Panamanian motor vessel Gatun during the largest drug bust in United States Coast Guard history (20 tons of cocaine) off the Coast of Panama (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Oh if only that was so, but unfortunately crime has always paid, and handsomely. Have you ever heard of The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, otherwise known as the Hays Code? All US movie production companies had to adhere to the following standard of excellence, or else.
- No sympathy must be shown for the crime.
- No crime, for example, theft or safe-cracking should be detailed in method.
- Illegal drug trafficking must never be presented.
I’m guessing that crime movies traditionally make the most profits, not westerns, not rom-coms, not sci-fi. Perhaps many of us secretly want to ‘get away with it’ and live above the law. Perhaps some of us find crime seductive, dare I say sexy? (A much overused word). You doubt me, then why is ‘The Godfather’ consistently voted as the greatest movie ever made? Personally I prefer ‘Carlito’s Way.’ It has been suggested that without the introduction of Prohibition in 1929 the American Mafia would not have flourished so.
According to The United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) and The International Monetary Fund (IMF), estimated profits from ILLEGAL DRUG TRAFFICKING worldwide is anywhere between $411/600 billion. According to Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) the TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS is worth $32 billion plus to the traffickers. More than 2.5 million people have been trafficked from 127 countries, exploited in 137 countries. (Forced commercial sexual exploitation and forced economic exploitation.) ARMS TRAFFICKING, $60 billion plus a hell of a lot more me thinks. CYBER CRIME, $114 billion. Etcetera, etcetera! From every purse snatched, to every car stolen, to every pill pushed, to every gun sold, to…blah, blah, blah! World crime in total is worth over $3 TRILLION per year. Do bear in mind that the worldwide GDP is $63 trillion per year. Naturally figures vary dramatically depending upon where you get them from, and do bear in mind, criminals are hardly likely to reveal their true profits. So the above figure could in theory be an under-estimation.
Hey, wait a minute, if all this information is readily available to you on the Internet, why am I bothering to repeat it, after all, I am neither a criminal, a lawyer or a crusader? What is my interest? Do I have an axe to grind? Hey, I am a citizen of the world, and it simply appals me how in certain quarters human life is held in such low esteem. It is indeed a sad state of affairs that in some countries the only growth industry IS crime. Of course some people are brought up in the ‘Industry’ and many merely drift into it as a way to earn a quick buck, or as their only means to put food on the table. It surprised me to learn that the heroin producing warlords on the boarders of Afghanistan/Pakistan have consistently produced more product since the Western invasion than before the invasion. Would someone care to explain that to me?
I believe Cancun is lovely this time of year, but what about Mexican border towns of Tijuana, Juarez and Chihuahua. I am led to believe they are hell holes, controlled by Mexican drug cartels. Apparently thousands of people have been murdered and in most horrific manners, including several public officials. Nothing’s changed in forty years. If the Mexican Government doesn’t have the will to take on the cartels, then why doesn’t it give CARTE BLANCHE to either the United Nations or the US Government to finally wipe our those diseased inhuman beings who prey on their own people. The Americans operate covertly, and with some success, but only some success. Operate overtly, send in The Fifth Cavalry! Could it be that too many people are wetting their beaks on drug profits?
Crime has been around since the dawn of time. Indeed many fortunes were made, and are BEING MADE by spilling the blood of innocent men, women and children. I understand that one of the easiest ways to clean dirty, filthy money is to buy control of an English Premier soccer team. Crime flourishes because most people can be corrupted. I wonder what your price is? I wonder what my price is? I hope to God that no one ever tests me!
In conclusion I fear that crime is so interwoven into the fabric of society that criminal empires cannot be dismantled, or if they can be, then there simply isn’t the will to do it. What is it that they say? ‘Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely!’ (Attributed to John Emerich Acton, the first Lord Action). How true. What about Lord Robert Baden-Powell’s ‘Softly, Softly Catchee Monkey.’ (Don’t flurry, patience gains the day!’) That practice doesn’t seem to work.
What Western Governments don’t want to tell you is that some of the profits of crime end supporting legitimate businesses, and I’m not talking about Mr Morris’s corner shop. I make reference to publicly quoted Companies. That’s right, dirty money may well be helping to prop up our failed economies. Remember, the larger the criminal empire, the greater the veneer of legitimacy. And I suppose we should bear in mind that CRIME is a huge employer.
If you are wondering whether to take to crime, perhaps this French proverb might assist; ‘THERE IS NO PILLOW AS SOFT AS A CLEAR CONSCIENCE.’
I thought long and hard before posting this blog. I am not at all convinced there is any merit in my scribblings. Perhaps it would be better if we were all to live in the dark! Comments are welcomed.
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