Chicken Ranch (Texas) - Closure

Closure

Prostitution is not legal in Texas. In November 1972, the Texas Department of Public Safety surveilled the Chicken Ranch for two days, documenting 484 people entering the Chicken Ranch. At the request of a member of the Texas DPS intelligence team, local law enforcement closed the Chicken Ranch down for a short time. It reopened, and in July 1973 Houston television reporter Marvin Zindler began an investigation of the Chicken Ranch. Zindler claimed for many years that he began the investigation because of an anonymous tip. Later in his autobiography, Zindler admitted that he did his expose after two college students—Peggy Meek (Venable) and Bill Boe—wrote an article on the Chicken Ranch which landed them an Intercollegiate Press Award. Governor Dolph Briscoe closed the operation, only to have it open again after a few months. Then Zindler stepped in to shed more light on the operation, which led to its being closed for good.

In 2005, during the interview with KTRK News, Houston, Texas, Zindler said: "Now, 25 years ago I told a little fib when I said I got into the act because of an anonymous tip. The tip was actually a phone call from the office of the Texas Attorney General John Hill. Hill asked the chief of his organized crime division Tim James to get me involved in closing the Chicken Ranch." Tim James was in the office when Attorney General Hill asked Fayette County District Attorney, Oliver Kitzman, to close the Chicken Ranch. Hill explained the interest of the DPS and the Attorney General had in seeing that any organized crime was shut down. The response from Kitzman was, 'There's nothing that the people in this county want to do about it, Mr. Hill. There's nothing that we're going to do about it. It's not of great concern to the people who've elected me,' said the DA. Hill then told Zindler, that he was paraphrasing a little bit, but basically what Kitzman told Hill was, 'And if your or your people come down here, I'll be the one investigating you!' That's when the Attorney General Hill suggested that Zindler be called.

Tim James called Zindler in the hopes that the television personality could apply the right kind of pressure to get the ranch shut down. Zindler interviewed Kitzman, who admitted to knowing about the Chicken Ranch, but claimed that he had never tried to close down the brothel because "we have never had any indication by anyone that these places are a problem to law enforcement." Sheriff T.J. Flournoy, who had overseen the La Grange area for 27 years, denied that the Chicken Ranch was involved in organized crime, and denied that he had been bribed to keep the place open. Zindler approached Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe about the matter. After a very brief investigation, which found no evidence of a link to organized crime, Briscoe and Texas Attorney General John Hill ordered the Chicken Ranch to be permanently closed.

The actual closing was very painless. On August 1, 1973, Flournoy called Milton and told her that she was no longer allowed to operate. A handmade sign on the building blamed Zindler for the closing. Flournoy then went to Austin to meet with the governor, armed with a petition opposing the closure and carrying 3,000 signatures. Briscoe refused to meet with him.