Crime, Inc.

From prostitution to slave labor, human trafficking is a booming business. This $32 billion underground industry knows no moral bounds, stretching around the globe. Crime Inc. examines the underground industry where hopelessness and greed create a sinister and sometimes lethal combination.

The over $70 billion industry of stolen goods is a complex web of stealing, buying, and selling—placing the items on the Internet, in flea markets, and even back on the shelves of legitimate stores. No one is safe, these modern day pirates steal from stores, semis, warehouses, even our very own homes.

Illegal gambling may conjure images of mobsters, bookies, and threats of violence…but while that underground world still exists, technology has made illegal gambling much more accessible. The same computer you use for work or to connect with friends can be used to wager outside the law. It’s a thriving illegal business hiding in plain sight.

The retail sales of prescription drug business topped $300 billion in 2010 alone and criminals are doing everything they can to get a piece of it. Between bribed medical professionals and online rogue pharmacies, strong prescription medicine like Oxycodone and Vicodin are falling into the wrong hands with tragic consequences.

Throughout the U.S., emergency rooms have seen a spike in drug overdoses involving extreme paranoia, psychosis, and some fatalities. The culprit? A new generation of synthetic drugs with benign-sounding names like Bath Salts, Vanilla Sky, and Cloud 9. Sold at head shops, gas stations, and online for as little at $20, the substances mimic marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy, and other illicit drugs. And just like these hardcore drugs, their side effects can be dangerous and even deadly at times. Synthetic drugs are designed by drug “chemists” who tweak the substances’ formulas to try and keep the drugs legal, often relying on trial-and error. In some cases, synthetic drugs are too new to be regulated – though law enforcement is catching up, outlawing the drugs soon after they hit the streets. They’re relatively cheap and easy to get over the internet. And they’re making lots of money for the producers and sellers. Rick Broider, president of the North American Herbal Incense Trade Association located in New Hampshire, produces a variety of synthetic substances including synthetic marijuana. His organization claims that their products churn out big-time profits: $5.4 billion. Broider disputes that synthetic drugs have harmed anyone. “Would we be a $5 billion dollar industry if people were truly dying?” he says. Federal law enforcement agencies, including the DEA, as well as several local agencies, such as the Tammany Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff’s Office, which covers an area hard-hit by synthetic drugs, have agreed to give us access to undercover operations and raids of businesses selling synthetic drugs illegally. We could also revisit methamphetamine – one of the original synthetic drugs – more than a decade after the scourge first hit. As discussed, Carl Quintanilla produced a story on meth in New Jersey. Carl can do a ten-year retrospective on meth.

One minute is all it takes for a thief to steal your car. And every minute, a car is stolen somewhere in America. Car theft costs individuals and insurance companies $8 billion a year. Through interviews with former car thieves, this episode will take us inside the black market of car theft, from the chop shops that strip a car for parts, to the thieves who specialize in stealing high-end automobiles like Mercedes and 2 BMWs for the “export” market in Asia.