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Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded threats in order to obtain an unfair business advantage is also a form of extortion.
The Chicago Tylenol murders were a series of poisoning deaths resulting from drug tampering in the Chicago metropolitan area in 1982. The victims consumed Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules that had been laced with potassium cyanide. Seven people died in the original poisonings, and there were several more deaths in subsequent copycat crimes.
A product recall is a request from a manufacturer to return a product after the discovery of safety issues or product defects that might endanger the consumer or put the maker/seller at risk of legal action.
The Animal Rights Militia (ARM) is a banner used by animal rights activists who engage in direct action utilizing a diversity of tactics that ignores the Animal Liberation Front's policy of taking all necessary precautions to avoid harm to human life.
Edgar Eugene Pearce is a British extortionist and bomber who was convicted of the Mardi Gra bombings, a three-year blackmail and terror campaign in the London area between December 1994 and April 1998.
The Glico Morinaga case, also known by its official designation Metropolitan Designated Case 114, was a famous extortion case from 1984 to 1985 in Japan, primarily directed at the Japanese industrial confectioneries Ezaki Glico and Morinaga, and currently remains unsolved. The entire case spanned 17 months from the initial kidnapping of the president of Glico to the last known communication from the prime suspect, a person or group known only as "The Monster with 21 Faces".
Stella Maudine Nickell is an American woman who was sentenced to ninety years in prison for product tampering after she poisoned Excedrin capsules with lethal cyanide, resulting in the deaths of her husband Bruce Nickell and Sue Snow. Her May 1988 conviction and prison sentence were the first under federal product tampering laws instituted after the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders.
The Monster with 21 Faces was a name used as an alias by the group responsible for the blackmail letters in the Glico Morinaga case in Japan, in 1984. Variations of the name's translation, including “the Mystery Man with the 21 Faces” and “the Phantom with 21 Faces”, have also been used in articles and books featuring the case.
The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a significant food safety incident in China. The scandal involved Sanlu Group's milk and infant formula along with other food materials and components being adulterated with the chemical melamine, which resulted in kidney stones and other kidney damage in infants. The chemical was used to increase the nitrogen content of diluted milk, giving it the appearance of higher protein content in order to pass quality control testing. 300,000 affected children were identified, among which 54,000 were hospitalized, according to the latest report in January 2009. The deaths of six babies were officially concluded to be related to the contaminated milk.
Tampering can refer to many forms of sabotage but the term is often used to mean intentional modification of products in a way that would make them harmful to the consumer. This threat has prompted manufacturers to make products that are either difficult to modify or at least difficult to modify without warning the consumer that the product has been tampered with. Since the person making the modification is typically long gone by the time the crime is discovered, many of these cases are never solved.
Sextortion employs non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favors from the victim. Sextortion refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercion, as well as to the category of sexual exploitation in which threatened release of sexual images or information is the means of coercion.
The Tesco bomb campaign was an attempted extortion against British supermarket chain Tesco which started in Bournemouth, England, in August 2000 and led to one of the largest and most secretive operations ever undertaken by Dorset Police. During the campaign, a blackmailer identified by the pseudonym "Sally" sent letters to Tesco stores threatening to harm customers if his demands—for Clubcards, modified so that the holder could withdraw cash from ATMs—were not met.
In 2013, a wide-scale recall of products sold by dairy producer Fonterra was announced after suspected botulism-causing bacteria were found during safety tests. The contaminated whey products had been sold to third parties who use it to produce infant formula and sports drinks. Approximately 1,000 tonnes of consumer product was affected by the recall across seven countries, but no cases of sickened consumers were reported. China, which imports most of its powdered milk from New Zealand, instituted a temporary ban on the import of the ingredient from New Zealand.
The "Kosher tax" is the idea that food companies and unwitting consumers are forced to pay money to support Judaism or Zionist causes and Israel through the costs of kosher certification. The claim is a conspiracy theory, antisemitic canard, or urban legend.
Food defense is the protection of food products from intentional contamination or adulteration by biological, chemical, physical, or radiological agents introduced for the purpose of causing harm. It addresses additional concerns including physical, personnel and operational security.
In a food safety crisis beginning in September 2018, numerous punnets of strawberries grown in Queensland and Western Australia were found to be contaminated with sewing needles. Queensland Police reported that by November 2018, there had been 186 reports of contamination nationally.
The Tesco blackmail plot was an extortion attempt against the British supermarket chain Tesco and which led to the largest blackmail investigation in the UK.
The 2007 Tesco blackmail campaign was an extortion attempt against the British supermarket chain Tesco.
The Pedigree Chum dog food and Heinz extortion campaign was an attempted extortion against Pedigree Petfoods and Heinz, during which an extortionist contaminated tins of dog and baby food. Pedigree was advised by police to pay limited sums of money to the extortionist, while cash machines were put under surveillance. Heinz lost millions in sales and eventually offered a £100,000 reward, which the extortionist attempted to collect. However, he was arrested at the cashpoint, where police discovered the extortionist was former Metropolitan Police Detective Sergeant Rodney Whitchelo.
References
- 1 2 3 Lordan, Robert. (2023-03-14). “The Supermarket Poisoner.” Taxi, vol. 536, p. 18.
- ↑ Gillard, Michael (2019-07-25). Legacy: Gangsters, Corruption and the London Olympics. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4482-1773-1
- 1 2 "Forgive me, says baby food poisoner as he goes free; Ex-policeman in evil blackmail plot gets out eight years early. - Free Online Library". [www.thefreelibrary.com]
- ↑ "Food Scare Scandals". The Independent. 1999-06-15
- ↑ "Former detective in poison case phoned officer handling hunt". The Guardian (London, England): 2–2. 1990-10-11
- ↑ Fraser, Frankie; Morton, James (2019-06-06). Mad Frank's Diary: The Confessions of Britain’s Most Notorious Villain. Random House. ISBN 978-0-7535-5404-3
- ↑ Castle, Stephen; Arthur, Charles (June 15, 1999). "Poisoned Belgian Coke 'on UK sale'". Independent. Retrieved February 6, 2024
- ↑ Campbell, Duncan; Sellman, Mark; Campbell, By Duncan (1999-04-08). "Met detective's failed extortion plot became Pearce's model". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077