Under the tree of white collar crime, there is a branch known as extortion. "Extortion is a criminal offense of obtaining money, property or services from a person, entity, individual or institution, through coercion." In other words extortion is when you forcefully (or by threat) get something, in most cases money, extortion is also known as blackmailing, "shakedown", and or exaction. This action is run by various organized crime groups. And the underlying truth that some don't know about the crime is the fact that the obtainment of the money is not the only thing it takes to make the case offensive, threatening someone or any action parallel to violence with the requirement of payment to put an end to or halt the violence threaten towards a person can also be labeled as a form of extortion. Making the demands for payment, creating an uncomfortable setting for an individual until a payment is made, all forms of extortion.
Extortion and robbery are like brother and sister, with on being more complex than aggressive. With robbery ("The taking of money or goods in the possession of another, from his or her person or immediate presence, by force or intimidation."), whether armed or not, the offender uses immediate force and fear tactics to take a victim's property, whereas in extortion the presence of violence hoovers over the victim through the pressures of the offender until the proper payment is reached. Extortion for the most part takes place in high end businesses, on the corporate side of thing. And these organized crime groups' targets are usually smaller businesses, organizations, and or groups of people (even single individuals) that have little or no power to fight against the personal trap placed upon them. Blackmailing is another avenue in the extortion business, this is where the offender threatens to leak out information about a victim. This information is usually very personal to an individual, sometimes incriminating, and even socially damaging. And similar to all extortion the only way to end the threats and violence is the issuing of the required payments.
Some popular extortion cases to the media are one of Michael Jordan and one of Michael Bloomberg. In Jordan's case it was an amount of five million dollars demanded from his ex-wife and she claimed that if he did not pay should reveal the shocking truth about an affair during their relationship. It was reported that Jordan did issue his ex-wife two hundred and fifty thousand dollars during the claims to keep her quite, but that amount was no good whereas she later still threaten Jordan for the remainder of the funds. Now in Bloomberg's case his business was hacked into and the offenders of the crime threatened with two hundred thousand the price. The men were taken care of when attempting to make a pick up for the funds.
All of the crimes under the umbrella of extortion, this includes bribery, blackmail, and ransom are all in most cases considered felony crimes, and felony crimes are met with serious consequences. The punishment for extortion can result in fines or imprisonment, and even sometimes both. "Under federal and state laws, extortion carries up to a 20-year prison sentence. The punishment of extortion depends on whether force was used in extorting money or other property." So the results of heavy fines, prison sentencing, probation and/or parole, and restitution for the victims are all the ending outcome of extortion crimes. The unfortunate truth to this is that like the other white collar crimes committed it just seems to slide under the radar of the public. Leaving many in fear of their life and others with the power to control the peace of other's lives. These white collar crimes go so unnoticed that little impact is done to stop it but when the offenders are caught all charges must apply. There should be no window of opportunity for any criminal rich or poor.
"What Are Some Examples Of Extortion ?" What Are Some Examples Of Extortion. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
"Punishments." Extortion Punishments Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
I really like reading your blog because I think you've chosen a very interesting topic to write about. I like that you put in several examples of extortion to explain the effects that this crime has on its victims.
ReplyDeleteThis is super interesting. I couldn't help but think about the Mafia as I read through the post. These crimes are the kinds of things we hear about but never think actually exist.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about the technicalities of extortion, which I like to classify as blackmail for money.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting post, and I'm sure extortion happens a lot more than we think, so this post was very informative. I like how you related extortion and robbery, because they really are almost the same thing!
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