2000 AD Lore - Organised Crime within Mega-City One.
Welcome, Dredd heads, for my first Sector 102 lore update. If you are a bit like me, you also hate having to search the internet/books for fluff or info, only to find it has been removed or deleted. So, this run of articles will be dedicated to fluff about the Dredd universe. These articles are primarily for my bookkeeping. Rather than having a dull file saved on my computer that only I can use, I'm sharing it with everyone interested. Where possible, I will host links to the source (if they ask for content to be removed, then I will). But it is mainly from RPG books, articles, and widely published 2000 AD lore and is shared for educational purposes only. Today we will delve into:
Organized Crime
Despite some genuinely atrocious tragedies, perps and their criminal activities remain the greatest threat to the stability of Mega-City One. From the lowly dunk working his way through a crowd to lift stray wallets and cred slugs to the mighty criminal empires that are seemingly untouchable to judges of the city, perps constantly prey upon decent citizens for fun and profit.
However, the most successful perps eschew open violence and the dangers of street gangs to set up their criminal organizations, sophisticated operations safely hidden behind legitimate businesses. Whether it is the manufacture of drugs, protection rackets or a bureau of assassins, few perps running such operations really consider themselves as criminals – they will avoid judicial attention at every step but usually view themselves as businessmen, pure and simple and, in many ways, this is precisely how the larger criminal organizations run. Even if the incoming credits are garnered from murder and theft, they still need accountants to watch for the best investments and avoid Mega-City taxes, lawyers to keep the bosses out of the iso-cubes, and a close eye to keep on profitability and cost projections. The only real difference is how business is conducted – a hostile take-over of another criminal organization is likely to involve spit guns and sharp knives rather than a financial assault on another company’s assets.
A lowly street gang can garner its leader enough credits to live a life of absolute luxury, so long as he does not get killed in a rumble or arrested by the judges, two all too frequent occurrences for the perp who wishes to enjoy a long and prosperous life. Those with a bit of intelligence will instead seek ways to amass ever more significant fortunes while minimizing the risk to life and liberty. Criminal organizations provide a way in which they can achieve exactly this. Every criminal organization requires a front, a legitimate operation that is as far removed from murder and other illegal activities as possible. Whether it is a small Munce Burger Bar, a Knee-Pad stall or a large corporation, such businesses are required to conceal the comings and goings of criminals within a base of operations and, more importantly, to launder and clean the credits gained from illicit activities. Such fronts do not always make a profit in themselves, but then they are not required to – their primary function is to disguise the true nature of the organization’s employees. Criminal masterminds will work hard to ensure the legitimacy of their fronts so that, no matter how often judges place the business under investigation, no trace of illegal dealings will ever be found.
The more successful perps will soon seek to expand their criminal organization into a criminal empire. They will seek to expand into new markets and territories using the profits gained in one business. While the rewards of a dozen criminal operations can be incredible, this expansion inevitably conflicts one organization with another. As a rule, the perps running such operations view themselves as businessmen and often go to long lengths to avoid an open war. However, there are always those who view it as their natural right to take whatever they wish, so war does indeed flare up in the underworld with some alarming regularity. When war between two criminal organizations begins, fronts will be torched and destroyed, operatives murdered, and firefights erupt on the streets, catching innocent citizens in the crossfire and gaining the inevitable attention of the judges. War is rarely good for ‘business’ but is another tool a criminal organization may employ if it believes victory will come quickly and will earn longer-term profits.
Big Business
Criminal organizations tend to have more in common with big business than the street gangs they usually originate from, with workers’ needs and salaries needing to be met, revenues and profits closely monitored and the competition swept aside. In some cases, criminal organizations are a terrifying force that runs rampant at night, using numbers and reach to intimidate even large corporations as their influence spreads. Those at the head of such organizations rarely view themselves as common criminals and spend their time looking after their business interests – whether in stolen hovercars, drug manufacturing, or a blitz agency. The Justice Department works hard to crack open and destroy all criminal organizations within Mega-City One, for each can employ hundreds of small-time perps and drain as many credits out of the legitimate economy as possible. High-standing perps, however, have their means of defence, which keeps many of them far away from the iso-cubes and, in the eyes of the Law if not the judges, clean and without record.
Organized crime comprises many illegal activities; a large organization may dabble in many. These are a few of the more commonly recognized ‘businesses’ that operate out of Mega-City One.
Assassins: A group of assassins operating behind a front will be skilled killers specializing in ‘discrete’ murder. Lacking the terror tactics of the blitz agency, assassins do all they can to keep themselves, their target and their client as far from the prying eyes of the law as possible. Contracts are, therefore, dealt with at highly long ranges through the use of high-powered rifles via accidents or poisoning. It takes a very skilled citizen to succeed at being an assassin. Despite all their precautions, this high-visibility business will likely draw the judges' attention as it becomes more prosperous. After all, a string of dead bodies can be complicated to hide.
Blitz Agency: Similar to assassins, blitz agencies specialize in contract killings, but they do so in a way that causes as much terror in the victims and their associates as possible. Blitzers themselves are very well paid, for they must submit to surgery that places an explosive device near their brains to ensure they never get caught. However, their tactics, which generally revolve around bursting into a victim’s headquarters with guns blazing, make the blitz agency a hazardous operation to set up, no matter how high the rewards may be.
Body Sharks: This is a business based purely on human misery. Citizens are captured, cajoled or blackmailed into donating their bodies to the sharks, who then trade them on for slavery or medical experiments. Secretly moving something as bulky as several human bodies across the city poses problems, though skilled operatives often have tried and tested methods developed over several years of experience.
Chump Dumpers: Chump dumping is a vile process but is often entertained by businesses already involved in perp running, for it takes a few extra resources. This operation involves convincing aliens that Earth is the best destination in the galaxy to spend a vacation, taking their credits, loading them into a spaceship and then dumping them out of the airlock among the stars. If a perp running business has already been set up to travel to other worlds, chump dumping can represent extra credits for a little extra effort.
Corporate Fraud: Greed is the eternal driving force of any perp, and few can resist squeezing just a few extra credits out of their legitimate fronts, even if this leaves them vulnerable to investigation by the Justice Department’s Acc-Div. Skimming employees’ allowances and dodging every tax imposed upon the front may generate a healthy amount of credits monthly. However, this is usually only worth the risk with large companies or corporations.
Drug Manufacture: There is a wide variety of illegal drugs in demand with bored citizens that a criminal business may begin to manufacture. Examples include the highly addictive but otherwise harmless Umpty Candy to Adifax, Chowder, Tobacco and Sugar. Many such companies are tempted to manufacture sub-standard drugs to reduce costs and maximize profits, though some find word gets around of their practices at a worryingly fast rate.
Drug Sellers: Once manufactured, drugs have to be sold to the citizens of Mega-City One. This requires a special kind of lowlife to go on to the streets and pedal the drugs, though the business that supports such perps can be frighteningly professional. More wars between criminal organizations have started over territory disputes of drug sellers than with any other form of business. The practice is lucrative, though dangerous and always carries the risk of discovery by vigilant judges.
Forgers: A business based on forgery need not grow very large to become profitable, and a criminal organization with a forger on the payroll will always find a use for his talents. Almost anything can be forged, given the right level of skill and sophistication of equipment, from raw credits to alien Visas and ID slugs.
Gambling Establishment: There is a certain prestige attached to a criminal organization with a gambling establishment within its interests, despite the fact that there are far more profitable ventures and certainly less visible ones. A good gambling establishment, however, may be enjoyed by many members of the criminal community and serves as a superb meeting place to conduct negotiations.
Heist Gang: From banks through securities to raids on spaceport customs, heist gangs are often valued members of a criminal organization, for they are the ones who are willing to take the most significant risks to rake in the most excellent profits by theft. Often utterly ruthless in their trade, there is little room for sentiment within a heist gang, and most will go to any length to secure the object of their raid, be it credits, rare antiques or high-tech weaponry.
Mutant Smugglers: It is perhaps understandable that many mutants within the Cursed Earth seek to enter Mega-City One permanently, regardless of the genetic purity Laws. What is less well known is that there are mutants within the nuclear wasteland who possess a sizeable amount of resources, whether in the form of precious mined ores, old and forgotten technology or simple pillaged wealth. Such mutants can pay the high price demanded by smugglers who specialize in bringing their kind into the city to live in the most ruined sectors – though even these places are far more hospitable than the Cursed Earth.
Organ Leggers: If a criminal organization can break into the market, it will find a massive trade in human body parts worldwide and, sometimes, beyond. Organ leggers work in a variety of ways, from physically assaulting citizens and stealing their organs on the street to buying organs from desperate donors at low prices to sell elsewhere. Wealthy citizens will be paranoid about losing their wealth, primarily through injury or death. So, the organ legger who can locate the correct body part for the right customer can command an extremely high price. More enterprising organ leggers have found they can also trade with aliens of other worlds, who find specific human organs a delicacy unmatched anywhere else in the galaxy.
Perp Runners: It can happen to the best of perps – a single mistake or one loose mouth can force him to leave the city as quickly as possible before the judges close in on his tail. This is where the perp runners come in: businesses possessing high-powered hover and spaceships designed to carry perps beyond the walls of Mega-City One to other nations or other worlds. Despite the incredibly high risks and costs, this can be a very lucrative enterprise, as perps running from the law are often extremely desperate and willing to part with vast portions of their ill-gotten gains to ensure their freedom.
Protection Racket: This is one of the most basic criminal businesses any perp can set up, especially if he knows his immediate area. All that is needed is a couple of heavyweight goons who can travel to legitimate businesses in the area and demand protection money – guaranteeing that an accident will happen to its owner if it is not paid. Word can quickly spread of a new protection racket, though actual witnesses can be frustratingly difficult for the judges to find, as few are willing to invite reprisal from the goons. Loan sharking to local citizens is also often incorporated into protection rackets.
Smugglers: There are so many possessions illegal in Mega-City One that a good smuggler cannot help but make his fortune. Whether it is drugs, alien artifacts or high-powered weaponry, a successful smuggling operation can bring about immense profits for a criminal organization, so long as its visibility can be kept low.
I hope this is useful. Let me know below. Be sure to check back for more Dredd articles soon.
