thousands of men fly in from all over the world for precious

one-on-one time with their favorite porn star. our producer attended the expo to see how the commercial sex industry has evolved in the age of the internet. >> so why are you guys in vegas today? tell me what the point is of being in vegas. >> it's like a promotional events company, and we would travel around the world in search of the best bottom in north america. so we do like booty contests, like booty pageants. >> so wait a minute. your job is you guys come down from very cold canada, and you travel around the country to look for the best bottom? >> yes. >> and how does one go around the world looking for people's butts? >> well, we host a contest at like trade shows, and it's the crowd that judges whose bottom is the best. >> does your mother know that you're doing this? >> yes. yes. she owns a pair of these

underwear actually. >> booty contests are little league compared to some of the other businesses on display here. by far and away the most popular booth is myfreecams.com. a website connecting members to more than 1,000 live models who will chat, strip, and play for you live via webcam. >> it's a live streaming website, and we have a lot of fun on it. we get naked and play games. >> the website demonstrates just how aggressively the sex industry has evolved with the rise of the internet. instead of passively watching porn, one can now get a personalized experience where the viewer directs the action. >> the best part is that we get paid to have sex. >> pretty much. >> dozens of free cam models come to vegas to promote their website and to give attendees a live, in-person show. frenzied men seem to be on the

verge of a breakdown. >> so you look like you're having a good time? >> yeah, i am. >> do you come here every year? >> yeah. >> what's the fun of coming here? >> the tits and the ass. >> basically the one and the two? >> yeah. >> what is it that you find so appealing? and what are you going to do with this video? >> oh, nothing. no. >> so you see sights that you don't see elsewhere? >> oh, yeah. yeah. >> like what? >> here's a prime example right here, you know. the girls put on a great show. >> if a one-on-one web fantasy falls short, men can hire a personal exhibitionist. >> how old are you? >> i'm 21. >> oh, my gosh. you look like you're 18. >> well, i've been doing porn since i was 18. >> really? you've been doing porn since you were 18?

>> yep. >> what is sexyjobs.com? >> it's a social networking site for porn. it's equivalent to monster in the regular professional field. you can hire a naked maid. you can hire a masseuse. you can hire an escort, or you can just hire a really hot girl to take pictures of. >> are there really men in america who want to hire a naked maid? >> yeah, actually. all over the place. there are men who work in the government who hire girls to take sexy photos of. it's really more common than you'd expect. >> what do you think about people who actually sell sex versus just being naked? >> i just wish that some people would be more safe with it. in the escorting world, it's very weird to find safe sex. that's all on the individual. each girl decides what she's comfortable with, what her own feeling is on all that. >> have you ever been propositioned? >> oh, i'm propositioned all the time. >> but you don't? >> i don't.

>> do you ever worry about that all of this sex is maybe inviting more human trafficking or, you know -- >> no. i think that's kind of a dichotomy. porn girls aren't even different from regular girls except for the fact they like to have sex openly. human trafficking is something that takes place in areas where people don't have freedoms and they can't stand up for themselves, which luckily we're in a country where we can. >> right. while most might consider vegas' free-for-all to be harmless fun and games among consenting adults, annie lobert, a former escort, warns there is a dark side. >> even though you might not see bars or chains on their feet, they're in slavery of their pimps. i believe vegas is the crown jewel. that's why this is the place where the best girls are. the prettiest girls, the youngest girls.

>> there's pimps out there that will kill girls and they will hurt them. that's why i do this, because i'm fighting for them, and i want them to be free.

in the titillating whirlwind that is the ultimate vegas destination, the annual avn porn convention, men wander the maze of eye candy, seemingly in a sensory overloaded daze. >> i think they're scared to walk up to us. >> there is one booth that clearly doesn't belong to the others. the naked truth ministry. >> what is the naked truth, and why are you here of all places in las vegas? >> well, you know, number one, we're a church, and we're tired of doing the religion thing. and as we read the bible, we kind of feel that jesus might be in a place like this. >> do you see a lot of need in las vegas when you walk around

and look at all of this? >> yes. i think this is the product of losing parents, families splitting up, moms going this way, dads going this way. the kids are left to raise themselves. so we feel if we can just friendly up to them, maybe get them to trust us enough to give us their name, and then kind of follow up on them, and maybe they'll trust us enough where we can help them. >> then this is what we do here. this is hookers for jesus to help women get out of

prostitution that are with bad pimps. >> i see the person deep inside, and that person is a person that just wants to be loved and that just needs to know their value and that they are a person of worth. >> you know, you're so beautiful. look at your little dimples on your face. >> thank you. >> have you ever been in the sex industry? because i used to be in the industry. i used to be an escort. >> annie feels a unique kinship with the women in the second industry as a former escort and survivor of beatings, rape, and abuse, annie says her mission now is saving women. >> i ended up getting out of it because i overdosed on drugs, and my ex-pimp was beating me on a regular basis. i just couldn't take it no more. >> annie has had a very challenging life. that's why we like to put annie in these places, because a lot of these girls have to talk to someone that's been there. they look at us and they go, you don't have a clue. but when they see annie, they go, you know what it's like. so we really like to use her in these kind of situations.

>> here is women that are prostitutes, women that are escorts, women that are strippers, women that are from the brothels, women that are porn stars. there's the johns that buy the girls. there's addicts. there's the porn producers. there's pimps. there's everybody from the sex industry here. this is where everybody's meeting today, this week, and we just need to pray. >> the details of annie's 16 years in the vegas sex industry would horrify even the most experienced therapist. annie says she's just grateful to be alive and able to spread the message of redemption to other women in need. >> this is the industry that i come from, lord, and i'm so thankful, thankful, thankful that you've brought me out, and i'm safe, and now we are here to hook, help, and heal ladies and men that are in the sex industry in whatever way that we can. we just lay this whole day, lay this whole outreach at your feet, lord, and we thank you. >> every year the bright lights

and glamour draw thousands of young women to the city's casinos and strip. the promise of fast cash can temporarily blind young minds to the dangers that go hand in glove with the business of sex. for the estimated 30,000 sex workers in vegas, illegally selling themselves online or through agencies, annie says it's only a matter of time before a pimp tries to wedge himself in to take control of a girl. >> if you're selling your body, i don't care if you're independent or not, you are going to eventually meet your pimp, and he is going to capture you, and he is going to abuse you. and he's going to rape you, and he's going to beat you into submission. where's your guys' booth at? >> this single mom pays her bills by dancing on the side at one of vegas' 30 strip clubs. she tells annie about a pimp who is constantly trying to recruit dancers to his stable. >> my best friend has a pimp. >> what does he do to her?

>> he just -- he belittles her, tells her that he's going to take her daughter from her. >> is it their daughter? >> no. >> oh, that's not right. >> she's so brainwashed. >> do you know that's illegal for him? if he tries to do that, that's kidnapping. he can get 20 to life for that. >> every night that i look at the las vegas strip and i see those beautiful lights, i also see something deeper. i see someone almost dying. i see a girl in a beautiful casino, crying after she's turned her trick in the bathroom and trying to wash up. and she's bleeding, okay? because she's turned so many tricks that her bottom is worn out. >> annie wants the public to know that the myth of the "pretty woman" movie is a lie. >> we are the best actresses because we fake every orgasm. we lie and say we love what we do.

we lie and say we love our clients, and, oh, honey, i'm falling in love with you. we -- we sell the fantasy. >> as a former high-class escort who made $1,000 an hour, she was subjected to the same beatings and exploitation as a runaway street walker working the strip. >> there's pimps out there that will kill girls and they will hurt them. that's why i do this, because i'm fighting for them, and i want them to be free. and i don't care if they quit. i just want them to know god loves them and there's a support group, and there's a sisterhood that will wrap their arms around them and say, listen, if you're ready to get out of this and start your own business, go to college, have a life, and be normal again, away from these men abusing you, call us. we're ready for you. tell your friend that. >> there is probably thousands of women that want to get out at any time in vegas.

and if they could, they would. and they just need to know that it's available and that it's safe. >> he beat me so bad that both my eyes were almost shut. he kept yelling at me, screaming at me, "this is pimpin', bitch."

with adult players willing to spend billions, out of state pimps converge on vegas, bringing with them hundreds of exploited women. annie lobert says it's a rigged game, one where women always lose. >> it might be a choice in the beginning, but once you get in, there's no way out. >> in 1985, teenage annie arrived in vegas, a fresh-faced blonde from minnesota. her handsome new boyfriend had convinced her that moving to vegas was their ticket to success. >> he like totally encouraged me. he was like, wow, you're so intelligent. you're going to make it in life. you're a business woman. i like you. he made me feel really special. he made me feel like we were an

elite couple and that, you know, people should be jealous of us. >> but the once supportive boyfriend transformed the very first night she worked as a las vegas call girl. her man demanded that she hand over all her earnings. when she refused, he brutally beat her. >> he proceeded to pull me into the kitchen and slam my head inside the cabinets, back and forth, and then dragged me up by my hair into the back of the cement porch and shoved my face down in dog feces and tell me this is pimpin', bitch. this is what we came here for. bitch, you have to submit to me. >> in the dark, bleeding and alone, annie cried herself to sleep. she says it was in that moment that she realized her boyfriend was actually a pimp, and he had been intending to prostitute her all along. from that point on, annie says she lived the life of a high-class call girl under the thumb of a brutal pimp. >> we had to date rich, white men, men that were international, that were oil moguls, judges and senators and,

you know, athletes and musicians and actors. the whole millionaire/billionaire genre because that's las vegas. >> annie says her top tier clients were willing to pay several thousand dollars an hour. she estimates that she made over $3 million in five years and that every single dollar went to her pimp. >> when you get this money in your hand, you bring it home to your daddy because that's what you call your pimp. you call him your daddy. and you lay it at his feet. you lay it on the table. you lay it at his feet. you say, look, daddy. look what i did. and he pats you on the head, kisses you on the forehead, and says, okay. get some rest. shower. we'll go eat, and then you go back out there and get more money for me. and that's what all the girls do. you don't surrender one-third. you don't surrender 10% or half. you give them everything that you make. >> many call prostitution, even

though it is illegal in vegas, a victimless crime. the belief is that sin city's high-class hookers hold all the cards. but survivors of the strip's most exclusive escort services want the public to know theirs is a life of pure pain. whether girls are hustling high rollers, working the five-star casinos, or pulling car dates along the grimy tropicana track, annie says that most women are sex slaves pure and simple, with no way out. >> i've had 13 friends that have died so far, and they were all high-class escorts. so if this is so great and if we're having such a great time according to all the ads and the yellow pages and what hollywood does to us makes this look like it's such a great, empowering lifestyle, then tell me where does the violence stop? >> for women who do try to escape, vegas can be cruel.

annie says with tens of thousands of dollars at stake with each pretty girl, pimps collude and work together to keep their women in line. when annie tried to run, her pimp made sure she would never try it again. >> there was one time that he kidnapped me and put me in a trunk and brought me to a pimp slayer. six other pimps were there and cut all my hair off and stripped me completely nude. they call it serving. and he beat me so bad that both my eyes were almost shut. broke my nose in several places. fractured my clavicle and my leg with a poker from a fireplace, an iron poker. and that was for about six, seven hours. he kept yelling at me, screaming at me, this is pimpin', bitch. >> it's a slave trade. >> lieutenant karen hughes, a 30-year veteran, leads the vegas

metro vice unit. her team is out every day cracking down on those involved in vegas' illegal sex trade. >> let's be real about it. it's a slave trade. these pimps aspire to be respected within their culture. they sell women from one pimp to another. >> but it's not just the tyranny of the pimps that high-class call girls like annie face. inevitably, violent and twisted johns are also drawn to vegas and its bounty of women for sale. despite being at a five-star hotel, annie says that her life has been threatened and that she's been beaten on more than one occasion by abusive johns. she remembered one angry man who wanted his money back after he was too drunk and high to perform. he proceeded to beat annie unconscious and stole all her money.

>> when i came to, he was carrying me to the window. and back then, the windows opened all the way. there was no restraint on them. there was no balcony. so he opened the window wide to throw me out of the window, and i basically clawed his eyes out. thank goodness for nails. >> annie says it took her ten long years before she was able to leave the life for good. then with the help of a local congregation, she formed her own ministry, hookers for jesus. their mission, to reach out to women who are trapped in the game and help them find a way out. >> put yourself in your shoes and you're at the lowest point in your life. man, i'm just so tired. i'm done. i left my pimp. i'm ready to get out of here. and someone walks up to you and hand you and you open the card and what is this? religion stuff?

what would it say in the card to get your mind to say oh my gosh, god is looking out for me? >> we look for girls that are drowning in their depravity, in their depression, in the dark, dark seedy lifestyle of sex trafficking. the ones that want to get out. the ones that are going to grab that line, that hook and say, help me. i'm drowning. >> now married to a member of a prominent christian rock band, annie is now known as "the god girl" on the strip. it's an identity she embraces with pride. >> i used to have nightmares every single night, trying to escape my pimp, trying to escape the john, the trick, trying to escape the rapist, you know. but as you get stronger and as you re-establish yourself slowly in society, it starts to be a distant past faded, and you start to really believe in yourself again.

in a city where prostitution is technically illegal, the business of selling sex is unabashed. but las vegas metro police

department says it's buyer beware for those who want to pay to play. >> sir, you're being arrested for soliciting for the purpose of prostitution. >> when men or women come here or visitors come here and they think that las vegas has legalized prostitution, that couldn't be further from the truth. >> it's early tuesday morning, and the vice unit is preparing for an undercover sting. >> we have two female officers working, posing as street prostitutes on the west tropicana track. >> detective charlie directs the team to west tropicana avenue, a prostitution track just minutes from the glittering strip where pimps turn out the city's most desperate and vulnerable victims. >> the truck lot. those of you that are in that parking lot and seeing the truckers, give us a heads up, especially if you've got an eye on the parking lot and we've got working girls in that parking lot. >> we are identifying girl as young as 12, 13, 14. >> lieutenant hughes, an expert on human trafficking, says the notion of prostitution as a victimless crime offends her.

>> many of the women that are involved in a life of prostitution frequently become victims of homicides. >> with everyone in place, detective charlie sends the undercover officer, or u.c., out as a decoy. >> all right. u.c. is out. >> after making a deal for sex, the female decoy will deliver the john to this motel. officers test surveillance equipment and get ready to make arrests. >> just waiting on the control room. you guys set? >> let me know when you guys are good to go. >> it looks like we've got it up and going. >> as always, these operations depend on the decoy's ability to play the part. >> you need to act like those girls that are out there on the track now. there's this demeanor that you should have out there, like, okay, this next date could be my last date. and even though we're working in an undercover capacity, you -- you need to have that awareness. >> the operations that we do, very, very dangerous because that individual does not know that that's a cop. and if there's an abduction that he has in his mind that he's going to abduct that girl

because he thinks she's a prostitute, we've got to have those safety plans in place. >> we have the u.c. she's almost to the corner. >> as is typical when our u.c. exits the vehicle, it's usually 30 seconds to a minute, and she's approached just like that. >> as if on cue, the quickly makes a deal for sex. >> 40? yeah. you want to park down here? >> the deal is down. she gave the signal, but it looks like he's going to park. >> sean, you're going to probably have to follow him. he's eastbound in front of the business now. >> the decoy heads to the parking lot to meet the john, but perhaps sensing a setup, the gray truck drives off, causing detective charlie to order a chase.

>> yeah, black-and-whites, we're going to need you to jump out on a d martin. >> officers arrest the driver and haul him over to the paddy wagon two blocks away from the operation. >> i said what are you looking for and he goes you. i said, you found me. i said what do you want? he said [ bleep ] in the ass. i said, okay, it's $40. and i said, okay, come to my room. he said, well, why don't you just get in, and we'll go around the corner? and i said, well, i just want to be safe and go in my place with my stuff. so he said, okay. and then continued through the lot. >> with one john cooling his jets in the police van, detectives send the decoy back out on the track. >> okay. u.c. is back at the corner. >> like shooting fish in a barrel, it takes just minutes before the decoy catches up the interest of a curious, well-dressed john. >> an older white male with a purple shirt. he's coming back. >> the dapper john keeps his eye on the decoy as she strolls up the street and out of view of our cameras. >> he's just standing here.

he can't see the u.c. now he's walking back. it looks like he's going back towards her. >> detectives listen closely to the radio as the man starts selling the decoy on a familiar sob story. >> he's talking to her. it looks like they're trying to make a deal. >> it's clear to officers by his confidence and blunt manner that this is no first-time john. >> she's not giving the signal, but i hear it $40. >> after agreeing to the deal, jen leads the john to the hotel, where detectives lie in wait. >> you should have her in a minute. i've ever heard that. this well-dressed man thinks he's about to have sex with an attractive young blonde he just met on a busy vegas street.

and then now they want to take the sex as opposed to paying for it, or they want something else that you didn't negotiate. and now your safety is compromised that way. >> all right. they're at the door. >> behind closed doors, police

prepare for the unexpected. they know all too well that violent, predatory men come in all shapes and sizes. >> this is the first time i've ever done this.

this well-dressed man thinks he's about to have sex with an attractive young blonde he just met on a busy vegas street. what he doesn't know is that she's actually an undercover metro police officer, and the $40 deal he has negotiated with her will buy him a date with the law. >> as the john locks the door behind him, officers move in for the arrest. >> police. keep your hands in your pockets,

please. turn around. just relax, okay? >> meet 71-year-old raymond smith, a retiree living with his wife in vegas. >> the first guy was a walk-up, seemingly nice, you know, looked like everyone's grandpa. it took him a little while. it took him a little courage to come up and talk to me. actually total made three passes until he got the courage to talk. >> detectives march smith next door to meet lieutenant karen hughes, who heads las vegas metro's human trafficking operations. >> this is a real high crime area. we're trying to beat down crime in this area because of the residents, making it a safer place for them. and prostitution and narcotics is a big piece of that criminal element. >> this is the first time i've ever done this. >> that's not the first time i've ever heard that, okay? >> that's all i can tell you. it is. >> i hope -- i hope that's the truth, and i hope it's the door to meet lieutenant karen hughes, who heads las vegas metro's human trafficking operations. >> this is a real high crime area. we're trying to beat down crime in this area because of the residents, making it a safer place for them. and prostitution and narcotics is a big piece of that criminal element. >> this is the first time i've ever done this. >> that's not the first time i've ever heard that, okay? >> that's all i can tell you.

it is. >> i hope -- i hope that's the truth, and i hope it's the last time. all right? >> bust after bust as police agencies in cities across the country increasingly target the men who buy. the excuse johns often give once they've been cuffed is familiar. >> you know, you just can't pick up a prostitute, right? >> no? >> i never buy the first-time story. that might work for family and friends, but it doesn't work for a vice detective. >> with over 30 years under her belt, lieutenant hughes knows all too well the human misery the excuse johns often give once they've been cuffed is familiar. >> you know, you just can't pick up a prostitute, right? >> no? >> i never buy the first-time story. that might work for family and friends, but it doesn't work for a vice detective. >> with over 30 years under her belt, lieutenant hughes knows all too well the human misery fueled by the demand for cheap sex. she reserves her sympathy for the shattered lives of those who are forced to sell themselves, not for the buyers like smith. >> we're dealing with some very, very crafty individuals that frequently solicit women that are involved in prostitution. that's the demand.

if there wasn't that demand, we wouldn't be policing it. i do a series of human trafficking. i don't know if you've seen it. >> this grandfather of two now faces a misdemeanor solicitation charge. but as he tells our producer, grace kang, his real problems wait for him at home. >> how long have you been married? >> 47 years. >> 47 years. have you ever thought about the consequences of what you might bring home to your wife if you were engaged in this kind of behavior? >> my wife and i haven't had sex in 15 years. >> is that why you're out here? >> no, not really. i mean i just -- i go down to the new orleans nearly every day and lose a little money, and i come down here two or three times a week.

and i was just leaving, getting ready to go home, and i saw a young lady out there on the sidewalk. >> mm-hmm. >> i just started talking to her. >> it's tempting, right? >> evidently. >> sex for cash is really easy these days. >> i don't know what i can do to make you believe me, but this is the first time i have ever done this. >> doesn't it make you nervous? >> it kills me. it's going to wreck my whole family. >> protecting his family seemed to be the last thing on his mind just moments before he offered 40 bucks to an unknown street walker. >> when you're bringing a complete strange that's as young as your granddaughter back to your room to engage in an act of prostitution, what makes you think she's not going to steal from you? what makes you think she's not going to harm you? what makes you think that pimp's not going to come in through those doors? >> do you ever consider the risk

you take when you walk into a hotel room with a complete stranger? >> well, i hadn't because -- since it's my first time. i mean i hadn't. >> would it surprise you to know that a lot of these girls are beaten, tortured, burned, waterboarded, and forced to go out and work and hand their cash over to a pimp? would that change your idea about -- about how safe it is or the responsibility of the person when this are actually feeding that industry and paying for that sex? >> yeah. >> will you go out and buy sex again after today? >> oh, no. >> you said that it's going to ruin your family. what do you mean by that? >> my wife and daughters will never speak to me again as long as i live.

>> because they know what sex trafficking is, don't they? >> i imagine they do. >> 71-year-old raymond smith will have plenty of time to consider the consequences of buying illegal sex. with a police wagon hidden around the corner, metro officers cover smith's handcuffs to preserve their undercover operation as they covertly transport him from the hotel to the clark county jail. >> have a seat in the first front three rows. >> smith shares a ride to be booked with 42-year-old richard christian, the driver of the gray truck who offered to buy sex from the u.c. both men will be subjected to the humbling reality of arrest as their information gets logged permanently into the public record. >> they may be very disheartened about the fact that they've been found out or that they're going to jail and they're not going to get a warning or they're not just going to get a slap on the hand and somebody chastising them. but it may be their lucky day because had that not been an undercover decoy and had it been somebody that had the worst intentions for them, we'd be responding under a whole different circumstances. >> on the left-hand side with

the rest of the guys. >> for safety reasons, the booking officer ascertains the mental state of the new arrestees. >> have a seat, sir. just a few quick questions for you. have you ever been arrested in any other states before? is this your first time in jail? >> yes. >> any psychological issues? are you having thoughts of suicide? >> no. >> do you have a high school diploma or g.e.d.? >> high school. >> ryan, if you have a black and >> raymond smith now booked as a clark county inmate, he joins several hundred other pleasure-seeking men caught in metro's man dragnet every year. >> i think people need to know it's important that the demand drives prostitution. >> lieutenant hughes says

targeting johns like smith is the best way to curb the bad behavior that keeps exploited women on the streets. >> if we choose not to police that, the message we send is that it's okay. it's just a matter of time before they will be at a county hospital because their teeth have been knocked out. they will be one of those kind of victims.

during this early morning sting, las vegas metro p.d. are

cracking down on the men who fuel the black market sale of women.

today's arrest is her seventh prostitution charge in the last four years. >> we arrest prostitutes every day, and those are still crimes that law enforcement will enforce. but for them to be able to part out a victim and treat her as a victim in order to provide her strategies to exit that lifestyle is -- that's a fine -- that's a fine science. those are really, really significant skill sets for law enforcement to have. >> though she's only 21, smith has already been arrested six times for prostitution-related offenses in clark county. in late 2013, a federal court handed her then pimp, vernon mccullum, a 14-year prison sentence for trafficking another girl, a 15-year-old juvenile from bakersfield, california. smith was identified as an accomplice but was released after she agreed to testify against her pimp. >> what do you have? >> my forearms, my chest, my face, my neck, my stomach, my back, my legs.

>> gang-related? >> no. >> while no one knows the particular circumstances that led smith to be selling herself on tropicana avenue, lieutenant hughes knows plenty about the invisible psychological chains that keep women shackled to their traffickers. >> when you're looking at women that have had their tattoos, the very brandings that the pimps use are intended to keep her from talking or speaking or cooperating with police or anybody else that might care enough to ask, can i help? >> back on the vegas strip, like a voice in the wilderness, annie lobert vows to continue to reach out to the working girls whose sufferings she knows all too well. >> i'm trying to bring the girls to this realization that just because someone in their life treated them like trash and threw them away doesn't mean they have to throw themselves away.

that they're loved and they're valued and that god has a plan for them. due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >> msnbc takes you behind the walls of america's most notorious prisons to a world of chaos and danger. now the scenes you've never seen. "lockup: raw." when "lockup" producers traveled to the joliet correctional facility in illinois, they walked through the corridors of one of the nation's most historic penal institutions. constructed from sandstone, this castle-like prison was built in 1857.