Signs of a Criminal Organization in Tricking

My first introduction to this topic was taught to me by Game Freak. 

Hi my name is David Milner and I'm a Tricking athlete doing work as an investigative journalist !

Today I'm writing to help raise understanding about how to identify crime groups. Not just in Tricking, but in the world in general. 

When I was around 10 years old I got my first copy of Pokemon and a gameboy. I don't remember if I got Red version or Blue version of the game .. but I remember slowly being brought into the world these game developers created, and although I had to battle my way through opponents .. there was one group of individuals that stood out to me. 

Team Rocket. 

Team Rocket was first introduced in the second town you visit in the game. There is a bridge, and you battle your way through a few trainers and at the top there was a recruiter. He dressed as an ordinary trainer, but eventually reveals himself to be recruiting others into his organization. Later you find out that there was a break-and-enter and stolen property from Misty's home, the cities Gym Leader.The police were there, and you as the main player actually help to retrieve the stolen property. 

A criminal organization is as you might imagine it to be. A group of individuals who prefer to remain anonymous, who recruit others into their ranks, who lack integrity, so much so to take things that don't belong to them, or to gain things through unfair methods and/or threaten to or actually use force to get their way.

This stuff doesn't just happen in video games. It happens all around the world.. and it isn't a rarity. 

I first started to notice the signs & symptoms of organized crime in Tricking when I began to travel & film in different countries, as a battler in 2019. Prior to this part of my career, I wasn't too focused on the competitive scene in Tricking. I was mostly focused on my life outside of Tricking, and really just training & socializing, making samplers was my main thing before becoming a battler. Canada wasn't really a country with many competitions, until about 2018 is when we started to develop in that area.

I began to recognize that events were being advertised one way, but when I looked at the actual organization of the events, I noticed peculiarities. I questioned why members of certain teams and organizations were always present at most events but important information was being left out. I couldn't understand why some organizations would be advertised as officially collaborating with underground teams, & other events wouldn't mention collaborations at all, despite those players fulfilling key roles at these events ( such as being the judges ). 

I wrote an article about Legitimate vs Mafia style organizations before. Legitimate businesses follow all the common sense laws and appear in the public and facilitate pretty much exactly what is advertised as any paying customer or anyone from the public or government would expect of them. The way they present themselves, the compliance with the laws and regulations of a society, all these things are consistent with legitimate businesses. It's very truth oriented.

However, you could still run a business, but completely deviate from what is expected of your conduct. Some people step outside of their bounds and offer products or services that aren't officially on the menu. This is when a legitimate business becomes corrupt. It's all the additional work that is being done off the books - if it's sales of merchandise that isn't officially on their manifest, or even going over to other businesses to try to interfere with their progress or cut collusive deals. Sometimes they might try to make a business deal appear to be legitimate, but that the money they were receiving was derived from illegal activity, and so in order to clean the money, it could be laundered into their business to make it look like real business transactions. Sometimes competitors work together to price fix, or bid-rig. There are many ways that businesses try to outsmart the public and gain an advantage. 

This is the world of organized crime - and it does affect Tricking. 

Though in our world of sports, it looks a bit different.
Typically crime in the sport of Tricking has to do with producing intended outcomes, and eliminating individuals that have the potential to interfere with and expose their plans. 

Some of the signs and symptoms to look out for:

- Inconsistencies in how a group presents themselves/advertises outwardly to the public vs how members refer to the purpose and inner works of the group
- Dishonest, discriminatory, unsafe & immoral business practices or conduct among group members 
- Invitation to "secret" inner groups requiring collateral / compliance of secretive directives 
- Group hierarchy / role structure being unclear
- If you are asked to commit a criminal act or witness criminal acts being committed