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T
he most successful criminal actlvlty
In hlste<y, f« surpasslng street crime,
ls successful because the crlm1nals
are nol Mafioso.types or professional
crooks with guns or burglary toola but
..nlce guys... Crime commlttec:f by thesa
so-callad nice guys os termec:f whlte-collar
cnme. lt
is
perpetrated by millfona of
secret cítlzen thleV8$ lrom every aoclal
and economic stratum. Thelr comblnec:f
ethlcs of self-justif"led dishonesty, cheat–
l ng. stealing, schemlng, clefraudlng, and
shoplifting
is
exacting a costty totl on our
natíonal economy, our personal pocket–
books and our ptecious treedoms
White-collar cñme plagues every pro–
fesslon. lt involves dlshonest lactory
workers. college studants.
taar~-agers.
corporate giants, school teachera, movie
stars. doctoro, artista, lachnlclans. com–
putar expeits. smaU buslnessmen, hous&–
wives and grandmothers.
A whlte-.,ollar thlef can lncl,ude anyone
from the corrupt polltlclan. the llngar–
heavy butcher or the embezzllng bank
boss lo the pñce-rlgglng exectJtive, the
stationery.steaJing secretary. the fraudu–
lent advertiser,
or
even lhe all-too-com–
mon
gyp
mechanlc.
Whlte-collar eñme lncludes traud
aoo •
doshonesty of all
types:
health and mec:fl–
cal frauds. stock and sacuritles fraud,
mall-order frauds, door-to-door sales
frauds, and insurance fraude. There la no
aspect of
lile
that has not been exploltec:f
by the thlef in the white collar.
Accordlng to sacuñty experta. many ol
the same millions who dacry sorlous
crlme.
Wat~rgata
scandefs enq hlgh-level
corruptlon are themselves part of the
most successful ripoff and coverup In
hl~>
tory- white-collar crime.
..The average company thief,.. remarks
one prívate securlty lnvestlgator, ..ls an
ordlnary
P.,rson,
a church1j01ng, farnlly–
orlented, 'salid' <;ilizen - not a llardenec:f
criminal...
Most
likaly he has
no
criminal
record.
The
vast
majorlty of lhese ..
n~
..
guys
are
seklom caughl much
less
pros–
ecuted.
Whatever eaeh natlon calls lt, white–
collar crime ls a worldw1de problem,
plagulhg even soclallst and communlst
societ~s.
Profeaslonal Crooka
Are
Plker• by Comparlaon
Taken together. the combinad payo«
among thíeves In respectable garb makes
professlonal crlminals fook llke plkers.
FBI Director Clarenee Kelly
saya
white–
conar cñme ..dwarts.. street crime In In·
cldence and In losses many times•over.
The estimated U.S. dollar
IOss
of whlte–
conar thieo.oery
ls
In the range of
•o
to
50
billfon dollars
a
year, accordlng to aecu–
rity offlcials in the Unltec:f States.
According to one rough estlmate,
75,000,000
shopllfting lhel'ts occur yearfy
In the U.S. Securlty experts estlmate tllat,
lf
we includeofflce and work-relatec:f tools
and materials.
70'-"
ol the populatfon ls a
par1-time or full-time whfte collar lhlef. •
One security oflfclal estimates
8%
to
10%
of the worklng force are ..harclcore"
systematic thleves that lndivlduatly atea!
mlllions ol dollars in goods ovar
a
perlod
ofmonths.
Even smafl-tlme
swipery
wipea out tre–
mendous proflts b&causa lt ls so wlde–
spread in many busln-a. Oollarwlsa,
ho_..er, lhe greatest arnount
ts
rlppec:f
off
by
!hose who have 8CCCI$$ or control
to the llow of miUions of dollars in me<–
charldise or capital.
Just one example
11
Interna! bank
IHITI
by
Oonald O. Schroeder
crime. Annuallosses from U.S. benk-em–
ployee dishonesty and embezzlement
soared from
$14.1
mflllon In
1963
to
$135.6
mllllon in
1973.
The Oepartment of
Commerce says the last llgure ls
8/x
times
the amount of money -
$22
mllllon -
taken by armed bank robbers In the same
year.
By no means are all cltizens. buslness–
men. salesman or employees dlshonest.
But growlng numbers are, and tllay think
nolhing
ábout
lt.
..Ripplng off society"
has become a virtual rlght and duty to
many. We llve in an age when beéng dis–
honesl w1thout being caught
fa
almost a
national
sport;
we
lfve
in an era when lhe
individual lhat ls completely honest ls
fooked upon
as
an eccenlrlc, a dope or
a
square. ..Getting away w1th it.. la ofteh
considered lhe vírile thlng
to
do.
The Impersonal natura of vast bureeu–
crallc businesses and lnstltutlons en–
courages mueh thievery and reduces
guilt feellngs about lt. Mllllons feel...lt'a
owec:f to me.. or ..Everybody's dolng lt.
1
mlght aswell gel mine" or ..The company
can afford
it"
or
"lnsurance wllf cover
it...
Our Slzeable "Diahonesly Tax"
All together, lhe
whlt~llar
rlpoff
exac:ts a sizeable loss In earnlng powe<
for eve<yone. Hidden In the price of all
lhe
goods and servlces the average fam–
ify purcbases during lhe yeat ls a ..dis–
honesty tax" adding up to aeveral
CRIMI
hundred dollers per housahold per year.
Eaeh of us shells out several canta on lhe
dolfar (as mueh es t
5
cents for soma
purchases) to cover loases from theft.
stock shrinkages, management corrup–
tlon. klckbacks, brlbery, and the endlass
•varlety of "accepted .. but dlshonest and
lllegai business and sales practicea.
There ls no such thlng
as ..
ge«lng
something for nolhlng." We all pay In the
end. Here are just a few mora speclflc
axamples why:
e
The trucklng lndustry estlmatu onfy
10%
to
20%
of lhat fndustry'a well over
$100
muroon annual theft
ls
causec:f by
armed hijackers and prof.-Sional thleves.
More lhan
80'1.
of
1osses
result
from
pl~e
rage by employ- of lhe shfpper, the
WEEK ENOING SEPTEMBER 20, 1975