TORONTO - The Velvet Touch Massage parlour - where Jack Layton was found during a 1996 police visit - was suspected by himself and others to be a rub and tug since it opened, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti says.

The massage parlour at 787 Dundas St. W., which ceased operations shortly after the police came calling, opened in 1994 and was among 26 suspected bawdy houses Toronto Police cracked down on with more than 300 charges.

Layton has denied any wrongdoing and said he did not know it was a suspected bawdy house.

Despite the Velvet Touch being a "pretty active illicit" operation, no one at City Hall received any complaints about it, he said.

"I've asked recently if anyone at City Hall had complained in 1996 and there were no complaints that came out of councillors, but police had their eye on it and at the end of the day, shut it down," Mammoliti said. "I can pretty much guarantee wherever there's a rub and tug, it's run by organized crime and drugs are always a part of the equation. That's just a reality of the business."

As for his thoughts on Layton being caught in the room with an attractive 5-foot-10 Asian woman, he's not really buying that the NDP leader didn't know it was a place where he could get sexual services.

"He's claiming he got a legitimate massage, but the issue here is it's clear it was a rub and tug and most people in society would know that when they go in. I'd be very surprised that a very smart politician would not have known ... and Jack was very smart."

At the time, police were targeting massage parlours using underage girls from Thailand.

On Twitter, there was mixed reaction from feminists.

"I'm surprised by politicians' tweets saying Layton visit to alleged bawdyhouse is no big deal; respect 4 women is overlooked by the tweets," wrote lawyer Cyndee Law.

But Kimberly Hussey called the allegations an attack on Layton.

"All the women I know will be voting for him. H was getting a massage by RMT," she said.

Mammoliti hopes now that this story is widely publicized, the federal government will begin to take shutting down body-rub parlours more aggressively.

"Maybe now, we can start talking about what we're going to do with 3,000 illicit massage parlours that are scattered around the city today and how to clean it up." he said.

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