Miami is abuzz with the insane story of "D.J.," the 13-year-old runaway who was forced into prostitution and exotic dancing at Club Madonna.
Many are outraged. Rightly so. Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales almost immediately shuttered South Beach's only all-nude strip club last Friday. He called the club a "threat to the public health, welfare, and safety of the public." Others have demanded the arrest of Madonna owner Leroy Griffith.
But lost in the uproar is an even more terrifying fact: Similar stories occur all the time in Miami's porn industry, but not one skin-flick company has been closed.
See also: This Is How BangBros Made a Porno Featuring a 15-Year-Old Beauty Queen and a Murderer
Morales' decision to close Club Madonna was controversial. He revoked the strip joint's decades-old business license even though it's unclear if Griffith or anyone else in club management knew the girl was underage. It also appears to be the first such incident at the club.
"As a father of a daughter, I firmly believe from the bottom of my heart that this is the right thing to do," Morales said of his decision.
But Morales and other politicians did not act so outraged when New Times revealed similarly disgusting incidents within Miami's lucrative porn industry.
As we reported in November, companies belonging to local porn mogul Jeffrey Greenberg have filmed underage girls having sex for money at least three times -- possibly many more.
The most famous are 15-year-old runaway Bieyanka Moore and the 15-year-old beauty queen -- who we called Amber -- involved with alleged murderer John Snavely.
Amber's case was investigated, but three assistant state attorneys for Miami-Dade County declined to prosecute because the girl provided a fake ID (belonging to an older girl).
Why, then, are politicians so eager to close Club Madonna but not the porn companies filming underage girls being statutorily raped on camera?
Why hasn't Doral Mayor Luigi Boria or City Manager Joe Carollo shut down Venetian Productions, the porn production company caught filming Amber and another underage friend?
And given Venetian Productions' Miami Beach mailing address, why hasn't Morales moved to revoke its business license as well?
Unlike the famously secretive Jeffrey Greenberg -- whose companies Reality Kings and BangBros commissioned and distributed the videos of the three underage girls -- Club Madonna owner Leroy Griffith has waged a long and loud battle with local politicians over liquor licenses and freedom of speech.
What happened at his club is horrible. Perhaps the place deserves to be shut down. But until local politicians take all instances of child sex abuse seriously, the Madonna fiasco will smell like political grandstanding.
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