Two other people, described by authorities as people who oversaw the operations, are under investigation but have not been charged, authorities said.

Six escort services are believed to be fronts for at least two "call girl" operations where prostitutes met clients at hotels, authorities said.

Paper records and computers seized during searches of two houses and a business in Shreveport earlier this month are believed to contain the names and phone numbers of contacts, as well as financial records, authorities said.

Investigators have started going through those records. They believe customers, or "johns," will help them prove it was a big-time prostitution ring whose operators evaded paying taxes.

"They were running prostitution rings all over Louisiana and into Mississippi and over to Texas," said Hugo Holland, chief of the district attorney's sex crimes unit. "We think some of it goes to Florida and as far up as Delaware. Some of these guys were making a quarter of a million dollars a year in cash."

Five women have been arrested on prostitution charges after vice squad stings at hotels in the past year. Two men have been arrested on pandering and enticing prostitution charges.

Police and prosecutors said the women regularly charged $500 and more -- $250 for an escort "agency fee" and $150 to $500 in "tips." Police began the case with arrests at the hotels and then tried to infiltrate the alleged organizations and seize their records.

Holland said he expects some customers will be questioned as part of the effort to details operations of the alleged prostitution operations. But the bigger part of what investigators are looking for, he said, is evidence money was received and no taxes were paid.

Holland said one indication of how much business was involved was what happened while one of the men was being fingerprinted and booked into jail: During the hour and a half that process took, his cell phone rang three times.