operation "risky business" is incredible...

The stooped old woman with the oxygen tank and the walker in Lindenwold, N.J., rarely left the apartment she shared with her grandson and his girlfriend. She was 80 years old and, according to the younger woman, had only one friend.

But the police said the woman, Vera Tursi, helped lonely men make new friends, by running an escort service called August Playmates. She took telephone calls from clients at her apartment and, depending on what they were in the mood for and who was available, sent escorts to meet them, the police said.

"It was her operation; it was her business," said Sgt. James Fish of the New Jersey State Police. "She's been in business for at least six months, probably longer."

Ms. Tursi was one of 42 people arrested by the state police last month in what investigators called "Operation Risky Business," involving several escort services. The arrests were announced on May 14, along with the seizure of more than $51,000 in cash and a bank account worth $20,000.

Sergeant Fish said that Ms. Tursi described her operation to investigators as "bargain basement" and that she complained that she worked alone, unable to offer security for the women, which probably scared off all but the most desperate. "She didn't have other people," Sergeant Fish said. "A lot of them have drivers and security working for them."

This also meant that Ms. Tursi did not always get her cut of the fee. "We know she had girls working for her who did not come back and give her the money," Sergeant Fish said. "She told us that."