Rescued From Sex Slavery

48 Hours Goes Undercover Into The International Sex Slave Trade

(CBS)  Sadly, it was totally different for Elsa’s daughter. Members of the Carreto crime family of Tlaxcala, Mexico, brought Elsa’s daughter and other girls all the way to Queens, N.Y.

"In New York, threats, force, violence, rape used to force these Mexican women into prostitution, six, seven days a week," says ICE Director Mike Garcia.

For years, ICE agents have been investigating the pipeline that brings Mexican girls to the quiet Queens neighborhood where members of the Carreto family were running their operation.

48 Hours sent an undercover researcher into the Latino neighborhood in Queens, where Elsa's daughter was brought. He soon finds a pimp who steers him around the block and down into a basement.

Under the careful eyes of their keepers, the girls are working in two small rooms, separated by a bed sheet.

“When we think of how trafficking victims are surviving within our own countries today, I can only imagine that it's something like this," says Smith, who was shown the undercover tape. "What's interesting to note about this particular case is that it seems to be happening in a middle-class residential area. This further proves the point that we all need to be vigilant. This could be happening next door."

At another popular location, a girl tells the undercover researcher that she is 22 and from Vera Cruz, Mexico. He asks the men running the place if they have anyone younger. They promise him a 16-year-old girl.

48 Hours can’t say for sure if these girls are being held against their will, but when Elsa’s daughter got her first chance to call Mexico, she contacted her mother and pleaded for help.

"She was afraid because she had been threatened," says Elsa. "And I cried very much when I heard her voice.”

Despite the danger of speaking out against members of the Carreto family, Elsa was not intimidated. She went public with her story in the New York Times magazine, and filed a complaint with the Mexican federal police.

"I saw the way to find justice. I made the move," she says. "But I still worry a lot about my daughter."

Elsa’s determination paid off. Members of the Carreto family were arrested last year. Authorities say they eventually will be going to trial in New York.

Elsa's daughter was rescued and now assisting in the investigation. She hopes to be reunited with her mother.

Slave trader Alexander Rashkovsky ended up in prison in California after Olga testified against him at trial. He died of pneumonia behind bars in 2003.

Olga was allowed to stay in the United States under a special visa the federal government offers to victims of trafficking. Today, Olga is pursuing a college degree in the United States.

As for Nicoleta, the girl that 48 Hours bought in Bucharest for $1,800 and then freed? 48 Hours returned to Romania three months later to find out how she's doing. She's still in recovery at Iana Matei's shelter for trafficked girls.

"She's doing better than I expected her to do, honestly," says Matei. "She's doing quite well in the shelter."

For the first time in her life, Nicoleta has people around her who care. "They're a really good family," she says.

And they are her only family. It has taken months for Matei to learn the true details of Nicoleta's life, including her true age, 26. She believes that Nicoleta, homeless and mentally challenged, was picked up by traffickers and spent years as a sex slave.

Just the mention of her past life reduces Nicoleta to tears.

48 Hours went back to the apartment where Nicoleta was held captive, to confront her former owners, Nadia and Costel, but they were nowhere to be found. The traffickers seemingly melted into the back alleys of Bucharest, as Nicoleta picks up the pieces of her shattered life.

"I was quite impressed, honestly," says Matei. "I am pleased to say there is hope for Nicoleta."

Today, it's the simple pleasures of freedom that make Nicoleta happy, like having her own room, working in the shelter's tailoring shop, and being able to walk outside. Now, perhaps for the first time, she can look forward to the future.

"I want to learn to read and get a job," says Nicoleta. "And maybe one day have a family."

Shortly after this 48 Hours broadcast first aired in February, Nicoleta disappeared from the shelter. No one has seen her since.

Six members of the Carreto crime ring have pleaded guilty to all counts in their federal sex trafficking case in New York City.

Elsa's daughter now has her own job and home in the United States. Elsa visited her this spring.

There are an estimated 4,600 women currently held in the United States as sex slaves.