According to a report by NPR, the cost to obtain a position as a city assemblymen in a town in rural China costs $44,000.

Source:  Anthony Kuhn, “China’s Hidden Economy Of Graft Undermines State,” NPR, July 30, 2010.

According to figures compiled by the Associated Press, between December 2006 and September 2009, the Mexican Government arrested 226,667 drug suspects. Out of that total, less than a total have been officially charged with a crime.

The examples provided by the AP show that 24,000 people were freed from Baja California out of the 33,000 that were arrested. In Sinaloa, 9,700 were arrested and 5,606 were released. And in the birthplace of the Gulf Cartel, 3,600 were arrested with 2,083 later released.

Source: Associated Press, “AP Impact: Mexico justice means catch and release,” Washington Post, July 27, 2010.

During the 2010 World Cup, police in Asia arrested over 5,000 people for illegal gambling activities and seized more than $10 Million.

Police in Malaysia, China, Thailand and Singapore raided 800 illegal gambling dens where $155 Million in illegal bets were placed during the World Cup.

Source:  “Thousands held in Asian gambling bust,” CNN, July 16, 2010.

The smuggling of contraband and counterfeit cigarettes creates losses in revenue to the Europe Union of up to $12 Billion (10 Billion Euros).

Contraband cigarettes are legitimate cigarettes that have been smuggled into the country without the payment of taxes. Counterfeit cigarettes are fake cigarettes where no money is paid in taxes or the a legitimate business.

Source:  Associated Press, “EU, BAT cooperate against illegal cigarette trade,” Google News, July 15, 2010.

The market in smuggled goods in Iran is estimated to be valued at $12 Billion a year.

Source:  Babak Dehghanpisheh, “Smugglers for the State,” Newsweek, July 10, 2010.

A report found that Afghans paid nearly $1 Billion in bribes in 2009, with nearly 1 in 7 people regularly paying bribes.

Source:  “Survey Finds Corruption Doubled in Afghanistan,” Voice of America, July 8, 2010.

An estimated $29 Billion a year of cash from drug sales is smuggled into Mexico each year to the drug cartels.

If the $29 Billion were in 100 bills, the total weight of the cash smuggled would be 319 tons.

Source:  Michael Smith, “Banks Financing Mexico Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal,” Bloomberg, June 29, 2010.

As a resource, Havocscope has listed the following books as a resource to those who are looking for additional information regarding black market activities. We will be updating this post as new books are released.

Books are linked to Amazon.com where they are available for purchase.

If you are aware of additional books that concern activities monitored by Havocscope, please included it in the comments section and we will update the list according.

Books about the Black Market:

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures

Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature’s Bounty

Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy

McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld (Vintage)

A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery

Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples’ Organized Crime System

Gomorrah (The Criterion Collection) DVD

Seeds of Terror: How Heroin Is Bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda

Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market

Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia

The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece (P.S.)

Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World

Currency Wars: How Forged Money is the New Weapon of Mass Destruction

Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery

The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade

AK-47: The Weapon that Changed the Face of War

The counterfeit drugs industry is estimated to be worth $200 Billion a year.

The sales of counterfeit drugs kills up to 10,000 Africans each year and creates 2 to 5 percent tax losses for governments around the world.

Source:  John Irish, “Customs group to fight $200 bln bogus drug industry,” Reuters, June 10, 2010.

Between $19 Billion to $29 Billion in drug revenue earned in the United States is sent to 5 major cities for consolidation by the drug cartels. Cash is sent to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Charlotte and Atlanta before being trucked to secondary hubs in Phoenix, El Paso, Dallas and Houston.

From those major border cities, smugglers break it up even further and bring it across borders in San Diego California, Nogales Arizon, and McAllen, Laredo and Brownsville in Texas.

Source: Associated Press, “Study: Mexico Drug Cartels Avoid Bank Deposits,” NPR, June 2, 2010.