When we hear about Human Trafficking, so often it is associated with places like Thailand or India.  However, it occurs quite prevalently in the United States. In the new book Taking Down Backpage, Attorney Maggy Krell discussed the crimes and concerns that lead her to her mission to bring down a website where youth were being sold for sex. Backpage was notorious for paying lip service to authorities on taking down ads where youth were being sold, before allowing them to go right back up. Texas, Florida, and California currently have the highest numbers when it comes to reported trafficking cases.  Maggy Krell works in California, and could not sit idly by while seeing young women pay the price for this horrific business.

With a lot of help, and dogged determination, Maggy helped lead the charge that put three corrupt businessmen behind bars and took down a major highway for traffickers. The book is fascinating, albeit sometimes hard to read when realizing what some of these youth had to endure at the hands of traffickers.

Taking Down Backpage is available from NYU press in January 2022.

As someone who has been involved in the anti-trafficking world for a while now, this book is a breath of fresh air.

The writing style is informative while not being overpowering. I felt like I was having a conversation with the author instead of being lectured.

This book is so important as it not only covers the process of taking down Backpage, but also points out areas that we need to fix in order to keep organizations and people from exploiting others.

This book is a great introduction to the world of abolition and will leave readers righteously enraged and ready to step up and make a difference.

This is not a feel good kind of book but more of a necessary one! Backpage was an online group of sex traffickers who sadly used teenagers to do their bidding. Maggys story is a shocking report of the lengths that a group can go to in order to hurt others!

I had never heard of Backpage. In fact, no one I knew had ever heard of Backpage. Backpage was the largest online sexual favor marketplace in the world, specializing in child exploitation, human trafficking, and sexual slavery.

Maggy Krell was a dedicated young prosecutor for the state of California. After learning about Backpage, the millions of dollars it made, and the human merchandise sold there, Ms. Krell made it her mission to take it down. Facing a large team of well paid defense lawyers, Maggy and her small team of prosecutors spend years building their case. Ultimately, they were able to separate the principals of Backpage from their enormous wealth and send them to jail.

I would recommend this title to true crime fans, and anyone who wants to learn more about the dark world of human trafficking.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was given a free digital copy of this title to review from Net Galley.

#TakingDownBackpage#NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley and New York University Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

I was initially drawn to this book because of the subject matter. I love to hear non fiction from lawyers, especially Prosecutors.

With that being said, this book did not satisfy me. The facts were jumbled; it’s more of a diary than a story based on facts.

I wanted to love it! I just didn’t, unfortunately.

Backpage was an international advertising website that was overwhelmingly used by sex traffickers to perpetuate the abuse of women and children. In this book. prosecutor Maggie Krell relates her experiences in getting Backpage taken down and tightening Internet laws to prevent human trafficking.

This is an important topic, and I appreciated how clearly Krell lays out the legal proceedings. She takes us from the beginning to the end of the case, making everything easy to understand and eliminating jargon. However, there is a certain human element missing from the story - perhaps because Krell was writing as objectively as she could, and with a tight focus. We didn't to know the characters very well.

With a longer book, she might have gone more into needed depth. Still, I enjoyed this book, and greatly appreciate the efforts of the team that took down Backpage.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Informative,interesting and easy to understand the inner workings of what it took to take down a worldwide computer site that promoted trafficking in thousands of cities all over the world,esp in USA.
The author was a prosecutor in CA and wrote this also as an accomplished writer.

I find the topic of this book fascinating and tragic at the same time. It is a very comprehensive look at the underbelly of the human sex trafficking problem and the "industries' and "businesses" that profit from this. This is a no-nonsense book, and the writing style is very straightforward. There is no entertainment value, but the reader will learn A TON of information. Backpage and OnlyFans and sites like those are insidious and damaging to society and facilitate in preying on the marginalized and vulnerable. Maggie Krell opens your eyes and puts toothpicks in there to hold them open so that there is no unseeing this issue anymore. Being a court reporter, I also found the legal aspects of this book informative. I think it is important for the layman to understand what goes into an investigation and what is needed to be successful in bringing down something like Backpage in the legal arena.

I remember the push back this case received after Backpage was taken down and also numerous interviews of the victims, some named and many unnamed. Thanks to people like Krell who worked diligently for years to make victims got their justice. For those who have followed this case in the past, this book is a good place to recollect and see the legal battle from start to finish.

<i>Thank you NYU Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I just reviewed Taking Down Backpage by Maggy Krell. #TakingDownBackpage #NetGalley
https://www.netgalley.com/book/222635/review/659309


Despite the fact that the story is pretty complex but the book rather short, the pace feels like a great double episode of Law and Order - Special Victims Unit. Shocking twists and turns, not just rooted in reality but as real as they come. The writing by a lawyer can compete with the Baldaccis and Grishams of the world.

Though you cannot dismiss the idea that this is a rebuttal of Maggies career accomplishments and perhaps a supplement to her resume for her future.

TAKING DOWN BACKPAGE - Maggie Krell

I received this Kindle Edition to read for review purposes. Ms. Krell has documented and thought out a very detailed book regarding the BACKPAGE website.

While Backpage looked like a respectable website, Ms. Krell had been watching and paying deep attention to some cases she was seeing regarding trafficked women and even children. After much investigation she came to a startling conclusion that was more devious than she had once imagined.

This book will leave you challenged to pay attention to what you see around you as it relates to children, teens and even young adults who if studied you will realize things are not as they seem.

"SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING" is the best word I can give you.

#Goodreads #Net Galley #Taking Down Backpage

This will not be available until January 2022

As a fan of true crime, I was intrigued by this story of the prosecution and take-down of the online site Backpage. While I was aware of some aspects of sex-trafficking, I did not know this particular story and was fascinated by the author, Maggy Krell's, account. A California-based prosecutor, she became aware of how young prostitutes were treated as criminals, rather than as unwilling victims, and that only a concerted effort investigating, prosecuting and shutting down the orchestrators and other enablers, such as motel owners willing to turn a blind eye and reap the profits at the expense of children, will make a dent in this societal scourge. This also became a mission of educating those in the law enforcement and judicial system, to help shift perceptions. (She also clearly makes a distinction between sex-workers in the profession by choice, as opposed to the underage victims who are trafficked by others more powerful.)

Krell offers an honest account of the time-consuming, painstaking efforts to piece together a case, while remaining under the radar enough to avoid tipping off the owners of Backpage. She introduces us (although superficially) to those who partner with her, working in tandem in other jurisdictions. She describes the tense, suspenseful moments when arrests are finally to be made, the crushing disappointments when the procedural bureaucracy of the judicial system stymies some of her efforts, and the creative problem-solving to finally bring about some measure of justice and the shutdown of Backpage.

My one criticism is that we see the story mostly through the author's viewpoint. While this is to be expected--she is, after all, the lead prosecutor that began this journey, the title of the book is "Taking Down Backpage" and the FBI also became very much involved in the final outcome. I would have liked to have understood more of their role.

Still, I appreciate the work that Krell and other dedicated true public servants do to protect vulnerable children, and knowing more about this story.

Really well written book that was intriguing. Really enjoyed reading this book and the authors writing

3-4 stars. I felt this was a well written account of the taking down of Backpage, which I had not previously heard of, but also felt it was lacking compared to other true crime books I’ve read. I think it may have been to try and protect the victims, but it felt as though it wasn’t the entire story. Overall, I think it was a fascinating read, but I guess I just wanted a bit more details. I would recommend to those unfamiliar with the case, like I am.

A compelling story, and a surprisingly quick read for such deep material.

Found this engaging for the most part and enjoyed the breakdowns of the more arcane legalities (yeah, I'm a nerd) as they were put forward clearly in layman's terms and are crucial to the understanding of what Krell et al were up against with the US legal system.

There were parts that struck me as slightly sensationalist, I felt there were some areas that were written as though it was aimed at the (inevitable) cinematic audience.

Taking Down Backpage is obviously about taking down Backpage, the biggest human (mostly children) trafficking website at the time, through the eyes of the prosecutor, Maggy Krell. And what you get inside is what you see (on the cover).

Apart from the mandatory Business Law class I barely paid attention to during college, I have zero clue about how the justice system actually works. As the book is written by a prosecutor, it is written with a highly legal point of view, and Krell explains from the start until the end how the process of prosecuting the owners of Backpage had been. Although I have no clue about law, it was really interesting to learn about it, how these smart lawyers navigate their way around many complications and succeed as a result. The writing is gripping, and even if you have no idea about the justice system, at the end of the book, you end up having some idea how things work.

And then of course there's the whole story. What Maggy Krell and all the people that were with her on this journey of bringing this disaster of a website down, are undoubtedly brilliant. Even though, it breaks my heart to see so many children and vulnerable women are in this awful system, it is also so inspiring and encouraging to see incredible people like Krell and her friends.

It also makes your job feel useless if you're not saving anyone's life like in mine! :)

I skimmed through some reviews saying that it was written in a very legal way and that they didn't connect with the characters, etc. Seriously? Did you even check the title of the book? It's written by a prosecutor not a poet.

Thanks to Netgalley, Maggy Krell and NYU Press for sharing this story with the world.

Review will also be on my instagram account soon: https://www.instagram.com/theculture.hunter/

The thing is, what happened on Backpage wasn't even "dark web" stuff. This was "plain sight," right there in front of us, human trafficking.

Krell's book serves as a sobering wake-up for all of us as to what's happening on the web and in our cities, while offering readers a compelling courtroom drama.

This was a true crime type book; however, it was from the point of view of the prosecutors. The website Backpage had become notorious for being a place where one could buy the favors of young women and girls through the website. This is the story of how the prosecutors dug to find evidence and to find witnesses who were not intimidated. It also explained how the laws were interpreted in this new area of the law (sex trafficking).
I was fascinated by the detail necessary to prosecute and even to indict these traffickers.

An interesting look into the struggle to change the law and put those involved behind bars, the book gives an engaging account of taking down the Backpage website and those behind it. Offering a play-by-play from discovering the problem to getting the case to trial, it offers insight into the struggles prosecutors face to get the guilty, with substantial financial assets, behind bars. The reader can feel the author's frustration while navigating wall after wall to bring down the site. I read the book in one sitting, drawn in and wanting to find out how they got to the final result. For some people, maybe the legal process would be boring, but for me there is the right mix of the obstacles they faced and the people they were fighting for to keep me reading.

“Taking Down Backpage: Fighting the World’s Largest Sex Trafficker” is masterfully written by Maggie Krell.

Often legal jargon loses readers, and/or directed towards a specific audience limiting the ability to inform/educate a wider population. Krell delivers an essential read involving heinous crimes; led undisputedly by executive leaders of the organization - Backpage.

Krell captures a well thought out, comprehensible narrative; any reader will be instantly enthralled in. “Taking Down Backpage” is necessary read I highly recommend, even if you are not familiar with the (fairly recent) history of the organization.

Directly from the Author’s Notes,

“Taking down Back page should not be conflated with voluntary sex work. This book is not about consensual sex work. It is about rape.”

“This is not a case against Backpage, a website; it is a case against three individual defendants who used multiple platforms to commercially sexually exploit vulnerable women and children.”

A sincere thank you to NetGalley and NYU Press for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read this story and leave my review voluntarily.