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Ten things to know about 'Dodo The Pimp'

The Local France
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Ten things to know about 'Dodo The Pimp'

The man at the centre of the DSK pimping trial in Lille is "Dodo Le Saumure", or in English "Dodo the pimp". From his white teeth to his views on prostitution, here are ten things to know about a man you'll be seeing a lot more of in the coming weeks.

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1. His real name is...
 
Dominique Alderweireld. He was born in Annoeullin in the far north of France on February 5th in 1949, meaning he turns 66 this Thursday.
 
2. His nickname...
 
His nickname in French is "Dodo la Saumure" - which loosely translates as "Dodo the brine". Saumure is the salt oil that fish in this part of Europe are often served in, especially mackerel, which is also the French slang for pimp. 
 
He once said that the nickname "might bring a smile to your face," but that it's also "a sign of respect".
 
3. He's an author
 
Dodo relishes the spotlight, and spilled some of his secrets in memoirs published in 2013 called "Moi, Dodo la Saumure" ("Me, Dodo The Pimp"). The book has a 3.8 out of 5 user rating on Amazon, and is so far only available in French. It has sold around 20,000 copies.
 
4. His DSK sex club

In June last year Dodo announced he was going to name a sex club in Belgium "DSKlub", after the former IMF chief. He admitted that the choice of initials in the club's name was a reference to France's disgraced politician - a name he thought to be "commercially brilliant".

Strauss-Kahn, however did not see the funny side and immediately threatened to sue him, before the name was also banned by a Belgian court. 

Dodo then said he would name another sex club in Belgium "Carlton" after the hotel in Lille where many of the orgies took place. 

5. Sex for the disabled? 
 
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper last year, he revealed that he was working on "a project for a facility for sex for handicapped people". He added that he had another two bars in the works at the time too.

6. He has previous convictions:

Dodo, who says he had a “difficult upbringing” in northern France has thirteen convictions to his name including two for pimping in the French towns of Nantes and Valenciennes. He committed his first burglary at 17, frequented his first prostitute aged 18 and as a result of his convictions he’s been in prison for a total of two years.

7. He got his teeth whitened for the trial

It appears that Dodo likes to prepare meticulously. Before his big day in court in Lille, he went to Spain to have his teeth whitened, probably knowing that he would have to do plenty of smiling for the cameras at a trial that will garner huge media attention. He also revealed he has laid out his best suits for the next three weeks.

8. A varied CV

Dodo has done a few different jobs in his time before he became manager of five brothels in Belgium. He was involved in real east, he organized fashion shows at car dealerships, installing slot machines and ran a meat trade business between Mali and the Ivory Coast during the 1970s. At the turn of the 2000s he launched his business of sex clubs in Belgium where prostitution is tolerated and the laws around procurement are vague.

9. His views on the world's oldest profession:
 
"Brothels have always existed, the wife of Pericles ran one," he said in an interview with French newspaper Liberation. "And a woman who waits at home for money from her husband, well, isn't that a kind of prostitution too?"
 
10. He "wasn’t surprised" by DSK’s New York arrest:

Dodo’s conversations with his contacts at the Carlton Hotel in Lille were recorded by police and revealed the pimp was hardly surprised when DSK was arrested in New York accused of assaulting a hotel maid. “It’s no wonder, you know, when I brought him the girls. You remember?” he was recorded telling his friend René Kojfer, who is also on trial and considered one of the key protagonists. 

 

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