In the 1980s in Philadelphia, at least one gambling syndicate used a local bank's loan officer, rather than a loan-shark, to clean up outstanding debts

Question

This interface with legitimate business provided five vital functions for organized crime syndicates. Please name these five functions.

Answer 1

1 . A means to conceal other illegal activities.

2 . A means to launder profits from criminal activities. In Philadelphia, illicit money was laundered through a legitimate bank, an auto dealership, a commercial loan company, an oil company, a beer distributorship, and a series of bars, restaurants, and nightclubs. Such money-laundering operations range from the simple (using vending machine companies) to the extremely complex (the arrangement between the Exchange Bank of Geneva and other subsidiaries of Meyer Lansky). One of the most complex money-laundering and business arrangements is the pornography syndicate, which uses a system of seven corporations, one layered on top of the other, to conceal the ultimate destination of pornography profits.

3 . A source of legitimate and reportable income. The use of bars and restaurants as legitimate
reporting mechanisms for illicit profits is a common occurrence in Pennsylvania.

4 . Furtherance of the already high degree of integration between organized crime and
respectable businesspeople.

5 . Stable and relatively safe investment opportunities.