A racketeer is ... Who is a racketeer?

The word "racketeer" until the 80-ies of the twentieth century in the USSR, almost no one knew. Such a social phenomenon emerged and developed when citizens of our country gained access to information about the life of the Western world. And with it, not only good things came to us, that was there, but also bad. A racketeer is a word that has become a crime card in our country.

Racketeer

It was in the late eighties of the last century that criminals, along with traditional violations of the law, threatened to violate the person, damage and destruction of property in the event that citizens did not want to pay tribute. This was due to the changes in the social and economic life of the country. This kind of criminal activity very soon became one of the highly profitable ones. The meaning of the word "racketeer" is a representative of the underworld who, using the insecurity of citizens before the force, guaranteed illegal immunity from their own encroachments. This type of activity became known as racketeering.

Racketeering activities

From the legal point of view, this word meant a criminal seizure of a part of the profits by force, if the "goal" did not voluntarily agree to it. This profession became very popular in those distant times. It reached the point of absurdity: when the children in the kindergarten were asked about what they want to become, many said that they were "a racketeer." So who is a racketeer? This word was used by representatives of criminal organizations that were engaged in extorting in exchange for safety part of the profits from companies and firms. These services were then called security services. A whole system was formed. Each group had its own territory, on which they taxed all business representatives indiscriminately. A kind of state within the state. The representative of crime was both a tax collector and a judge in disputes with other businessmen. At the same time, laws on such a court differed from those that were adopted in the country.

Types of racketeering

In the main, gangs of racketeers were recruited by former or current athletes, because they often had to use force against intractable clients and, for example, punish obstinate businessmen. Already after perestroika such organizations were transformed into legal security firms. Crime has become a business. By the end of the 1990s under the roof of gang formations and security firms, up to 90% of all commercial structures were located. These were all, except those who worked under the direct cover of law enforcement. There are different types of criminals:

- A racketeer is like a "roof", whose functions include taxing merchants;

- criminals on the market who collect fees from kiosks;

- fighters on the streets, which are engaged in extortion in schools, in the courtyard after sometimes the most banal things;

- tourist gangsters, which are imposed by tourists;

- racketeers, who took payment for travel on a certain territory;

- "guards", who for a percentage of the debts;

- organizations that took on the role of trade unions, suppressed the discontent of workers.

Stages of development

Racket as a phenomenon in its history has passed through different stages of formation. In the early stages of his development, he was mainly engaged in a strict loss of profits from persons who engaged in legal or illegal business. The racketeer did this in various forms. At the second stage, this phenomenon began to have a softer character. Racket began to legalize in the form of all security firms, took part in the privatization of commercial enterprises, created its own enterprises. And already at the third stage of his development, he began to promote the goods and services of controlled firms on the market. For the selected types of products, conditions for monopoly consumption were created. In other words, racketeers agreed on the sale of products "patronized" firms to entrepreneurs who were on their territory and were under their control. Therefore, these businessmen were obliged, if, of course, they needed this, to buy the products of those firms that they were told by racketeers. At the fourth, the penultimate stage, the transformation of criminal activity into private security business took place. Thus, a racketeer is a profession that has gradually gone into the past, transforming from another, more legal.