♪ in a world like this where some back down i know we're gonna make it in a time like this ♪ ♪ when love comes round i know we gotta take it in a world like this where people fall apart ♪ ♪ in a time like this when nothing comes from the heart in a world like this ♪ ♪ i've got you

[ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: backstreet boys, and their new cd "in a world like this." >> jimmy: i want to thank larry david, naya rivera. apologies to matt damon, we ran out of time. tomorrow night johnny knoxville, logan lerman and music from queens of the stone age. thank you for joining us, "nightline" is next. good night.

tonight, on "nightline." sex sells, with american girls in american cities. it is happening right under our noses, as the fbi captures over 150 pimps, "nightline" goes under cover to find the real faces of sex trafficking. reality check. if it were not so serious it would have made for a great spotter on her show. >> happy birthday. >> real housewives of new jersey star teresa guidice is facing possible time in prison for fraud. what led to this cold, hard dose of reality? and a tightrope walker sets an impossibly high bar for

from new york city, this is "nightline." with dan abrams. good evening, and thank you for joining us. when we think of the most horrific of crimes, the ones so morally repugnant, you know, the ones that make you question humanity, it can make you think they happen somewhere else, far away. that is why this week's capture of over 150 pimps was so disturbing, the children, who are the victims? abc went under cover to find out. >> reporter: sex sells. and here in america, the business of sexual slavery is

booming, happening thousands of times a day. on the streets, the internets, and those ubiquitous massage pa parlors that dot the nation's strip malls. to find out how this happens, we decided to go undercover, and unveil the secret war of pimps, the girls, and americans willing to pay for sex. it is mid-afternoon outside this massage parlor in houston. >> this is a little camera i'll wear on my body. >> reporter: darren, my producer, poses as a potential customer. >> wish me luck. when you walk into these places, the first thing you see is a big window. and these girls straight out in front of you behind the glass. and i guess, the idea is that you take your pick. how much is it? how much? >> 160. >> okay, and you girls dance,

too? no dance. okay. all right, thank you. obviously you can't just ask for sex. there is a lot of coded language being used. and full service? >> live one-on-one. >> all right, plate glass windows, steel bars, women dressed in very revealing clothing, things that just basically suggest that this is not your everyday massage pa parlor. >> next, i'm going to go in myself, working as a journalist to see if anybody comes out to talk to me. >> all right, she is going in. >> hi. do you work here? >> no. >> oh, you don't. oh, okay. thank you. hello? my name is marianne, i'm from national geographic. i'm working on a film. as i leave the spa, the man i

saw in the lobby is approaching his car. hi, i'm marianne, were you in there? thank you, thank you. i don't feel comfortable, i am so sorry. i don't know how things work here. >> a friend of mine said that this is a good place. that they have a lot of o-- >> i'm a lawyer, and you know -- you know what i mean? >> he is propositioning her. >> let me think about it. how much would you pay? okay, let me think about it. >> you're not a cop. >> i'm not a cop. >> after i confirmed that i can't arrest him, he says something that makes me think. >> i'm going to take care of you. >> you're going to take care of me. >> sounds like he might be a pimp. >> you're just a customer, not a

pimp? >> no, no, i swear to god. i'm a professional. >> okay. my god, that was crazy, that was totally crazy. could you hear? >> i was able to hear pieces. >> this guy told me that if i worked five guys a day that i could make a thousand a day and it is pretty good. >> if you went in there, it is amazing how quickly you can be scooped up by a pimp. >> later on, we looked up the man in the spa, turns out he does have a professional job and there is no evidence he is a pimp. but to find out more about that world our next stop is the streets of charlotte, north carolina. >> tonight, we're heading towards a place we found that is pretty common to have girls walking the street. our concerned is that some of the girls are forced to walk the beat against their will. >> we're out with mark and amy, two activists from a local christian group who works with the population, american girls,

who are the victims of sex trafficking. we arrive at the track. the term used to describe a city's street prostitution area. >> right here to the left. >> reporter: among prostitutes, 75% are selling themselves because they are working for a pimp. >> these guys kidnap, kill and rape women for a living. so they're you know, you need to know that going in. >> reporter: amy spots one young girl who seems especially upset. >> look at that. >> reporter: the girl's erratic indicates that she is a trafficking victim. hey, i have a question, i have a question. my name is amy, if you ever need anything like clothing, food, or a job -- are you okay? >> i'm -- i'm -- >> no, really.

>> you're so young, you're a baby. where are you from? okay. are you working the streets right now. >> a little bit. >> it is okay, it is okay. >> actually, there is a guy coming up right now. i think it is probably her pimp. >> as the girl starts to cry, we have no idea that this man is eyeing us from just a few feet away. >> i'm going to pop out. >> do you have a pimp? >> no, i'm -- people have tried to -- >> okay. this is my boyfriend across the street waiting for me. >> so interesting, like these girls say they're their boyfriends, but they have other girlfriends who are also working the street.

>> reporter: but it is off the streets that the sex traffickers are often hidden in plain sight. >> he had a very, very expensive suit and a private plane. you would never look at him and think oh, this is a trafficker. >> reporter: when jillian was 19 she started to make a name for herself as a model. >> nobody would believe that you are a sex trafficking victim. >> i think part of that is just because we have engrained in ourselves of what a sex trafficking victim often is. >> reporter: jillian grew up as the girl next door, a high school cheerleader and a straight a student. but on one modelling job in arizona, her life would change forever. in the middle of the night, three men entered her hotel room, one of them was a man in the modelling industry. someone who had gained her trust. >> and they videotaped it, photographed it. >> reporter: when jillian

returned to charlotte, she was too afraid to go to the police. she decided to put the whole incident behind her. but then, her abuser called. >> and he said i have all of those videos of you being raped in scottsdale. and i'm going to sell them on the internet and attach your name to them. it became threat after threat after threat after black mail after black mail. and so when he would say hey, i need you to go to the city or i'm in charlotte and i need you to meet with this person, then i did. >> reporter: one of the incredible things about jillian's story is that her trafficker was a wealthy, respected member of the community. there was no standard way that a trafficker recruits a girl. but they are nearly always master manipulators. >> thinking back it makes me sick, thinking about all the different places in my body -- >> reporter: this is jessica. for years, she was trafficked by pimps, between massage parlors

all over the country. >> i mean, we had girls in las vegas, in kansas, we had girls here, in houston, texas, we had girls in oklahoma. i mean, there were girls that came in from all over the place. >> reporter: what ages? >> the youngest one was 13. she looked older. >> reporter: what happened to her. >> i don't know. >> reporter: in 2009, the fbi indicted the gang of pimps responsible for trafficking jessica. >> i was just a piece of property. that is how we got branded. that is why all the girls were with particular guys, got branded. >> reporter: what do you mean, got branded? >> i have a panther on my back, and that was their little logo, it is uncoverable. i mean, you can't cover it. >> reporter: so this was to show that you belonged? >> i'm their property.

>> reporter: in 2013, three of the traffickers were sentenced to eight years in prison. >> i think they should have gotten the death penalty. >> reporter: do you think that he will ever serve time for what he did to you? >> i sure hope so. >> reporter: thousands of times a day, young american women are bought and sold. >> they may not change their lives right away, they have an opportunity for somebody to love them unconditionally, and they realize that somebody is always waiting for them to come home. >> reporter: for "nightline," in charlotte, north carolina. >> amazing that it still happens, marianna, thank you. inside secret america airs on friday, you can see more on abc news and uni vision. next, some very real problems for this real

housewife. >> abc news "nightline," brought to you by progressive. yep, there i am with flo. hoo-hoo! watch it! [chuckles] anyhoo, 3 million people switched to me last year, saving an average of $475. [sigh] it feels good to help people save... with great discounts like safe driver, multicar, and multipolicy. so call me today. you'll be glad you did. cannonbox! [splash!]

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falc . observing what should be private conflicts is the meat and potatoes of daytime television. and dreaming up the controversy is often the name of the game. "the real housewives of new jersey" is typical. abc's juju chang brings us the real housewife now fighting in a forum more perilous than the tv.

>> reporter: there is something about watching a train wreck which makes joe and teresa guidice real television. they're famous for their fights on "the real housewives of new jersey." >> reporter: but now, the guidices are in the fight of their lives, starting in a different kind of televised drama, after posting bail, facing bankruptcy fraud, fraud, and they're both expected to plead not guilty. >> they will make all statements to the bankruptcy court. >> reporter: they allegedly used the money to fuel their spending binges. >> and then there is one more. >> oh, that is cute. >> reporter: it is hard to know

if fans tuned in out of envy, or just to ridicule the cringe-worthy excess on display. >> what the public doesn't know is they pay the fee for hair, clothes, makeup. if you throw a party and "bravo" comes to film it, you're paying the cost. >> reporter: while it is nearly a trademark for the guidices, dropping thousands in cash. no detail too extravagant for her kids' birthday parties. she thought nothing of dropping thousands for a pair of shoes or cocktail dress. for us as viewers we tune in because we want to see the fantasy? >> i think we want to see these fabulous houses that we probably will never get in. we want to see the fabulous fur coats, shoes, designer handbags.

>> reporter: lisa van der pump showed me hers, they earned the money for years in the restaurant business. in stark contrast, the guidices racked up debt. >> how much is it? >> and that is for you. happy birthday. >> thank you. >> reporter: in the middle of all of this lavishness, teresa and joe are charged with fraudulently applying for loans, claiming that teresa was an executive assistant, and using state w-2s. they accuse joe of not filing tax returns for years. audiences like to see people fall from grace, why? >> i think we build people up, and watch them fall, and then start all over again.

>> i think if i was going to jail, i might be a little upset. >> reporter: a premonition? for teresa, she could be behind jail for decades, and joe could be sent back to italy. >> i told him the charges might be deportable. and these charges certainly are deportable. >> reporter: teresa's lawyer issued a statement saying today is the most difficult day for our family and we hope to resolve this as quickly as possible. the reality couple said nothing, driven off into the sunset by joe's father. but when asked if she was worried about her son's possible deportation, he kept it classy. for "nightline," i'm juju chang, in new york. >> that is an interesting way of saying "no comment." they face up to decades in prison. but if convicted this would

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the leaker who put edward snowden to shame gets a verdict. and the inmate who avoid ed one in the crafty mistake. on tonight's feed frenzy. >> window of opportunity, an inmate in an arkansas detention center made a spectacular escape on sunday, diving through a service window, sprinting through a parking lot and darting into a waiting car. it was all caught on camera. but he was not. i'm guessing that window will now be permanently shot. lofty goal, a chinese tightrope walker set a record for walking a high wire, not just your everyday stunt, he went between two hot air balloons, the stroll through the sky took just over 38 seconds. and this is his