of publishing the personal ads. But not all these ads were just regular personals, they were ads for sexual services. Girls and women of varying ages, some as young as twelve years old, with pictures of them in scantily clad clothing (if you can call it that) and suggestive poses advertising dates and services, quoting prices and providing contact information to schedule a purchase. A purchase, mind you. As if these human beings were material possessions. This is the very essence of sex trafficking.

One must realize the difference between sex trafficking and sex work as a chosen profession. The ones that choose this work are exercising free will. But a large portion of the ads on this site were selling services of those who were not given the choice. These are girls and women that have been kidnapped from their homes and hometowns, smuggled into the country, found as runaways, etc. and then forced into selling their bodies to pay their captors for whatever these morons think these girls owe them for. They are often kept like prisoners in warehouses, basements and homes. They are forced to have sex with people they don’t know and don’t like for money that they don’t get to keep for up to twelve or more hours each day, constantly having “dates” scheduled the whole time. The people that pay money to violate these women are allowed to do anything they wish with them, so long as they have negotiated what both parties would perceive as a proper and agreeable price with the handler or pimp. And that’s the life these ladies are forced to lead. Forced to start doing the sex work, forced to live in the abusive and dangerous hell and forced to do whatever it takes to survive.

Now, you would think if the owners of this website were helping traffick young girls and women for sex and getting money in return, it would be relatively easy to arrest them and shut them down. However, this is not the case.

Within the pages of this book you’ll read about how the owners of Backpage, which I have personally dubbed the BP3 for easy reference when reading this book, operated with impunity under the protection of a general publishing indemnification act called the Communications Decency Act. The BP3, which consisted of James Larkin, Mike Lacey and Carl Ferrer, which basically states that they as publishers are not responsible for the content that is posted on their site nor are they responsible for the activities that stem from said content. So, they can basically let anything get posted on their site (sites, explained in the book) and anything can happen from that and they are just publishers. If I understand the Act correctly it basically means that if you see something on let’s say a social media website and it offends you, under the protection of this Act the owners of that social site cannot be sued or held liable for anything that is posted on the site nor any illegal or offensive activities resulting from any of those posts.

Prosecutor Maggy Krell tells the experience she had in fighting this particular piece of legislation that was being exploited in order to commit horrendous crimes against women and avoid any liability or accountability. She expertly breaks down and through all the legalese that frustrates so many people and explains the events that occurred so clearly that there is no room for confusion. Something I’m sure she did while presenting her case in the courtroom as well.

Krell skillfully tells of overcoming the painstaking obstacles, hurdles, mindsets and ignorance involved when bringing together a case of this magnitude. The pushback from so many sides would have been enough to wear on any prosecutor, any lawyer really, and yet she continues in her fight for justice for these exploited and abused survivors and to get the laws changed so the trafficking of human beings into sexual slavery wouldn’t be so easy and convenient for the bad guys. Ms. Krell also truly realizes the significance of sex crimes against women and the enormous impact such things as being trafficked can have.

Prosecutor Maggy Krell is a rare type of person. She is truly a soldier of justice, speaking for the victims and survivors, helping to tell their stories to the world and tirelessly working for the protection of all crime victims, regardless of their current apparent circumstances or what led them to that situation to begin with. It is clear that she is a compassionate woman with a firm belief in getting justice for those who have been violated in some of the most vile ways imaginable. And what this one woman accomplished by leading the charge against Backpage.com and their owners and publishers is nothing short of heroic and historic.

Anyone who is looking for a little glimpse of reality not only into the world of a prosecutor’s life and work, but also to what the victims and survivors of sex trafficking actually go through. This book is also quite the eye-opener in what lengths some people will go to in order to avoid the law, avoid prison and avoid going broke by continuing to commit these heinous offenses over and over and over again.

This is definitely a true crime book for the true crime lover. Any person who is passionate about stopping sex crimes and abuse towards women and children will find this book quite informative as well as motivating to get involved in the fight to stop human trafficking.


RATINGS
5/5 Stars

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot about Backpage and what it stood for and I'm still so surprised that it was able to stay open for as long as it was considering all of the shady tactics that it put up. This book was so interesting to read because while I knew that this seedy website had thankfully been taken down and removed from the internet I was never fully clear on how that happened. This book explained in great detail all of the hard work and hoops that everyone had to jump through in order to get this website closed for good. I was amazed how much of a process it really is to shut down a site, and that is one that everyone know is dealing in shady tactics. What makes this story even better was it was written by one of the prosecutors who started the take down. Backpage unfortunately was one of the largest websites in the sex trafficking circuit, and specialised in the sale of young and especially innocent victims. Lots of the ads focused on children and coheres them into prostitution, through fear and threats of violence. This was such a big undertaking, and I really liked how the author showed all of the hardships and hoops that they had to jump through in order to make sure that their plan went through properly along with making sure that no one was hurt. I also liked how it told some of the victims stories and how not all of them ended up on the positive side. There was so much going on that I'm surprised it took as long as it did for this site to be terminated. This book was very informative and I'm so glad that I got the chance to read it. If you want to know more about this heroic story than this is one book that I highly suggest that you read, you won't be disappointed. The best thing about this book was even though it was all factual and horrific, all of the information was so compelling that I just had to keep reading to see what took place. No part of this read was too dry or clinical so I got through it very easily. I'm so glad that I got the chance to read this book. This is one book you wont want to miss weather you know a lot about Backpage or you don't know anything, check it out.

[Bethany Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot I could say about this book. First, for transparency, I must confess that I have worked both Stateside and internationally since 2011 with those rescued out of the sex industry so I have first hand experience with similar stories to the women Krell defended.

With that being said Krell did a really wonderful job of explaining the need for the changes in the law and sharing the women's highlight reel without further trauma. I say that because in some of the reviews I have read some were disappointed that Krell didn't include more details regarding the women. To request more details is to request further exploitation. Instead of their bodies being exploited their stories become exploited for the sake of "good" or "awareness." Our awareness on this issue can't be at the sake of others stories. These women could be easily traced since they stood on trial so fake names are just not enough. I commend Krell for sharing just enough and setting boundaries that didn't directly impact the punch of the book. This book is about the behind the scenes of taking down back page, it's not a story about the survivors themselves (as the title clearly states).

The only thing I didn't fully appreciate was the obvious political bias that was present, but Krell is completely allowed to share those views, I just prefer to keep it straight as it isn't just a republican or democrat issue but rather an issue as a whole society.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Maddie Zgonc · Rating 4 out of 5]

"When prevention fails and kids are caught up in the criminal justice system with cases of their own, we need to look at them through a public-health lens: they are children who have been subjected to severe forms of sexual abuse and trauma."

Maggy Krell's incredible account of bringing one of the most horrendous avenues of sexual exploitation is a must read. As a current law student and an aspiring prosecutor, Krell's story is particularly amazing. You can tell when you read "Taking Down Backpage," that she has an unwavering passion for justice that cannot be compromised. She has not stopped fighting for the rights of the sexually exploited even with the demise of Backpage. Krell's writing sucked me in and made me feel all the emotions. I raged when her first case was dismissed, my heart ached when she relays the story of each abused girl with such empathy, and I celebrated every small victory. Her story only further solidifies my desire to work in the legal field.

If you are looking for a light-hearted book you will forget about as soon as you finish it, this is not the book for you. Krell makes sure that you will never forget the stories of those victimized by Backpage's exploitative actions, nor does Krell allow you to believe that by taking down Backpage, sexual exploitation is a thing of the past. There is still lots of work to be done. Bringing down the giant that was Backpage is just the beginning.