How do gangsters get away with it?

[max_tranmere]

There is a suberb of London where many criminals live (I'm sure this isnt the only one, but this particualr place I am familiar with). I had pointed out to me by someone I know who lives there two houses that are owned by major criminals, they are two of many who live in the area, and the houses they own (which are huge) were bought with drug money. These guys have never worked, they are known to the Police, they are two of London's biggest drug dealers, and they've bought themselves houses that cost millions of pounds (for cash) and there is little the authorities can do. How can this be?

To grow up in a small flat in some run down neighbourhood in urban London, to have never worked and to be a known drug dealer, to have your collar felt by the Police a few times, and then a few years later buy yourself a multi-million pound pad for cash - it is so obvious this money has come from crime. I was told these men get visited by the Police every few months or so, basically whenever somethng major goes down (like a load of drugs are found in a shipping container entering the country somewhere). Imagine how annoying it is for the Police, who work hard for not a huge salary, and they arrive at one of these mansions.

The Police know it was all bought with drug money, they can't prove it, but they know. They enter, the guy denies everything, so they leave again. Looks like crime DOES pay. Also, how do they turn the money 'clean'? It all comes in in cash through drug deals, somehow it has to be cleaned up and put in legitimate bank accounts so the guy can buy the house and the three expensive cars outside it. I wonder how they do that. It's not like you can arrive at your bank each week with ?10,000 in dirty notes and just stick it in your account.

[Brainsinmedick]

max_tranmere wrote:
> Imagine how annoying it is for the Police, who work
> hard for not a huge salary,


By far the funniest quote I have ever read, on any forum anywhere,ever.

[Jonone]

To get a feel for how annoying it may be then think of 'Fred The Shred' and his ilk and his pension enhancements and tax breaks etc.

The Police are relatively powerless and so is the taxpayer. It's not just gangsters getting away with it.

[Sam Slater]

Well, what I heard is that these drug dealer types are jacking it in and selling magazines with Jade Goody, Kerry Katona and Jordan on the cover. "They sell like 'otcakes an it's all legal an dat, innit?," says one time crystal meth dealer, Dwayne Smithe, of Nottingham, before parting us with, "Dat Katie Price is keepin me in Nikes, boi!"

[Lizard]

You cant call them "Gangsters" anymore, they are mis-adventure capitalists

[max_tranmere]

These two massive houses in this particular area of London are in a 'gated community'. You come off this cul-de-sac, which is full of some of the biggest houses you will find in southern England, and there is this enclave of three huge pads, two of which are owned by these prominent dealers. I walked past recently and you can see the gates which zone off the three houses. I wasn't sure if the gates were to keep the Police out, or to keep out rival gangsters who might shoot them. And god knows what the person living in the third house thinks!

[colonel]

Is this about the Conservative Party?

[JonnyHungwell]

Once you've got a few front companies to launder the money and pay off a few top police officers, you're home and dry.

Aren't a few top line drug importers - the ones distanced from the handling of course, just in case things go wrong, members of the establishment? It supplements the meagre wages of an MP or Lord!

[Sam Slater]

[quote]These two massive houses in this particular area of London are in a 'gated community'.[/quote]

LOL! I think you'll find that they're called 'prisons', Max !laugh!

[Sam Slater]

I'd advise calling them 'Sir', Liz. Depending on their mood, of course.