how la cosa nostra makes m oney
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How La Cosa Nostra Makes M oney. Racket. An illegal business or scheme. Labor Racketeering. The infiltration, domination, and/or use of a union or employee benefit plan for personal benefit by illegal, violent, or fraudulent means. Labor Racketeering. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
How La Cosa Nostra Makes Money
Racket• An illegal business or scheme
Labor Racketeering• The infiltration, domination, and/or
use of a union or employee benefit plan for personal benefit by illegal, violent, or fraudulent means
Labor Racketeering• Basically, the mob uses their power
and influence to control unions
Labor RacketeeringYou may be saying, “Interesting, but how does that affect me, Joe Highschool?”
I’m glad you asked…
Labor Racketeering• FBI investigations have shown that
labor racketeering costs the American public (aka you and me) millions of dollars each year.
How you ask? Like this…
Labor Racketeering• Organized Crime can control the
pricing in an entire industry• Manipulate value of shares on the
stock market• Orchestrate strikes and work
slowdowns• Rig bidding for contracts
Extortion• Unlawfully obtaining
money, property, or services through intimidation or coercion– Shakedown
• Making a threat of violence to require a payment in order to prevent future violence
Protection Racket• Extortion scheme• Coerce the victim to pay money for
protection against violence or damage to their property
• Racketeers convince victim to pay by showing them what will happen if they don’t
• In most cases, the racketeers are only protecting the victim from the racketeers themselves
Gambling• Point-Shaving– Difficult to pull off– Convince a player, coach, or official to
prevent his team from covering the betting line
Gambling• Book-Making– Establishing the odds, point spread, or
over/under for a variety of events– Usual goal is to have a “balanced book”• As much coming in as is going out
–Mob bookies get unsuspecting bettors to gamble on their “skewed” lines
Loan Sharking
• Offering loans at extremely high interest rates
• Sometimes enforce payments with the threat of violence
• People who “go to the sharks;”– Businesses who need money for
protection– Gamblers to pay bookies
Unfortunately, we give the mafia its power. We need, and want, what they provide. They know this, and that knowledge allows them to drive up prices, make exorbitant amounts of money, wield power, and avoid law enforcement
Skimming
Taking cash “off the top” and reporting a lower total
amount
What is Labor Racketeering?• The infiltration, domination, and/or
use of a union or employee benefit plan for personal benefit by illegal, violent, or fraudulent means
What is Extortion?• Unlawfully obtaining money,
property, or services through intimidation or coercion– Shakedown
• Making a threat of violence to require a payment in order to prevent FUTURE violence
What is Loansharking?• Offering loans at extremely high
interest rates
Skimming• Cashier doesn’t ring up transaction
and instead, pockets the money• Businessman needs money to pay off
extortionist—can’t record transaction—skims money to pay bribe
• The larger the business, the more susceptible it is to skimming–Why?
Counterfeit
To imitate something; produce fake replicas
Counterfeit• Depends on the naiveté of the buyer• Often of low quality• Types of things commonly
counterfeited–Money– Clothing– Purses– Art– Electronics
Fraud
Deception for personal gain
Link Chart
Created during an ASSOCIATION ANALYIS to identify organized
crime members
Link Chart
Numbers Racket• “Running the numbers”• Illegal lottery game• Preceded state-run lotteries• Popular in poor communities• Bookies extended credit to bettors
Numbers Racket• Match your number to the selected
number• Payouts were usually 600 to 1• However, odds of winning were 1000
to 1
You can see how the mob could make a lot of money with a numbers racket
Vigorish or The VigJuice, The Cut, The Take
• Amount charged by a bookie for his services– Allows the bookie to make money in the
event that the payout is more than the intake• Interest on a loan shark’s loan• Difference between the the dollar amount
of tickets and payout in a Numbers Racket