New Era, makers of the Official Major League Baseball caps, spends $1.5 Million a year on its anti-counterfeiting operations.

In 2008, the companies was shutting down between 2,000 to 4,000 Internet auctions every week because of the sites were selling counterfeit baseball caps.

In the first half of 2008, 176, 453 fake caps were seized worth a street value of over $7 Million.

Source:  David Bertola, “New Era stays on top of fake lids,” Buffalo Business First, June 20, 2008.

Illegal gambling accounts for $150 billion in the United States alone.

Source: Joe Drape, “Web Site puts Focus on the Fix in Sports Bets,” New York Times, May 25, 2008.

US Computer Manufacturer HP claims that up to 60 percent of refill ink cartridges sold in East Africa are counterfeit.

Source:  Edris Kisambira, “HP blasts counterfeit refill cartridges,” Network World, June 6, 2008.

Slate Magazine explains why the Mafia is involved in trash smuggling.

It’s Mob Economics 101: Find a business that’s easy to enter and lucrative to control. Criminal organizations make lots of money from drugs, human trafficking, and counterfeit goods, but creating a monopoly on garbage collection is attractive because the business itself is legal, and public contracts return big profits. Compared with something like running a casino or grocery store, the logistics of taking trash from Point A to Point B are a no-brainer. Anyone with a truck and a couple of strong guys can make good money, and there’s always a demand for the service.