Secrets of the Bunny Ranch (2025) s01e03 Episode Script
The Predator
1
I was a working girl
for Dennis Hof.
I just thought, "Oh God,
it's gonna be so much fun."
He said, "You get to
pick and choose
who you have sex with."
[Dennis] I don't make anybody
do anything. Ever.
I know that
there are allegations
of rape and violence.
The job of the documentary
was not to do
an investigation into
the Bunny Ranch.
The job was to create
a good-time series.
We're at the Bunny Ranch!
We're having fun!
Tatiana! Carissa!
And I thought it was safe.
But it wasn't safe.
He was a very
sick man.
He hurt a lot of people.
[Dennis]
I'm a straight guy.
I pay my taxes,
I do the right things.
He's a monster.
I was molested,
and beaten, and raped
on a regular basis.
Girls come in,
shut the door,
put a blanket over you
and beat the [beep]
out of you.
The Bunny Ranch is kind of
like Walmart or church.
You don't have to go
unless you want to.
If you make Dennis unhappy,
he's gonna hurt you.
This feels like
organized crime.
He was sort of a
degenerate Tony Soprano.
He thought he could do
whatever he wanted.
He had gotten so big
that he couldn't be
contained anymore.
[moody pop]
♪
You put me under
the covers. ♪
For all the world to see. ♪
But I never recovered. ♪
You never cared
about me. ♪
So now you're
being uncovered. ♪
I kept all the receipts. ♪
You and all of
the others. ♪
Under a fantasy. ♪
♪
[Crew] Jennifer interview,
take one. Marker.
I'm Jennifer.
I was a working girl
for Dennis Hof
at the Moonlite
Bunny Ranch.
I went into the
brothel industry because
my abusive husband
wanted to kill me.
♪
I didn't have
any choice but to run.
So, it was a
really dramatic,
"I'm getting the
[beep] out of here."
I was only a legal prostitute
for six months, if that.
♪
I had never heard of the
Moonlite Bunny Ranch,
the Kit Kat,
the Mustang.
I got sold on the
Cathouse shows.
And I thought
it was safe.
But a lot of
what you saw on
the Cathouse videos
was fake.
♪
Cathouse was an incredibly
successful show.
Around 2010-ish,
Dennis Hof is a
master of brothels
and the most famous pimp
in America.
[Host] We turn now to
Dennis Hof.
- Dennis Hof.
- Dennis Hof.
- Dennis Hof.
- Dennis Hof.
Dennis Hof.
[Dennis] Our girls
are businesswomen
that want to be there.
They're enjoying
what they do.
Dennis felt like
HBO falling into his lap
was one of the
greatest things
that ever happened
to his business.
[camera shutter clicking]
[Dennis] Well, HBO is gonna
show you the reasons
why it should be legal.
And that's what
HBO can capture.
And only HBO can do
something like this.
As years went on and
he started getting his ass
kissed by everybody and
being on every show,
he was like very
full of himself.
SFX: ["cha-ching"]
[Dennis] That's the sound-
I love that sound.
That's like, "Cha-ching!"
That's like a
cash register ringing.
I love your new dress!
So I actually met
Dennis Hof very briefly
probably twenty-something
plus years ago,
working the
MTV music awards.
And he walked over,
and he thanked us for
our service, and told us,
"If you ever make your way
out to one of the brothels,
you know, law
enforcement discount,"
which, I just rolled
my eyes at that,
but I appreciated at least
that he was jovial,
he was friendly,
he was nice to us,
where all the other
A-listers were not.
Looking at it now,
I know exactly
what he was doing.
"Here's one potential person
I can get in my pocket
that will then just serve
my purposes only."
So you have the
ultimate marketer,
Mr. Pimp,
Dennis Hof,
and it was the
Wild Wild West of television.
Sex sells, and
you're not going to ask
yourself questions about
what, what kind of sex
are we talking about?
Are we talking about
consenting sex
between people
who are enjoying
themselves?
Or are we talking
about what is,
behind the scenes,
violence and harm?
[sinister]
♪
[Jennifer]
So, let's see
♪
My mother was a
Playboy model.
♪
My mom's Playboy,
November of '64.
She's pretty proud of this.
There's a better picture
with some clothes on.
[laughs]
I won't show you the ones
that don't have clothes on.
Her blue eyes.
Um
No
No. My mother was a
very evil person.
This is why she gave up
her children.
This is why she gave up me.
Uh, I-
she thought money,
Playboy, fame, drugs,
was more important than,
than me.
♪
She's beautiful
in that picture.
Who she really was,
she was also a alcoholic,
and a drug addict.
I was born in Hollywood.
When I was 5,
my mother and I
went to a restaurant,
and um
♪
My mom said she had to
go to the bathroom.
♪
And uh, she never
came back
So [exhaling]
Sorry.
And I went to sixteen
different foster homes.
I didn't go to school
after the sixth grade.
And, I,
I got emancipated.
♪
As soon as I turned 18,
I got a sales license,
I got into the
car business.
Made a phenomenal living,
but I had a very
bad marriage,
and he was very violent,
um, very controlling.
And Johnny
showed up at my job
and was screaming
that I was a
a fu-
[beep] whore,
I was a bitch.
So, I lost my career.
I went to one of my
girlfriend's house,
and he found me there,
beat me in front of her
and her kids,
and then took a gun and put
the muzzle in my mouth
and told me that
if I ever tried to
leave him,
that he would kill me.
♪
My girlfriend said,
"Hey, you're single,
you're beautiful.
Why don't you go
to a brothel?"
I was like,
"But I'm not,
I'm not a prostitute.
I'm"
She goes,
"But you have sex."
I go, "Yeah."
She goes, "Why don't
you get paid for it?"
The owner, Dennis Hof,
on Cathouse,
he says you get to
pick and choose
who you have sex with.
So, she's like
"It's safe." It's like,
okay, let's do it.
I mean, if I don't like it,
I can always walk away.
And so, she
signed me up.
And sent pictures in.
She called and she said,
"You've been accepted
to the Love Ranch
closest to Vegas."
♪
When Johnny went to sleep,
I snuck out with the clothes
on my back and my purse.
I had nothing else
♪
[inhaling & exhaling]
The Love Ranch was in
the middle of nowhere.
♪
When you get there,
and you get your
Bunny Bible, you also
get Dennis Hof's Cathouse.
So he wants you
to watch that and
that is your training.
And so
That was my training video.
That was the first porn I'd
ever seen in my entire life.
Uh, but yeah,
that was the training.
The Cathouse TV shows,
they were being played
in all the rooms.
It was actually filmed
at the Bunny Ranch,
but I wasn't there
when he did 'em.
The girls got asked
to be on the show,
including myself, and I
just didn't want to do it.
It wasn't my cup of tea.
Any working girl is
going to put on
a different mask
than who they are.
I had to become
Karmen Leigh.
♪
Every bone in my body
felt that Johnny,
my abusive husband,
he would never find me.
Like, I would just fall off
the face of the earth.
I didn't know it was
gonna get worse.
I had no idea.
You know, we're getting
ready to start our ninth
year of shooting our
HBO show, Cathouse.
I thought I'd bring the girls.
These are the girls
from the new season
right here.
Dennis Hof was a master at
exploiting opportunities
for publicity.
Dennis wanted to get on
the Russell Brand show.
And I had mentioned,
"Oh, I have connections
with the show, I think
I can get him on it."
Dennis was so nice to me
on the phone.
He seemed very kind.
And, I ended up getting
Dennis booked on the show.
And Dennis had a shtick
he used in the media to,
you know, promote his
brothel and promote himself.
[Dennis] The truth is they
don't have to party
with anybody
they don't want to.
They don't do anything
that they don't want to
because everybody
has their limits.
And they don't do anything
for any less money
than they think
it's worth.
[DeAnne] And the idea
would be that, you know,
men would see them and
would want to book and
would call and make
an appointment.
Because he made
things look nice.
[Dennis] It's just fun.
It's just sex.
- Fair enough, it's okay.
- It's just having a good time.
[DeAnne] So I never saw him
as a pimp in the beginning.
I saw him as
a businessman.
He didn't just
own brothels.
He owned two restaurants,
a mini-mart, a gas station,
several real estate
businesses.
He owned a nightclub,
a strip club.
I thought he was just
a businessman
who was diversified
in his investments.
[Dennis] People's reaction
when I tell them that
I'm a brothel owner,
they love it.
I have never once
had a bad experience.
He did portray himself as
a community member
who was helping
the community.
But sadly, it was not
a community effort
that was positive.
♪
[Jennifer] I was at the brothel,
New Year's Eve.
And it was just like
the show is.
Big old party,
had people there.
Celebrities hanging out.
Everybody showed up.
Heidi Fleiss showed up.
Ron Jeremy,
he was there.
Dennis was in love
with celebrities.
And there was a whole
entourage of people
like that around Dennis,
and if they'd ever been
in the news or the media,
he just was
infatuated with them.
He couldn't have them
around enough.
[DeAnne] Flavor Flav
was around.
Dennis wanted him
for media exposure.
He hired
John Wayne Bobbitt.
I think he worked
as a bartender
or a driver there.
He would lure people like
Joey Buttafuoco
to the brothel.
♪
♪
[Jennifer] There was
a few other girls,
and they were so
excited to see Dennis.
It was "Daddy."
They sat on his lap.
He was like, "Oh girls,
come sit on my lap."
That's how I met
Dennis Hof.
He said, "Come here."
[patting lap]
"You can call me Daddy."
I actually did
sit on his lap,
and I looked at him,
and I said,
"You're not my Daddy."
♪
So, I don't know,
two, three hours maybe
have gone by,
and I've got some
alcohol in me, and
the madam of the house
comes and says,
"Dennis wants to see you."
Dennis was in my room.
Dennis asked me
to sit on the bed.
[patting] "Here,"
patted the bed,
[patting] "Sit here."
The door was closed.
And then he told me
to get undressed
And I did.
Dennis started
touching me.
And he said,
"I get to try
all the flavors."
I told him I didn't think
I needed to sleep
with my boss.
He's like,
"I got to try you.
This is how it's gonna be."
I did not authorize Dennis Hof
to have sex with me,
nor did I get paid.
I know and I feel in every
bone in my body
that Dennis Hof raped me.
♪
He owns us.
He owns you.
And so,
he gets to try you.
♪
I went to the madam
right afterwards,
and I said,
"He just raped me."
"I didn't have a condom,
I didn't have protection."
She's like, quote, unquote,
"Don't worry about it."
♪
That was what was said.
Dennis was
engaging in a lot of
very ugly behavior.
And he was getting away
with it because he was,
in my opinion,
so far removed.
None of this would work
anywhere else,
but only in the sagebrush
parts of our state
where there's nothing
but wild rabbits
and a couple antelope
running around.
[whooshing vehicles]
They're on an island
of their own,
and you're just
kind of like
"Maybe this is
what goes on out there."
But as long as
we stayed out of there,
it's that out of sight,
out of mind kind of thing.
They don't want us involved,
and we had very little,
in my 21-year span of
dealing with them, very little.
♪
[Jennifer]
But I was angry.
I went into town,
and I went to the
Nye County Sheriff's Office.
And I said,
"I want to report a rape."
He said, "Who?"
I said, "Dennis Hof."
It didn't even faze him.
It was like that was
"And? What
What do you
want me to do?"
♪
[Jennifer] I learned that day
that I was a prostitute.
That I was nothing more
than the trash
underneath their feet.
Law enforcement often,
I think, in the past,
has had a disconnect
with sex workers
and prostitution
because sex work,
it's kind of viewed through
the puritan eyes
of America, and if there
is a woman who's a
sex worker seeking help
from law enforcement
in those rural counties,
and then the deputies
don't even let you
write out a statement,
that would be
concerning to me.
That initial statement is
so critical because
that's where the
details come out
when it's still fresh
in the victim's mind.
[Jennifer] The police
didn't help me.
The house staff don't care.
No one cared.
That was it,
and I go, "F this,"
and I walked out.
I went back to the brothel.
It started coming out
that we haven't
evaluated them or
checked on them
as much as
we should've.
Dennis Hof didn't want us
to bother them, and
the Sheriff's Office doesn't
want to bother them.
[Jennifer] I was
completely trapped
at the brothel
at that time.
I had no money for food,
I had no money
for a hotel.
I was stuck 25 miles
outside of town
in the middle of nowhere.
[Ashton] Part of the problem
is you're just so isolated.
They were kind
of stuck there.
[Jennifer] I had, like,
a moment
that this was my life.
I'm gonna make as much
money as I can,
as fast as I can,
and I'm gonna get the hell
out of here.
♪
[Brenda] Sadly, I don't think
that's out of the norm.
Often, the women who work
in the Bunny Ranch
come down to get their
hair and nails done,
and on one occasion,
when I was sitting right here
in the salon in this chair
I noticed a woman that was
about three chairs over
from where I'm
sitting right now.
She had bald spots.
There was 3 or 4 of them
about the size of a fist,
and I came to find out that
it was actually the john,
the purchaser,
the buyer of a woman,
ripped her hair out
from the roots.
And after her hair
extensions were replaced,
she got in a
Bunny Ranch limousine
and was taken
back to the brothel.
So, I chose to do
something positive.
I started a non-profit to
help be a resource for women.
And since 2012,
we were able to
serve about 55,
uh, women.
[Taina] Why is it that
we allow, you know,
this particular population
of vulnerable women to,
to be bought and sold?
Because it is a population
the state does
not care about.
[DeAnne] After I
booked Dennis on
The Russell Brand Show,
he was thrilled with me.
At that point,
Dennis was so pleased
that he offered me a job to
come work for him
as his publicist and
executive assistant.
So, Dennis constantly
praised me.
He would tell other people
how wonderful I was.
Ah, it made me feel so great
that I had found a place
that I thought was
a good fit for me,
with a boss who
truly appreciated me,
who empowered me to do
the best that I could.
Suzette asked me
about my family.
Suzette is the madam,
but that's just
the term they use,
she's the
general manager.
I didn't have any family,
and I let her know that.
The very next day,
I get a text message
from Dennis, and he says,
"I want you to know
we're your family now.
We're family,
you and I."
And I felt like, yeah,
I'm not in the world
all alone
♪
I have family now.
♪
[Racquel] He's such a
good reader of people.
So many of the women who
worked at the Bunny Ranch
came from
childhood trauma.
And so, I think every
young woman who comes
into his vision, he knows
her background,
he knows exactly what
her weaknesses are,
he knows exactly what
she wants to hear,
and he-
he exploits that.
He just presses that button
to get exactly what
he wants from them.
♪
[Jennifer] I got flown,
by Dennis,
to the Bunny Ranch.
It's because it was a
much upper scale facility.
And I was making really,
really, really good money.
♪
Once I got to his,
as I call, lair
[exhaling sharply]
And he had
handcuffs, toys,
all that on the bed already.
♪
He would handcuff me
to the bed.
He would then
stick things in me.
It wasn't even sex,
it was that he shoved
things in me that hurt.
He dominated me,
that's all he did.
Um, and by doing
those things,
he felt like he had
control of me.
♪
[DeAnne] Everything was
fine for a few months.
But then I was starting to
see things I didn't like.
The show Cathouse made it
look like the Bunny Ranch
is so much fun.
Everyone just looks
really happy coming here,
and just making some money
in a safe environment.
"And I get to be
a star on HBO."
[Dennis] When the
weather gets nice,
Suzette creates
outdoor parties.
In the jacuzzi
with beachballs,
and eating hotdogs,
and hula hooping.
And doing all
these fun things.
[DeAnne] I never saw
anything even remotely
like that in real life.
So, here's the reality
of the situation.
I was in the swimming
pool one day,
and suddenly Dennis
and a bunch of girls
were in the shallow end
of the pool.
And the girls
were messed up.
Their eyes were like, pfft,
rolling in the
back of their head.
They were so out of it.
And they were naked.
But Dennis is instructing
these women in a very
aggressive way to perform
sex acts on each other.
And he's telling them,
"You do this to this one,
you do this to that one."
And he had sex toys.
And he was pounding this girl,
and just pounding her.
So, for Dennis, none of
that was about sex.
That was about physical
assault and battery,
and control of a woman.
And I thought, this doesn't
look very consensual to me,
especially when the
women are doped up.
And as far as I'm
concerned, that's rape.
♪
And by the way, I didn't
dare call the police
because the deputy would
show up at the brothel
in his car,
the Sheriff's car
in uniform.
He had called ahead
and there was a
particular girl he wanted,
and she was called out,
she came to take him
back to her room.
They went to the room,
but she never came out
with money or a
credit card to pay.
♪
He was in there about
half an hour, 45 minutes.
And then he left.
And this happened
several times.
[Ashton] You're a
government official.
It could undermine
an investigation and
it's a violation of your
oath now if you try to
conduct some kind
of an investigation
into some impropriety
in these brothels,
but you've been
a customer there at a
discounted or free rate or
even a full paying customer,
there's gonna be
a problem.
[DeAnne] This deputy
could've lost his job
for doing this.
It was so inappropriate.
[Ashton] You're undermining
the woman who's
working there and you're
undermining your career.
You're basically
betting your badge
if you're doing this.
[DeAnne] Now when
Dennis needs a favor,
Dennis owns him.
This particular officer
later became
an investigator
with the department.
[Ashton]
There's no free lunch.
Everything comes
at a cost.
[DeAnne] On top of that,
Dennis donated money to
charities for the
Carson City
Sheriff's Department.
♪
Just follow the money.
[Ashton] We know that
Mr. Hof donated money
to the police funds, and he
had photo opportunities
with local cops and
things of that nature.
It's all smoke and mirrors
at the end of the day.
Those start to become
that grey area
where if you're a law
enforcement administration,
if you're the Sheriff,
if you're
in the position of
authority,
you have to be
very careful.
You have to walk a
very fine line there.
[Eric] Sometimes you'd get
new guys that would come out
and be like, "I'm gonna go out
and pull all their cards."
And then it was
kind of like, dude, just,
you know, upper management
would be like,
"Dude,
just leave them alone."
♪
Brothel tax money
was used to
buy the town's police cars.
You know, he did things in
the town and tried to be
a good citizen to show,
like, oh,
look what the brothel
is providing the town.
[Ashton] We have
some of the most
sparsely populated
parts of the state.
There's really nothing
outside of ranching, mining.
There's no major casino.
There's not hundreds of
thousands of tourists coming
like Las Vegas
and Reno.
And so, sometimes you get
the brothel becoming the,
really the only thing
that provides the
tax money to provide
county resources
such as law enforcement.
[Dennis] Nye County
in Southern Nevada,
where I have three brothels
outside of Vegas,
wouldn't have
an EMT system.
They wouldn't
have ambulances.
That's where the money
comes from.
This county,
Lyon County,
we pay for all the police cars
and the communications,
so they need us.
♪
[Taina] There were
conversations at the time
about shutting down
the brothels because
there were signs
of trafficking,
there were
signs of violence.
And what the
sheriff said is,
"Unless another big
source of income comes in,
for instance a Walmart
or a Target,
we would lose 350,000
in that county,"
so it was not
economically desirable
for brothels to be
shut down.
[Ashton] The brothel is
really the only thing
bringing in huge amounts of
money to the county coffers.
♪
[laughs]
They're filming us
[Brenda] He did not
treat his women well,
and I can say that because
I sat with some of them
that were bleeding, some of
them who had been raped,
some of them who have
bruises all over them.
♪
[suspenseful] ♪
♪
[Tom] While we were
filming Cathouse,
I was not aware of any
allegations of rape
and violence
toward women,
but I certainly could
see it happening.
It probably happened
while we were there.
The fact is that
nobody was after
a serious insight,
an incisive look at life
in the Bunny Ranch.
Nobody was after that.
The job was to create a
goodtime series that had
the connection to reality
so that it felt real.
The job of the documentary
was not to do
an investigation into
the Bunny Ranch.
Nobody asked, "Does
Dennis ever molest you?
Do you ever not want
Dennis to touch you?"
♪
[DeAnne] The brothel may
have seemed in the beginning
like it was a safe place,
the way it was
shown on Cathouse.
But I started to think this
feels like organized crime.
And Dennis seemed
like a crime boss.
[Jennifer] When Dennis
decided that he liked me
Dennis would
come regularly.
♪
But Dennis, um,
raped me on a
regular basis,
any time that he was
at the property.
So, if he was there for a week,
it was every night,
or every other night,
or a couple times a day.
♪
I wanted out of
the industry.
But then my
abusive husband, Johnny,
found me there.
He'd shown up
at the brothel,
and he couldn't
get in the gate
'cause they had a
picture of him.
I didn't leave the brothel
because the
fear factor was there,
the protection was there.
Um, I had already
been through Dennis,
um
raping me.
But I wasn't
getting beat.
So those were
my choices.
♪
And for those of us,
the top sellers,
we would go into
town with him,
go to the casinos with him.
He would have a redhead.
I had my hair jet black
with the ice blue eyes.
He had his blondes.
So, the- I think the reason
that he had us
all around him, um,
was marketing.
"This is what's on
the menu this week."
"This is what I have
at my ranch."
And we always had people
come in the back door.
Politicians, police officers, congressmen.
[Dennis] We've had
everybody here.
Judges, uh, yes.
Yeah, yeah, we've had
a lot of people here.
And there's gonna be
a lot more.
That's why we have
a back entrance.
The private entrance to
get in and out of here,
people can't see you.
[Jennifer] But then
I would have to give
free services to them.
I would have to
give them [beep],
have sex,
clean them up.
When Dennis
was involved,
it was always free.
[Dennis] I'm the only guy
that gets Ron laid.
[Ron] [laughs]
That's true!
[crowd chatter]
Ron Jeremy was
the biggest celebrity
that he was able
to hold onto.
[Racquel] Ron Jeremy
was a porn star
in the 1970s and 80s,
then sort of has this
career resurrection
when he is cast on a
reality television show
called The Surreal Life.
[Ron] They look sexy.
Mine is funny.
- Is this for real, Ron?
- I'll tell you in a second.
- Let's do a measurement.
- Yes, it is.
[Sonja] One of the reasons
too that I think Dennis
hung out with Ron,
Ron Jeremy being famous
for the size of his member,
it's simply association.
You know,
guilt by association,
big [beep] by association.
Ron Jeremy came for
the free stuff
as well as for
the friendship.
He would stay at the brothel
for free, eat for free.
He would be able to
have sex with the girls.
[Jennifer] Ron Jeremy
would just come in and
stick his [beep].
There-
he's disgusting,
and it made me sick,
and it hurt.
♪
♪
[DeAnne] One day,
Dennis got an email from this
very pretty, young
girl from Seattle.
She wanted to come there
and auction her virginity,
and Dennis put this poor
girl's face everywhere.
We had her on CNN, we had
her doing interviews,
every major outlet.
[Bekah] I think Dennis,
he would even go
and have tables
at job fairs
and try to get girls to
auction their virginity off.
Because he didn't care.
You're just some
fantasy that they have
that they
want you to meet.
[Taina] One of the things
that was most disturbing
is when you go
into the Bunny Ranch,
there's a wall of
photographs
of pregnant women,
naked pregnant women,
because if you have
a fetish for, for
purchasing pregnant women
for sexual acts,
uh,
Hof could provide that.
♪
[DeAnne] And he even had a
pregnant prostitute on Tyra.
[Racquel] Dennis Hof is
always willing to go on these
shows because he's using
this as free publicity,
but even though Tyra Banks,
and like every member of
the studio audience,
and her family,
and the father of her child
are all trying to shame her,
Dennis really is revealing
something about
the hypocrisy of the
morals of her family.
[Dennis] She's got a father
that's the mayor of a city
that wouldn't support her
because he's got a new wife.
When she made
the phone call,
the family wasn't there.
[Racquel] He's riding
that sympathy, in a way.
He gets to step in,
and there's this
fascinating way
that he manages to
turn himself into
a hero and a savior.
[Dennis] At the Ranch,
she's got people to
support her and take care of
the things she needs.
[Racquel] He could do so much
to support this young woman
besides having her,
you know, do this type of
hard physical labor at
8 months pregnant.
We know that
they're being exploited
at the Bunny Ranch,
but this feels nasty
in a way
that is different.
♪
[Jennifer] In front,
the white picket fence,
and inside you're getting
your ass beat or raped.
He's a monster.
He's evil.
He was evil.
He thought he could do
whatever he wanted.
The HBO Cathouse
was always a
hyper-competitive
environment.
Oh, it's all got to be
about you, doesn't it?
You bet, that's what
I've been doing.
You inject yourself into
any situation, don't you?
Pretty much.
Everything was a competition
for who could be
the most successful.
♪
He liked
dynamic tension
among the women
around him.
♪
He liked that
kind of drama,
and he would feed it
a lot of times.
He did that by
showing the girls
who was in
and who was out.
He did that on purpose.
[Alice] If you were
his girlfriend,
out of all the other girls
that he was sleeping with,
you would get the
most promotion,
the most opportunities,
choice placement
on the website.
Maybe, like, a little
banner or a popup.
And Dennis, he would
encourage some of the
catfighting and would, like,
fuel the fire in a way.
Well, if the girls are
fighting with each other,
they're gonna want to make
more money than each other.
Well, if he's making 50%
of both their money,
good, they should be
fighting each other.
It benefits him.
[Sonja] With the
Cathouse series,
Dennis has a very
specific type.
Teenage to 25.
White, blonde hair,
very skinny.
[Dennis] Flawless.
It's a great outfit.
What it takes to be
Dennis' girlfriend,
he likes to mold them.
And that's what he's
doing with Cami now.
[Dennis] It's the old saying,
keep your friends close
and your enemies closer.
[Cami] Right.
[Dennis] If you think a
girl doesn't like you,
that's the girl you want
to be more friends with.
[Cami] Right.
[Dennis] I'm glad you're
having a good time.
[Cami] I am,
I love it here.
It's the best place
in the world.
Thank you, Daddy.
[Jennifer]
So, Cami Parker is
Dennis Hof's
main girlfriend.
We were good
until she found out
I was having sex with him.
The first reaction was,
"What did you do?"
And I was like, "Girl,
I don't want to have
sex with him."
You're with a girl now,
let's have a competition
with Daddy.
The girls get jealous.
Um, and when
they get jealous,
they get pissed.
♪
So, I was in bed and
my door was open so
I could hear the bell.
And so, the next thing I know
is I have girls coming in.
And as soon as
they lock the door,
I knew something
was gonna happen.
The reason they put a
blanket over you,
number one,
you can't move.
And number two,
you can hit somebody
and not really bruise them.
They punch you
and punch you
and punch you.
And yelling at you.
"You're a nobody,
don't you dare do this,
you're a nobody,
you're a piece of [beep].
I'm the number one,
bitch."
I went straight
to the cashier,
and I was like,
"What the [beep]?"
She was like
♪
"It's part of it."
I got no assistance,
no help in any way,
shape, or form.
♪
♪
I met Michael at the
Love Ranch in Pahrump.
Just like every customer,
we would do a lineup.
I was, like
"Damn, I could deal
with that." You know,
that was really what was
going through my head.
He picked me
and we went to the
negotiation room.
And, we talked.
I gave him a
dollar amount.
Um, after our party,
he asked what it would be
to spend the
night with me.
And, we hung out
the rest of the night,
and
the next morning came.
I left the room,
and I
paid for a few more hours.
[laughs]
On my dime.
♪
And Michael spent
quite a bit of money
and kept coming back.
Michael and I talked daily.
And, he wanted me
to be his girlfriend
and to see where it
would go, and
I was like, "Okay."
So, I then decided to
leave the industry.
And then
Dennis found out.
So, Dennis made it
very, very, very clear
that I was not to leave.
That was his vagina,
that was his vagina,
that was his vagina.
I thought it was just-
like, I thought it was like
I could quit a job.
It didn't work out
that way.
♪
[DeAnne] Dennis was
very fond of saying,
"The door works
both ways.
If you don't like it in here,
you are free to leave."
But
women were
afraid because
there was a punishment
if you left Dennis.
[Glen] In that show
Cathouse on HBO,
Sunset Thomas was his
number one for a long time.
And she was eating out
of Dennis's hand.
She would just do
whatever Dennis said.
[Dennis] The reason I'm late
is we decided to play boss
and secretary this
morning in the office.
[laughing]
I woke her up, said,
"Uh, Ms. Thomas,
could you step into
my office please?"
Dennis and Sunset
had this
long-running battle.
When she left Dennis
from the Bunny Ranch,
she went over to the Kit Kat
under a previous owner.
They had to have
bodyguards to protect her
from Dennis' thugs
getting to her.
Dennis left some vicious
messages for her.
♪
♪
[DeAnne] The message
was loud and clear:
if you don't play by
Dennis's rules,
if you make
Dennis unhappy,
you are going to be punished,
he is gonna hurt you,
and you are gonna suffer.
♪
[Jennifer] Michael and I
had decided
that I was gonna leave.
And I went down to the
U-Haul parking lot
in Carson City, Nevada,
and went to go get
a U-Haul truck.
I just remember
seeing the girls.
They started pulling me
off the steering wheel.
Dennis sent his girls to
beat the [beep] out of me
and try to kill me
and they did a
pretty good damn job.
So, I decided to
leave the industry,
and was backing out
a U-Haul truck.
And, it happened so fast.
I was on the ground having
grand mal seizures.
Seizure after seizure
after seizure.
I knew every single
one of them.
I had smoked with them,
I had done parties
with them,
I knew these people
personally.
I remember waking up
in the hospital.
I had a head injury,
and so
Michael took me
to his house.
He took care of me.
I never got
restitution on that.
I had to pay the
hospital bills from it.
[whooshing truck]
Maybe a month later,
my abusive husband,
Johnny,
put a bullet in a
young lady's head.
And
he shot himself
in the head.
♪
[dog barking]
[gentle instrumental]
[Jennifer] So, Michael
and I bought a house.
[birds chirping]
I got out.
[dog barking]
My life now is
the best it's ever been
in 53 years.
♪
[voice breaking]
I tell him all the time
[clearing throat]
He's my knight
in shining armor.
♪
And I'm waiting for
the ball to drop.
Because it hasn't, and it's
been going on 14 years.
You have no idea how
grateful I am to you.
How much I love you.
How much you
mean to me.
You have no idea, ha.
♪
[faint barking]
I have a great life.
♪
My day-to-day
is my dogs.
♪
My garden,
they dig holes.
I go sit by the water.
I go flat boarding.
♪
I was only a legal prostitute
for six months, if that.
♪
The girls that say that
they did good, it's a joke.
There's a lot of girls
that are in that.
The way they get treated,
and molested,
and beaten,
and raped
is not much different than
what I saw with Johnny.
It's not a job.
It is a nightmare.
♪
[Racquel] I think it's
really significant
that Cathouse
aired on HBO,
which was a cable
network that
I think, not only myself,
but a lot of people,
had faith in.
As in, it wasn't trashy
as a network, and so,
you had this sort of sense
that if HBO is airing it,
they've got to have
some kind of
journalistic integrity.
And of course,
we know now that
Cathouse was sort of
selling itself as being
all about women's
sexual liberation,
but underneath it,
it's the same tired story
of women being
sexually exploited
and abused.
Dennis has raped
so many women
who haven't
come forward.
♪
He had gotten so big
that he couldn't be
contained anymore.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
[Jose] All I hear is
Boom, boom.
Gunshots.
They set the house on fire to
make it look like an accident.
[Merydith] It was horrific.
Six victims and two of
them were unborn children.
[News] Brooke Phillips,
also known as Hayden Brooke,
died in Monday's fire.
[Jose]
I wanted to know why.
[Ryan] We don't know
who did this.
Everybody was a suspect.
[Sonja] Dennis was the
one that told me
Brooke was pregnant
with his child.
[News] A suspect wanted in
the murder of six people
is now in custody.
[DeAnne] Dennis was
going to go to the trial.
[Ryan] He's making
a spectacle of it.
[Dennis] This is terrible,
this is killing me.
[DeAnne] Dennis is the one
who coined the phrase
the Cathouse Murders.
[Merydith] He didn't come
there seeking justice for her.
He came there
seeking attention.
[Dennis] This is the
saddest day of my life.
I was a working girl
for Dennis Hof.
I just thought, "Oh God,
it's gonna be so much fun."
He said, "You get to
pick and choose
who you have sex with."
[Dennis] I don't make anybody
do anything. Ever.
I know that
there are allegations
of rape and violence.
The job of the documentary
was not to do
an investigation into
the Bunny Ranch.
The job was to create
a good-time series.
We're at the Bunny Ranch!
We're having fun!
Tatiana! Carissa!
And I thought it was safe.
But it wasn't safe.
He was a very
sick man.
He hurt a lot of people.
[Dennis]
I'm a straight guy.
I pay my taxes,
I do the right things.
He's a monster.
I was molested,
and beaten, and raped
on a regular basis.
Girls come in,
shut the door,
put a blanket over you
and beat the [beep]
out of you.
The Bunny Ranch is kind of
like Walmart or church.
You don't have to go
unless you want to.
If you make Dennis unhappy,
he's gonna hurt you.
This feels like
organized crime.
He was sort of a
degenerate Tony Soprano.
He thought he could do
whatever he wanted.
He had gotten so big
that he couldn't be
contained anymore.
[moody pop]
♪
You put me under
the covers. ♪
For all the world to see. ♪
But I never recovered. ♪
You never cared
about me. ♪
So now you're
being uncovered. ♪
I kept all the receipts. ♪
You and all of
the others. ♪
Under a fantasy. ♪
♪
[Crew] Jennifer interview,
take one. Marker.
I'm Jennifer.
I was a working girl
for Dennis Hof
at the Moonlite
Bunny Ranch.
I went into the
brothel industry because
my abusive husband
wanted to kill me.
♪
I didn't have
any choice but to run.
So, it was a
really dramatic,
"I'm getting the
[beep] out of here."
I was only a legal prostitute
for six months, if that.
♪
I had never heard of the
Moonlite Bunny Ranch,
the Kit Kat,
the Mustang.
I got sold on the
Cathouse shows.
And I thought
it was safe.
But a lot of
what you saw on
the Cathouse videos
was fake.
♪
Cathouse was an incredibly
successful show.
Around 2010-ish,
Dennis Hof is a
master of brothels
and the most famous pimp
in America.
[Host] We turn now to
Dennis Hof.
- Dennis Hof.
- Dennis Hof.
- Dennis Hof.
- Dennis Hof.
Dennis Hof.
[Dennis] Our girls
are businesswomen
that want to be there.
They're enjoying
what they do.
Dennis felt like
HBO falling into his lap
was one of the
greatest things
that ever happened
to his business.
[camera shutter clicking]
[Dennis] Well, HBO is gonna
show you the reasons
why it should be legal.
And that's what
HBO can capture.
And only HBO can do
something like this.
As years went on and
he started getting his ass
kissed by everybody and
being on every show,
he was like very
full of himself.
SFX: ["cha-ching"]
[Dennis] That's the sound-
I love that sound.
That's like, "Cha-ching!"
That's like a
cash register ringing.
I love your new dress!
So I actually met
Dennis Hof very briefly
probably twenty-something
plus years ago,
working the
MTV music awards.
And he walked over,
and he thanked us for
our service, and told us,
"If you ever make your way
out to one of the brothels,
you know, law
enforcement discount,"
which, I just rolled
my eyes at that,
but I appreciated at least
that he was jovial,
he was friendly,
he was nice to us,
where all the other
A-listers were not.
Looking at it now,
I know exactly
what he was doing.
"Here's one potential person
I can get in my pocket
that will then just serve
my purposes only."
So you have the
ultimate marketer,
Mr. Pimp,
Dennis Hof,
and it was the
Wild Wild West of television.
Sex sells, and
you're not going to ask
yourself questions about
what, what kind of sex
are we talking about?
Are we talking about
consenting sex
between people
who are enjoying
themselves?
Or are we talking
about what is,
behind the scenes,
violence and harm?
[sinister]
♪
[Jennifer]
So, let's see
♪
My mother was a
Playboy model.
♪
My mom's Playboy,
November of '64.
She's pretty proud of this.
There's a better picture
with some clothes on.
[laughs]
I won't show you the ones
that don't have clothes on.
Her blue eyes.
Um
No
No. My mother was a
very evil person.
This is why she gave up
her children.
This is why she gave up me.
Uh, I-
she thought money,
Playboy, fame, drugs,
was more important than,
than me.
♪
She's beautiful
in that picture.
Who she really was,
she was also a alcoholic,
and a drug addict.
I was born in Hollywood.
When I was 5,
my mother and I
went to a restaurant,
and um
♪
My mom said she had to
go to the bathroom.
♪
And uh, she never
came back
So [exhaling]
Sorry.
And I went to sixteen
different foster homes.
I didn't go to school
after the sixth grade.
And, I,
I got emancipated.
♪
As soon as I turned 18,
I got a sales license,
I got into the
car business.
Made a phenomenal living,
but I had a very
bad marriage,
and he was very violent,
um, very controlling.
And Johnny
showed up at my job
and was screaming
that I was a
a fu-
[beep] whore,
I was a bitch.
So, I lost my career.
I went to one of my
girlfriend's house,
and he found me there,
beat me in front of her
and her kids,
and then took a gun and put
the muzzle in my mouth
and told me that
if I ever tried to
leave him,
that he would kill me.
♪
My girlfriend said,
"Hey, you're single,
you're beautiful.
Why don't you go
to a brothel?"
I was like,
"But I'm not,
I'm not a prostitute.
I'm"
She goes,
"But you have sex."
I go, "Yeah."
She goes, "Why don't
you get paid for it?"
The owner, Dennis Hof,
on Cathouse,
he says you get to
pick and choose
who you have sex with.
So, she's like
"It's safe." It's like,
okay, let's do it.
I mean, if I don't like it,
I can always walk away.
And so, she
signed me up.
And sent pictures in.
She called and she said,
"You've been accepted
to the Love Ranch
closest to Vegas."
♪
When Johnny went to sleep,
I snuck out with the clothes
on my back and my purse.
I had nothing else
♪
[inhaling & exhaling]
The Love Ranch was in
the middle of nowhere.
♪
When you get there,
and you get your
Bunny Bible, you also
get Dennis Hof's Cathouse.
So he wants you
to watch that and
that is your training.
And so
That was my training video.
That was the first porn I'd
ever seen in my entire life.
Uh, but yeah,
that was the training.
The Cathouse TV shows,
they were being played
in all the rooms.
It was actually filmed
at the Bunny Ranch,
but I wasn't there
when he did 'em.
The girls got asked
to be on the show,
including myself, and I
just didn't want to do it.
It wasn't my cup of tea.
Any working girl is
going to put on
a different mask
than who they are.
I had to become
Karmen Leigh.
♪
Every bone in my body
felt that Johnny,
my abusive husband,
he would never find me.
Like, I would just fall off
the face of the earth.
I didn't know it was
gonna get worse.
I had no idea.
You know, we're getting
ready to start our ninth
year of shooting our
HBO show, Cathouse.
I thought I'd bring the girls.
These are the girls
from the new season
right here.
Dennis Hof was a master at
exploiting opportunities
for publicity.
Dennis wanted to get on
the Russell Brand show.
And I had mentioned,
"Oh, I have connections
with the show, I think
I can get him on it."
Dennis was so nice to me
on the phone.
He seemed very kind.
And, I ended up getting
Dennis booked on the show.
And Dennis had a shtick
he used in the media to,
you know, promote his
brothel and promote himself.
[Dennis] The truth is they
don't have to party
with anybody
they don't want to.
They don't do anything
that they don't want to
because everybody
has their limits.
And they don't do anything
for any less money
than they think
it's worth.
[DeAnne] And the idea
would be that, you know,
men would see them and
would want to book and
would call and make
an appointment.
Because he made
things look nice.
[Dennis] It's just fun.
It's just sex.
- Fair enough, it's okay.
- It's just having a good time.
[DeAnne] So I never saw him
as a pimp in the beginning.
I saw him as
a businessman.
He didn't just
own brothels.
He owned two restaurants,
a mini-mart, a gas station,
several real estate
businesses.
He owned a nightclub,
a strip club.
I thought he was just
a businessman
who was diversified
in his investments.
[Dennis] People's reaction
when I tell them that
I'm a brothel owner,
they love it.
I have never once
had a bad experience.
He did portray himself as
a community member
who was helping
the community.
But sadly, it was not
a community effort
that was positive.
♪
[Jennifer] I was at the brothel,
New Year's Eve.
And it was just like
the show is.
Big old party,
had people there.
Celebrities hanging out.
Everybody showed up.
Heidi Fleiss showed up.
Ron Jeremy,
he was there.
Dennis was in love
with celebrities.
And there was a whole
entourage of people
like that around Dennis,
and if they'd ever been
in the news or the media,
he just was
infatuated with them.
He couldn't have them
around enough.
[DeAnne] Flavor Flav
was around.
Dennis wanted him
for media exposure.
He hired
John Wayne Bobbitt.
I think he worked
as a bartender
or a driver there.
He would lure people like
Joey Buttafuoco
to the brothel.
♪
♪
[Jennifer] There was
a few other girls,
and they were so
excited to see Dennis.
It was "Daddy."
They sat on his lap.
He was like, "Oh girls,
come sit on my lap."
That's how I met
Dennis Hof.
He said, "Come here."
[patting lap]
"You can call me Daddy."
I actually did
sit on his lap,
and I looked at him,
and I said,
"You're not my Daddy."
♪
So, I don't know,
two, three hours maybe
have gone by,
and I've got some
alcohol in me, and
the madam of the house
comes and says,
"Dennis wants to see you."
Dennis was in my room.
Dennis asked me
to sit on the bed.
[patting] "Here,"
patted the bed,
[patting] "Sit here."
The door was closed.
And then he told me
to get undressed
And I did.
Dennis started
touching me.
And he said,
"I get to try
all the flavors."
I told him I didn't think
I needed to sleep
with my boss.
He's like,
"I got to try you.
This is how it's gonna be."
I did not authorize Dennis Hof
to have sex with me,
nor did I get paid.
I know and I feel in every
bone in my body
that Dennis Hof raped me.
♪
He owns us.
He owns you.
And so,
he gets to try you.
♪
I went to the madam
right afterwards,
and I said,
"He just raped me."
"I didn't have a condom,
I didn't have protection."
She's like, quote, unquote,
"Don't worry about it."
♪
That was what was said.
Dennis was
engaging in a lot of
very ugly behavior.
And he was getting away
with it because he was,
in my opinion,
so far removed.
None of this would work
anywhere else,
but only in the sagebrush
parts of our state
where there's nothing
but wild rabbits
and a couple antelope
running around.
[whooshing vehicles]
They're on an island
of their own,
and you're just
kind of like
"Maybe this is
what goes on out there."
But as long as
we stayed out of there,
it's that out of sight,
out of mind kind of thing.
They don't want us involved,
and we had very little,
in my 21-year span of
dealing with them, very little.
♪
[Jennifer]
But I was angry.
I went into town,
and I went to the
Nye County Sheriff's Office.
And I said,
"I want to report a rape."
He said, "Who?"
I said, "Dennis Hof."
It didn't even faze him.
It was like that was
"And? What
What do you
want me to do?"
♪
[Jennifer] I learned that day
that I was a prostitute.
That I was nothing more
than the trash
underneath their feet.
Law enforcement often,
I think, in the past,
has had a disconnect
with sex workers
and prostitution
because sex work,
it's kind of viewed through
the puritan eyes
of America, and if there
is a woman who's a
sex worker seeking help
from law enforcement
in those rural counties,
and then the deputies
don't even let you
write out a statement,
that would be
concerning to me.
That initial statement is
so critical because
that's where the
details come out
when it's still fresh
in the victim's mind.
[Jennifer] The police
didn't help me.
The house staff don't care.
No one cared.
That was it,
and I go, "F this,"
and I walked out.
I went back to the brothel.
It started coming out
that we haven't
evaluated them or
checked on them
as much as
we should've.
Dennis Hof didn't want us
to bother them, and
the Sheriff's Office doesn't
want to bother them.
[Jennifer] I was
completely trapped
at the brothel
at that time.
I had no money for food,
I had no money
for a hotel.
I was stuck 25 miles
outside of town
in the middle of nowhere.
[Ashton] Part of the problem
is you're just so isolated.
They were kind
of stuck there.
[Jennifer] I had, like,
a moment
that this was my life.
I'm gonna make as much
money as I can,
as fast as I can,
and I'm gonna get the hell
out of here.
♪
[Brenda] Sadly, I don't think
that's out of the norm.
Often, the women who work
in the Bunny Ranch
come down to get their
hair and nails done,
and on one occasion,
when I was sitting right here
in the salon in this chair
I noticed a woman that was
about three chairs over
from where I'm
sitting right now.
She had bald spots.
There was 3 or 4 of them
about the size of a fist,
and I came to find out that
it was actually the john,
the purchaser,
the buyer of a woman,
ripped her hair out
from the roots.
And after her hair
extensions were replaced,
she got in a
Bunny Ranch limousine
and was taken
back to the brothel.
So, I chose to do
something positive.
I started a non-profit to
help be a resource for women.
And since 2012,
we were able to
serve about 55,
uh, women.
[Taina] Why is it that
we allow, you know,
this particular population
of vulnerable women to,
to be bought and sold?
Because it is a population
the state does
not care about.
[DeAnne] After I
booked Dennis on
The Russell Brand Show,
he was thrilled with me.
At that point,
Dennis was so pleased
that he offered me a job to
come work for him
as his publicist and
executive assistant.
So, Dennis constantly
praised me.
He would tell other people
how wonderful I was.
Ah, it made me feel so great
that I had found a place
that I thought was
a good fit for me,
with a boss who
truly appreciated me,
who empowered me to do
the best that I could.
Suzette asked me
about my family.
Suzette is the madam,
but that's just
the term they use,
she's the
general manager.
I didn't have any family,
and I let her know that.
The very next day,
I get a text message
from Dennis, and he says,
"I want you to know
we're your family now.
We're family,
you and I."
And I felt like, yeah,
I'm not in the world
all alone
♪
I have family now.
♪
[Racquel] He's such a
good reader of people.
So many of the women who
worked at the Bunny Ranch
came from
childhood trauma.
And so, I think every
young woman who comes
into his vision, he knows
her background,
he knows exactly what
her weaknesses are,
he knows exactly what
she wants to hear,
and he-
he exploits that.
He just presses that button
to get exactly what
he wants from them.
♪
[Jennifer] I got flown,
by Dennis,
to the Bunny Ranch.
It's because it was a
much upper scale facility.
And I was making really,
really, really good money.
♪
Once I got to his,
as I call, lair
[exhaling sharply]
And he had
handcuffs, toys,
all that on the bed already.
♪
He would handcuff me
to the bed.
He would then
stick things in me.
It wasn't even sex,
it was that he shoved
things in me that hurt.
He dominated me,
that's all he did.
Um, and by doing
those things,
he felt like he had
control of me.
♪
[DeAnne] Everything was
fine for a few months.
But then I was starting to
see things I didn't like.
The show Cathouse made it
look like the Bunny Ranch
is so much fun.
Everyone just looks
really happy coming here,
and just making some money
in a safe environment.
"And I get to be
a star on HBO."
[Dennis] When the
weather gets nice,
Suzette creates
outdoor parties.
In the jacuzzi
with beachballs,
and eating hotdogs,
and hula hooping.
And doing all
these fun things.
[DeAnne] I never saw
anything even remotely
like that in real life.
So, here's the reality
of the situation.
I was in the swimming
pool one day,
and suddenly Dennis
and a bunch of girls
were in the shallow end
of the pool.
And the girls
were messed up.
Their eyes were like, pfft,
rolling in the
back of their head.
They were so out of it.
And they were naked.
But Dennis is instructing
these women in a very
aggressive way to perform
sex acts on each other.
And he's telling them,
"You do this to this one,
you do this to that one."
And he had sex toys.
And he was pounding this girl,
and just pounding her.
So, for Dennis, none of
that was about sex.
That was about physical
assault and battery,
and control of a woman.
And I thought, this doesn't
look very consensual to me,
especially when the
women are doped up.
And as far as I'm
concerned, that's rape.
♪
And by the way, I didn't
dare call the police
because the deputy would
show up at the brothel
in his car,
the Sheriff's car
in uniform.
He had called ahead
and there was a
particular girl he wanted,
and she was called out,
she came to take him
back to her room.
They went to the room,
but she never came out
with money or a
credit card to pay.
♪
He was in there about
half an hour, 45 minutes.
And then he left.
And this happened
several times.
[Ashton] You're a
government official.
It could undermine
an investigation and
it's a violation of your
oath now if you try to
conduct some kind
of an investigation
into some impropriety
in these brothels,
but you've been
a customer there at a
discounted or free rate or
even a full paying customer,
there's gonna be
a problem.
[DeAnne] This deputy
could've lost his job
for doing this.
It was so inappropriate.
[Ashton] You're undermining
the woman who's
working there and you're
undermining your career.
You're basically
betting your badge
if you're doing this.
[DeAnne] Now when
Dennis needs a favor,
Dennis owns him.
This particular officer
later became
an investigator
with the department.
[Ashton]
There's no free lunch.
Everything comes
at a cost.
[DeAnne] On top of that,
Dennis donated money to
charities for the
Carson City
Sheriff's Department.
♪
Just follow the money.
[Ashton] We know that
Mr. Hof donated money
to the police funds, and he
had photo opportunities
with local cops and
things of that nature.
It's all smoke and mirrors
at the end of the day.
Those start to become
that grey area
where if you're a law
enforcement administration,
if you're the Sheriff,
if you're
in the position of
authority,
you have to be
very careful.
You have to walk a
very fine line there.
[Eric] Sometimes you'd get
new guys that would come out
and be like, "I'm gonna go out
and pull all their cards."
And then it was
kind of like, dude, just,
you know, upper management
would be like,
"Dude,
just leave them alone."
♪
Brothel tax money
was used to
buy the town's police cars.
You know, he did things in
the town and tried to be
a good citizen to show,
like, oh,
look what the brothel
is providing the town.
[Ashton] We have
some of the most
sparsely populated
parts of the state.
There's really nothing
outside of ranching, mining.
There's no major casino.
There's not hundreds of
thousands of tourists coming
like Las Vegas
and Reno.
And so, sometimes you get
the brothel becoming the,
really the only thing
that provides the
tax money to provide
county resources
such as law enforcement.
[Dennis] Nye County
in Southern Nevada,
where I have three brothels
outside of Vegas,
wouldn't have
an EMT system.
They wouldn't
have ambulances.
That's where the money
comes from.
This county,
Lyon County,
we pay for all the police cars
and the communications,
so they need us.
♪
[Taina] There were
conversations at the time
about shutting down
the brothels because
there were signs
of trafficking,
there were
signs of violence.
And what the
sheriff said is,
"Unless another big
source of income comes in,
for instance a Walmart
or a Target,
we would lose 350,000
in that county,"
so it was not
economically desirable
for brothels to be
shut down.
[Ashton] The brothel is
really the only thing
bringing in huge amounts of
money to the county coffers.
♪
[laughs]
They're filming us
[Brenda] He did not
treat his women well,
and I can say that because
I sat with some of them
that were bleeding, some of
them who had been raped,
some of them who have
bruises all over them.
♪
[suspenseful] ♪
♪
[Tom] While we were
filming Cathouse,
I was not aware of any
allegations of rape
and violence
toward women,
but I certainly could
see it happening.
It probably happened
while we were there.
The fact is that
nobody was after
a serious insight,
an incisive look at life
in the Bunny Ranch.
Nobody was after that.
The job was to create a
goodtime series that had
the connection to reality
so that it felt real.
The job of the documentary
was not to do
an investigation into
the Bunny Ranch.
Nobody asked, "Does
Dennis ever molest you?
Do you ever not want
Dennis to touch you?"
♪
[DeAnne] The brothel may
have seemed in the beginning
like it was a safe place,
the way it was
shown on Cathouse.
But I started to think this
feels like organized crime.
And Dennis seemed
like a crime boss.
[Jennifer] When Dennis
decided that he liked me
Dennis would
come regularly.
♪
But Dennis, um,
raped me on a
regular basis,
any time that he was
at the property.
So, if he was there for a week,
it was every night,
or every other night,
or a couple times a day.
♪
I wanted out of
the industry.
But then my
abusive husband, Johnny,
found me there.
He'd shown up
at the brothel,
and he couldn't
get in the gate
'cause they had a
picture of him.
I didn't leave the brothel
because the
fear factor was there,
the protection was there.
Um, I had already
been through Dennis,
um
raping me.
But I wasn't
getting beat.
So those were
my choices.
♪
And for those of us,
the top sellers,
we would go into
town with him,
go to the casinos with him.
He would have a redhead.
I had my hair jet black
with the ice blue eyes.
He had his blondes.
So, the- I think the reason
that he had us
all around him, um,
was marketing.
"This is what's on
the menu this week."
"This is what I have
at my ranch."
And we always had people
come in the back door.
Politicians, police officers, congressmen.
[Dennis] We've had
everybody here.
Judges, uh, yes.
Yeah, yeah, we've had
a lot of people here.
And there's gonna be
a lot more.
That's why we have
a back entrance.
The private entrance to
get in and out of here,
people can't see you.
[Jennifer] But then
I would have to give
free services to them.
I would have to
give them [beep],
have sex,
clean them up.
When Dennis
was involved,
it was always free.
[Dennis] I'm the only guy
that gets Ron laid.
[Ron] [laughs]
That's true!
[crowd chatter]
Ron Jeremy was
the biggest celebrity
that he was able
to hold onto.
[Racquel] Ron Jeremy
was a porn star
in the 1970s and 80s,
then sort of has this
career resurrection
when he is cast on a
reality television show
called The Surreal Life.
[Ron] They look sexy.
Mine is funny.
- Is this for real, Ron?
- I'll tell you in a second.
- Let's do a measurement.
- Yes, it is.
[Sonja] One of the reasons
too that I think Dennis
hung out with Ron,
Ron Jeremy being famous
for the size of his member,
it's simply association.
You know,
guilt by association,
big [beep] by association.
Ron Jeremy came for
the free stuff
as well as for
the friendship.
He would stay at the brothel
for free, eat for free.
He would be able to
have sex with the girls.
[Jennifer] Ron Jeremy
would just come in and
stick his [beep].
There-
he's disgusting,
and it made me sick,
and it hurt.
♪
♪
[DeAnne] One day,
Dennis got an email from this
very pretty, young
girl from Seattle.
She wanted to come there
and auction her virginity,
and Dennis put this poor
girl's face everywhere.
We had her on CNN, we had
her doing interviews,
every major outlet.
[Bekah] I think Dennis,
he would even go
and have tables
at job fairs
and try to get girls to
auction their virginity off.
Because he didn't care.
You're just some
fantasy that they have
that they
want you to meet.
[Taina] One of the things
that was most disturbing
is when you go
into the Bunny Ranch,
there's a wall of
photographs
of pregnant women,
naked pregnant women,
because if you have
a fetish for, for
purchasing pregnant women
for sexual acts,
uh,
Hof could provide that.
♪
[DeAnne] And he even had a
pregnant prostitute on Tyra.
[Racquel] Dennis Hof is
always willing to go on these
shows because he's using
this as free publicity,
but even though Tyra Banks,
and like every member of
the studio audience,
and her family,
and the father of her child
are all trying to shame her,
Dennis really is revealing
something about
the hypocrisy of the
morals of her family.
[Dennis] She's got a father
that's the mayor of a city
that wouldn't support her
because he's got a new wife.
When she made
the phone call,
the family wasn't there.
[Racquel] He's riding
that sympathy, in a way.
He gets to step in,
and there's this
fascinating way
that he manages to
turn himself into
a hero and a savior.
[Dennis] At the Ranch,
she's got people to
support her and take care of
the things she needs.
[Racquel] He could do so much
to support this young woman
besides having her,
you know, do this type of
hard physical labor at
8 months pregnant.
We know that
they're being exploited
at the Bunny Ranch,
but this feels nasty
in a way
that is different.
♪
[Jennifer] In front,
the white picket fence,
and inside you're getting
your ass beat or raped.
He's a monster.
He's evil.
He was evil.
He thought he could do
whatever he wanted.
The HBO Cathouse
was always a
hyper-competitive
environment.
Oh, it's all got to be
about you, doesn't it?
You bet, that's what
I've been doing.
You inject yourself into
any situation, don't you?
Pretty much.
Everything was a competition
for who could be
the most successful.
♪
He liked
dynamic tension
among the women
around him.
♪
He liked that
kind of drama,
and he would feed it
a lot of times.
He did that by
showing the girls
who was in
and who was out.
He did that on purpose.
[Alice] If you were
his girlfriend,
out of all the other girls
that he was sleeping with,
you would get the
most promotion,
the most opportunities,
choice placement
on the website.
Maybe, like, a little
banner or a popup.
And Dennis, he would
encourage some of the
catfighting and would, like,
fuel the fire in a way.
Well, if the girls are
fighting with each other,
they're gonna want to make
more money than each other.
Well, if he's making 50%
of both their money,
good, they should be
fighting each other.
It benefits him.
[Sonja] With the
Cathouse series,
Dennis has a very
specific type.
Teenage to 25.
White, blonde hair,
very skinny.
[Dennis] Flawless.
It's a great outfit.
What it takes to be
Dennis' girlfriend,
he likes to mold them.
And that's what he's
doing with Cami now.
[Dennis] It's the old saying,
keep your friends close
and your enemies closer.
[Cami] Right.
[Dennis] If you think a
girl doesn't like you,
that's the girl you want
to be more friends with.
[Cami] Right.
[Dennis] I'm glad you're
having a good time.
[Cami] I am,
I love it here.
It's the best place
in the world.
Thank you, Daddy.
[Jennifer]
So, Cami Parker is
Dennis Hof's
main girlfriend.
We were good
until she found out
I was having sex with him.
The first reaction was,
"What did you do?"
And I was like, "Girl,
I don't want to have
sex with him."
You're with a girl now,
let's have a competition
with Daddy.
The girls get jealous.
Um, and when
they get jealous,
they get pissed.
♪
So, I was in bed and
my door was open so
I could hear the bell.
And so, the next thing I know
is I have girls coming in.
And as soon as
they lock the door,
I knew something
was gonna happen.
The reason they put a
blanket over you,
number one,
you can't move.
And number two,
you can hit somebody
and not really bruise them.
They punch you
and punch you
and punch you.
And yelling at you.
"You're a nobody,
don't you dare do this,
you're a nobody,
you're a piece of [beep].
I'm the number one,
bitch."
I went straight
to the cashier,
and I was like,
"What the [beep]?"
She was like
♪
"It's part of it."
I got no assistance,
no help in any way,
shape, or form.
♪
♪
I met Michael at the
Love Ranch in Pahrump.
Just like every customer,
we would do a lineup.
I was, like
"Damn, I could deal
with that." You know,
that was really what was
going through my head.
He picked me
and we went to the
negotiation room.
And, we talked.
I gave him a
dollar amount.
Um, after our party,
he asked what it would be
to spend the
night with me.
And, we hung out
the rest of the night,
and
the next morning came.
I left the room,
and I
paid for a few more hours.
[laughs]
On my dime.
♪
And Michael spent
quite a bit of money
and kept coming back.
Michael and I talked daily.
And, he wanted me
to be his girlfriend
and to see where it
would go, and
I was like, "Okay."
So, I then decided to
leave the industry.
And then
Dennis found out.
So, Dennis made it
very, very, very clear
that I was not to leave.
That was his vagina,
that was his vagina,
that was his vagina.
I thought it was just-
like, I thought it was like
I could quit a job.
It didn't work out
that way.
♪
[DeAnne] Dennis was
very fond of saying,
"The door works
both ways.
If you don't like it in here,
you are free to leave."
But
women were
afraid because
there was a punishment
if you left Dennis.
[Glen] In that show
Cathouse on HBO,
Sunset Thomas was his
number one for a long time.
And she was eating out
of Dennis's hand.
She would just do
whatever Dennis said.
[Dennis] The reason I'm late
is we decided to play boss
and secretary this
morning in the office.
[laughing]
I woke her up, said,
"Uh, Ms. Thomas,
could you step into
my office please?"
Dennis and Sunset
had this
long-running battle.
When she left Dennis
from the Bunny Ranch,
she went over to the Kit Kat
under a previous owner.
They had to have
bodyguards to protect her
from Dennis' thugs
getting to her.
Dennis left some vicious
messages for her.
♪
♪
[DeAnne] The message
was loud and clear:
if you don't play by
Dennis's rules,
if you make
Dennis unhappy,
you are going to be punished,
he is gonna hurt you,
and you are gonna suffer.
♪
[Jennifer] Michael and I
had decided
that I was gonna leave.
And I went down to the
U-Haul parking lot
in Carson City, Nevada,
and went to go get
a U-Haul truck.
I just remember
seeing the girls.
They started pulling me
off the steering wheel.
Dennis sent his girls to
beat the [beep] out of me
and try to kill me
and they did a
pretty good damn job.
So, I decided to
leave the industry,
and was backing out
a U-Haul truck.
And, it happened so fast.
I was on the ground having
grand mal seizures.
Seizure after seizure
after seizure.
I knew every single
one of them.
I had smoked with them,
I had done parties
with them,
I knew these people
personally.
I remember waking up
in the hospital.
I had a head injury,
and so
Michael took me
to his house.
He took care of me.
I never got
restitution on that.
I had to pay the
hospital bills from it.
[whooshing truck]
Maybe a month later,
my abusive husband,
Johnny,
put a bullet in a
young lady's head.
And
he shot himself
in the head.
♪
[dog barking]
[gentle instrumental]
[Jennifer] So, Michael
and I bought a house.
[birds chirping]
I got out.
[dog barking]
My life now is
the best it's ever been
in 53 years.
♪
[voice breaking]
I tell him all the time
[clearing throat]
He's my knight
in shining armor.
♪
And I'm waiting for
the ball to drop.
Because it hasn't, and it's
been going on 14 years.
You have no idea how
grateful I am to you.
How much I love you.
How much you
mean to me.
You have no idea, ha.
♪
[faint barking]
I have a great life.
♪
My day-to-day
is my dogs.
♪
My garden,
they dig holes.
I go sit by the water.
I go flat boarding.
♪
I was only a legal prostitute
for six months, if that.
♪
The girls that say that
they did good, it's a joke.
There's a lot of girls
that are in that.
The way they get treated,
and molested,
and beaten,
and raped
is not much different than
what I saw with Johnny.
It's not a job.
It is a nightmare.
♪
[Racquel] I think it's
really significant
that Cathouse
aired on HBO,
which was a cable
network that
I think, not only myself,
but a lot of people,
had faith in.
As in, it wasn't trashy
as a network, and so,
you had this sort of sense
that if HBO is airing it,
they've got to have
some kind of
journalistic integrity.
And of course,
we know now that
Cathouse was sort of
selling itself as being
all about women's
sexual liberation,
but underneath it,
it's the same tired story
of women being
sexually exploited
and abused.
Dennis has raped
so many women
who haven't
come forward.
♪
He had gotten so big
that he couldn't be
contained anymore.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
[Jose] All I hear is
Boom, boom.
Gunshots.
They set the house on fire to
make it look like an accident.
[Merydith] It was horrific.
Six victims and two of
them were unborn children.
[News] Brooke Phillips,
also known as Hayden Brooke,
died in Monday's fire.
[Jose]
I wanted to know why.
[Ryan] We don't know
who did this.
Everybody was a suspect.
[Sonja] Dennis was the
one that told me
Brooke was pregnant
with his child.
[News] A suspect wanted in
the murder of six people
is now in custody.
[DeAnne] Dennis was
going to go to the trial.
[Ryan] He's making
a spectacle of it.
[Dennis] This is terrible,
this is killing me.
[DeAnne] Dennis is the one
who coined the phrase
the Cathouse Murders.
[Merydith] He didn't come
there seeking justice for her.
He came there
seeking attention.
[Dennis] This is the
saddest day of my life.