So-Called 'D.C. Madam' Is Dead
NPR
Deborah Jeane Palfrey committed suicide Thursday in Florida, two weeks after being convicted of running a high-end Washington D.C. prostitution ring. She had vowed never to go to prison.
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BILL WOLFF: From NPR News in New York, this is The Bryant Park Project.

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RACHEL MARTIN, host:

Overlooking historic Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, live from NPR studios, this is the Bryant Park Project from NPR News. News, information and...

ALISON STEWART, host: Book club!

MARTIN: Book club! It's a book club.

MIKE PESCA, host:

Who was that?

MARTIN: It's me and Alison.

PESCA: Oh, OK.

MARTIN: Getting excited about the book club. I'm Rachel Martin.

PESCA: And I'm Mike Pesca. It's Friday, May 2nd, 2008.

MARTIN: Have you finished your book yet?

PESCA: Well, I've looked at the cover of the book.

MARTIN: Yes..

PESCA: I've found something out about the cover.

MARTIN: What did you find out?

PESCA: All right, so, the cover - the name of the book is...

MARTIN: "The God of Animals," by Aryn Kyle.

PESCA: So the cover is cut out and there's a little animal. I would call it a horse, though I haven't gotten inside the book enough to know. And so there's the outline of a horse. It's cut out on the cover. And underneath the outline there's this black sky.

MARTIN: Yes.

PESCA: Perhaps somewhere from Montana. Is that where the book is set?

MARTIN: Ah, no.

PESCA: One of the Dakotas? Wyoming?

MARTIN: Nevada? This is embarrassing. I can't even remember.

PESCA: Vermont.

MARTIN: It was some non-descript western state.

PESCA: So anyway, if you take - because the cover of the horse is cut out - if you take your thumb and just kind of rub it right there on the cover. And then you take the front page, and you're just looking at the night sky, a silhouette of the horse remains. It lingers.

MARTIN: So you have not read it, yet you have figured out how to make a thumb silhouette out of the horse.

PESCA: Yes, I made crafts of it.

MARTIN: That's good.

PESCA: Yes, yes. Coming up on our show, America you're special. But you already knew that. A new book of essays on American exceptionalism is on the bookshelves and we'll get schooled on the subject with one of the editors of the book.

MARTIN: Also, the week in Iraq. Every once in a while we take a step back and try to put the war in Iraq into some larger context for you. We're talking with Middle East expert Sam Brannen. That will be happening in just a few minutes.

PESCA: And it's Friday. We're talking with our movie guy, Daniel Holloway. The one all the kids and many, many adults are excited about, including members of the BPP staff, the film is "Iron Man." We'll get to all of that plus today's headlines in just a minute. But first...

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PESCA: The so-called "D.C. Madame" has died. Police in Florida say Deborah Jeane Palfrey committed suicide yesterday, two weeks after being convicted of running a high-end prostitution ring in Washington, D.C.

MARTIN: Police say Palfrey hanged herself in a shed outside her mother's mobile home in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Her 76-year-old mother, Blanche Palfrey, found the body. Neighbor Toni Crognale heard the initial commotion.

Ms. TONI CROGNALE (Neighbor of Blanche Palfrey): Her mother was going crazy out there, screaming and screaming. And then I seen a lady try to console her, you know.

PESCA: The authorities have indicated that they found at least two suicide notes but there was no disclosure of the contents. Palfrey's mother told investigators that she had no indication that her daughter was suicidal. Montgomery Blair Sibley, the civil attorney who represented Palfrey, had this to say.

Mr. MONTGOMERY BLAIR SIBLEY (Attorney for Deborah Palfrey): I'm personally devastated by the loss of a very good woman and a dear friend. And I just don't feel today that I can comment any further.

MARTIN: Palfrey was convicted April 15th of money laundering and racketeering in connection with what prosecutors said was a prostitution service that catered to members of Washington's political elite. She was free while she awaited sentencing on July 24th, but had vowed never to go to prison.

PESCA: Palfrey contended that her company provided escorts, not prostitutes, and was frequently critical of the prosecution against her, saying it pursued the escorts she employed instead of the high-powered Beltway insiders they served. Here she is making that point a year ago.

Ms. DEBORAH JEANE PALFREY (Manager, Pamela Martin and Associates Escort Agency): I would expect the government, as a matter of fairness and to avoid any hint of selective prosecution, to charge each and every individual with the crimes of money laundering, conspiracy and racketeering.

MARTIN: Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, has acknowledged being involved with Palfrey's escort service and has apologized for what he called a, quote, "very serious sin."

PESCA: Palfrey's trial concluded with the testimony of Vitter, military strategist Harlan Ullman or former - sorry, without the testimony of Vitter or that military strategist, or a former State Department official, Randall Tobias. All of whom had been named as possible witnesses.

MARTIN: Meanwhile, Navy Lieutenant Commander Rebecca Dickinson has been placed on leave pending further action after she testified in Palfrey's trial that she worked as a call girl for the escort service.

PESCA: Another one of Palfrey's former employees, Brandy Britton, committed suicide last January after being arrested on prostitution charges. Palfrey said last year that she too was humiliated by the charge against her but, quote, "I guess I'm made of something that Brandy Britton wasn't made of." You can go to npr.org throughout the day for updates on this story.

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