News

Disc piracy is a profitable but increasingly risky business, with bootlegging-related shootings and armed robberies on the rise. Modern pirates have begun to imitate their sea-going ancestors, using force to acquire assets and territory.

On Tuesday, November 20, police in New York City reported the death of Guinean immigrant Ablia Diallo, who was killed in a robbery of a Manhattan office filled with counterfeit CDs and DVDs, including copies of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and 8 Mile, two recently-released commercial films.

The incident hasn't been linked to the July shooting of two West African immigrants in a robbery of a bootleg video business near the Empire State Building, but police have alluded to gang involvement. "Perhaps what's going on in Manhattan is a precursor to what may happen throughout the rest of the city," said Richard Baker, chief of the Bronx district attorney's economic crime bureau. Convicted disc counterfeiters have traditionally received short sentences, and, until recently, haven't faced other threats, he noted.

The shootings are part of a rise in piracy-related violence, indicative of increased involvement by organized crime. Disputes among disc pirates don't "typically escalate to this level of violence . . . . The two shootings in New York City over the last couple of months are not something that we normally see," said Frank Creighton, anti-piracy director for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The nation's unauthorized disc trade averages about $250,000 per day in sales and approximately two-thirds of the bootlegs are made in New York City, he explained. Counterfeit "mills" are spread throughout the city's five boroughs, with most distribution centered in Manhattan.

Dropping costs for computer hardware and recordable discs have made large-scale piracy an attractive business for growing numbers of criminals. The entry-level investment for fledgling pirates is now about $2500, Creighton said. Recordable discs that cost 10 cents each in bulk can be burned in a few minutes and sold to street vendors for one or two dollars each, then resold for four or five dollars on the street, generating nice profits for all involved. The street prices make the discs very attractive when compared to the $15–$25 charged per disc by legitimate retailers.