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Racketeering
What is
Racketeering?
A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime.
Engaging in a racket is referred to as racketeering.
Several forms of racketeering exist.
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The
best-known form of racketeering is the "protection racket", in which
criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service
of "protection" against crimes that the racketeers themselves
instigate if unpaid
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A second
well known example of racketeering is a "numbers racket", a form of
illegal lottery.
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Traditionally, the word
"racket" is used to describe a business that is based on the example of
the "protection racket" and indicates that the speaker believes that the
business is making money by selling a solution to a problem that the
business itself created (or that it intentionally allows to continue to
exist), specifically so that continuous purchases of the solution are
always needed. For example,
in a protection racket, a representative from the racket informs a
storeowner that a fee of X dollars will be required every month for
protection money, though the "protection" that is provided comes in
the form of the racket itself not causing damage to the store or its
employees. |
The term
"racketeering" was coined by the Employers' Association of Chicago in
June 1927 in a statement about the influence of organized crime in the
Teamsters union.
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