About two dozen community leaders gathered in Jackson Heights over the weekend, ringing large bells outside an alleged brothel at 76-09 Roosevelt Avenue and chanting “Shut it down!” and “Stop prostitution!” The activists say the notorious open-air sex market known as the “Market of Sweethearts” has gotten worse since Zohran Mamdani became mayor in January 2026, and they are demanding he and Governor Kathy Hochul crack down on landlords renting to pimps and enforce prostitution and nuisance-abatement laws.
The rally, first reported by the New York Post, drew organizers including Hiram Monserrate, a former New York State Senator and current Queens Democratic District Leader. Monserrate, who also previously worked as an NYPD officer and ran in the June 2026 Democratic state Senate primary in Queens, told the crowd that the prior administration's multi-agency effort, known as Operation Restore Roosevelt, had improved quality of life and public safety along the corridor, but that Roosevelt Avenue has since been abandoned and crime is returning.
Rosa Sanchez, a member of the group Restore Roosevelt Avenue, said residents are tired of the activity in their community, according to the Post's reporting. Activists at the rally said prostitutes operate around the clock, and community residents say the problem has worsened over the past year. The corridor, which extends into Jackson Heights, Corona, and surrounding Queens neighborhoods, has long been associated with known brothels, street prostitution, crime, drug-peddling, and illegal vending, per the same account.
What Operation Restore Roosevelt Actually Did
Operation Restore Roosevelt was launched in October 2024 by then-Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Hochul as a 90-day, multi-agency enforcement push targeting a two-mile stretch of Roosevelt Avenue between 74th Street and 111th Street, according to the Queens Daily Eagle. The operation deployed more than 200 NYPD officers and New York State Troopers sent by the governor's office.
By January 2025, city data showed the initial 90-day campaign had produced nearly 1,000 arrests, more than 11,500 summonses, 18 vacate orders against illegal brothels, and 223 engagements with unhoused individuals along the corridor, the Queens Gazette reported. By June 2025, city officials said sustained enforcement had contributed to an overall 28% drop in corridor crime, including a 53% decrease in sex crimes and 397 prostitution-related arrests over an eight-month period, according to CBS New York.
NYPD operational briefings in late 2024 tied transnational criminal organizations, including Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang and the 18th Street Gang, to sex trafficking, drug distribution, and illegal brothel operations along the corridor, per CBS News reporting. When asked Saturday for current arrest data for Roosevelt Avenue, the NYPD could not provide figures, according to the Post. Representatives for Hochul and for Mamdani did not return messages seeking comment, the outlet reported.
Why Street-Level Enforcement Got Harder
Part of what activists describe as a policy shift traces back to February 2021, when New York State repealed Penal Law §240.37, the statute that had prohibited loitering for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. The repeal, covered by the New York State Senate, eliminated law enforcement's main statutory tool for making street-level loitering arrests and ended what critics had called the “Walking While Trans” ban.
The following month, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz moved to dismiss nearly 700 open prostitution and loitering cases, establishing an office policy to decline prosecuting individuals engaged in sex work while directing resources toward human traffickers, according to the Office of the District Attorney Queens County. Activists at the Jackson Heights rally are also pushing officials to use New York City's Nuisance Abatement Law, a civil statute originally enacted in 1977 to target Times Square brothels that grants the city authority to issue emergency closure orders and fine property owners who lease space to illegal operations, as detailed by ProPublica.
Mamdani's Record on Sex Work Policy Draws Scrutiny
The demonstrators' frustration is compounded by Mamdani's legislative history. Before becoming mayor, he co-sponsored state legislation known as the Stop Violence in the Sex Trade Act, or Cecilia's Law, during his tenure in the New York State Assembly, which proposed repealing state criminal penalties for consensual adult sex work, according to City & State New York.
During his 2025 mayoral campaign, Mamdani clarified that he did not support full legalization of prostitution, and said his administration would prioritize public safety while focusing law enforcement on human traffickers rather than penalizing sex workers, City & State reported. Activists at the rally, however, say that distinction has not translated into visible enforcement, with Post reporting describing street activity along the corridor as off the charts.
