Protection racket
This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2016) |
A protection racket is a type of
The perpetrators of a protection racket may protect
The protection racket mostly sells
Protection rackets are often indistinguishable in practice from
Certain scholars, such as
Overview
A protection racket is an operation where racketeers provide protection to persons and properties, settle disputes and enforce contracts in markets where the police and judicial system cannot be relied upon.
Diego Gambetta's The Sicilian Mafia (1996)[1] and Federico Varese's The Russian Mafia (2001)[2] define the mafia as a type of organized crime group that specializes in the provision of private protection.
Protection racketeers or mafia groups operate mostly in the
Recent studies show that mafia groups or gangs are not the only form of protection racket or extra-legal protector, and another important form of protection racket is corrupt networks consisting of public officials, especially those from
Territorial monopolies
A protection racketeer cannot tolerate competition within his sphere of influence from another racketeer. If a dispute erupted between two clients (e.g. businessmen competing for a construction contract) who are protected by rival racketeers, the two racketeers would have to fight each other to win the dispute for their respective clients. The outcomes of such fights can be unpredictable, and neither racketeer would be able to guarantee a victory for his client. This would make their protection unreliable and of little value; their clients would likely dismiss them and settle the dispute by other means. Therefore, racketeers negotiate territories in which they can monopolize the use of violence in settling disputes.[1]: 68–71 These territories may be geographical, or they may be a certain type of business or form of transaction.
Providing genuine protection
Sometimes racketeers will warn other criminals that the client is under their protection and that they will punish anyone who harms the client. Services that the racketeers may offer may include the recovery of stolen property or punishing vandals. The racketeers may even advance the interests of the client by forcing out (or otherwise hindering or intimidating) unprotected competitors.[1]
Protection from theft and vandalism is one service the racketeer may offer. For instance, in Sicily, mafiosi know all the thieves and fences in their territory, and can track down stolen goods and punish thieves who attack their clients.
Protection racketeers establish what they hope will be indefinitely long bonds with their clients. This allows the racketeers to publicly declare a client to be under their protection. Thus, thieves and other predators will have little confusion as to who is and is not protected.
Protection racketeers are not necessarily criminals. In A Short History of Progress, Ronald Wright notes on p. 49, "The warrior caste, supposedly society's protectors, often become protection racketeers. In times of war or crisis, power is easily stolen from the many by the few on a promise of security. The more elusive or imaginary the foe, the better for manufacturing consent."
Examples
- Viking raids.
- During the late medieval and early modern era in the
- In Melbourne, Australia, Alphonse Gangitano ran a protection racket along the famous Lygon Street during the 1990s.
- In pizzo, or protection money, to the Sicilian Mafia.[6]
- In Mexican Drug War escalated in 2008, criminal groups like the Juárez Cartel saw their financial backbone threatened and began asking for protection money from businesses ranging from convenience stores to clubs and restaurants with the threat of burning down the business, kidnapping the owners or killing everyone inside with assault rifles.[7]
- In the early history of
- In the United Kingdom in the 1950s and 60s the Kray twins ran protection rackets in the East End of London.[11]
- Mahratta Sackings of Goa and Bombay-Bassein.
Government protection rackets
Government officials may demand
See also
- Abusive power and control
- Bribe Payers Index
- Bid rigging
- Blat (favors)
- Conflict of interest
- Extortion
- Financial abuse
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
- Influence peddling
- Jury tampering
- Lobbying
- Match fixing
- Money trail - Money loop
- Organized crime
- Pay to play
- Pizzo (extortion)
- Political corruption
- Principal–agent problem
- Racket (crime)
- Revolutionary tax
- Taxation as theft
- Taxation of the Jews in Europe
- Transparency International
- Triad (organized crime)
- Tribute
References
- ^ ISBN 0-674-80742-1.
- ISBN 0-19-829736-X.
- S2CID 143858155.
- ISBN 978-0-19-875840-2.
- ^ Barbara Mikkelson (April 16, 2012). "Etymology of blackmail". Snopes. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
- ^ "Couple plans 'mafia-free' wedding". BBC News. 1 April 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ^ El Diario de Juarez - Suben 57% denuncias por extorsiones Archived 2009-08-14 at the Wayback Machine 10 August 2009
- ^ The Washington Post Banditry Threatens the New Russia 2 May 1997
- ISBN 978-0-09-948125-6
- ^ Andrew Cockburn (October 2000). "GODFATHER OF THE KREMLIN: Boris Berezovsky and the Looting of Russia. - Review - book review". Washington Monthly.
- ^ Metropolitan Police Service - The Kray twins - jailed in 1969 Archived 2013-02-23 at the Wayback Machine