Racketeers

Racketeers are individuals who engage in organized and illegal activities for profit, often involving extortion, bribery, or other forms of corruption. They typically operate within a criminal organization, exploiting loopholes in the law or utilizing intimidation and violence to control businesses or industries. Their actions undermine legitimate economic activities and often involve money laundering and the protection of their illegal enterprises. The term implies a pattern of illegal activities, distinct from isolated instances of wrongdoing.

Racketeers meaning with examples

• The investigation uncovered a network of racketeers controlling the city's construction industry, demanding protection money from contractors and manipulating bids to inflate project costs. Their illicit activities included using violence to enforce their demands and threaten competitors, stifling fair competition and corrupting officials.
• Authorities targeted the group of racketeers running an illegal gambling operation, which was known for its large-scale money laundering and connections to organized crime. They employed sophisticated methods to conceal their earnings and use them to finance other criminal enterprises, exploiting vulnerable individuals through gambling debts.
• The exposé revealed how racketeers had infiltrated the local transportation union, extorting fees from drivers and diverting union funds for their personal gain. They leveraged their positions to intimidate members and suppress dissent, creating a climate of fear and preventing any challenges to their authority or criminal activities.
• Facing a wave of complaints, police raided a suspected front for a gambling business and identified it as a criminal network with a long history of racketeering. They used pressure, corruption, and intimidation to gain control of the neighborhood and bleed resources from the city's honest businesses.