MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0A shop owner facing threats shutters the clothing store that had been in his family for generations. <\/p>\n
A leader of a citrus growers association is kidnapped and killed after refusing mob demands for a cut of profits.<\/p>\n
Enraged peasant farmers fed up with paying graft turn on cartel thugs in a bloody showdown.<\/p>\n
In Mexico, these real-life incidents all arise from a signature offense: extortion.<\/p>\n
Gang shakedowns are rampant in Mexico, victimizing untold numbers \u2014 street vendors and taxi drivers, restaurateurs and farmers, factory owners and mine operators. All are coerced into paying tithes to criminal bands, sometimes the same cartels that run drugs. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very sensitive crime because of its social impact,\u201d Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t only affect one person. It affects everyone.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An agent of the attorney general\u2019s office in Mexican state of Michoac\u00e1n inspects the area where vehicles were burned by members of criminal gang near the city of Quiroga in November. <\/p>\n
(Enrique Castro\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Sheinbaum launched a high-profile crackdown against extortion, but her efforts face steep odds. Extortion, experts say, is a multibillion-dollar racket, perhaps even more lucrative than drug-trafficking. It sometimes is called \u201cthe invisible crime,\u201d since most victims fail to report threats, fearing retaliation.<\/p>\n
Those targeted often confront a ghastly choice: accept ultimatums to hand over cash, property or other assets \u2014 or face death, a threat routinely aimed at family members as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure, I can say, \u2018I won\u2019t pay: They can go ahead and kill me,\u2019 \u201d said Antonio, a floriculturist outside Mexico City who hands over almost $600 in derecho de piso [protection] at each flower harvest, the amount doubling in holiday seasons, including this month\u2019s Virgin of Guadalupe feast<\/a>. \u201cBut I cannot allow them to kill my kids. Or take my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n Like other victims who spoke to The Times, Antonio, 56, a father of four, asked that only his first name be used for security reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cWe live in terror,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to work for these delinquents. And no one in the government helps us.\u201d<\/p>\n Farmer Jes\u00fas Cuaxospa works on his farm where he grows cempas\u00fachil flowers in San Luis Tlaxialtemalco on the outskirts of Mexico City in October. <\/p>\n (Claudia Rosel \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Mexico and two other Latin American countries, Colombia and Honduras, are among the world\u2019s five most extortion-scarred nations, according to the Global Organized Crime Index<\/a>, an annual ranking from a Geneva-based research group. Filling in the top five are Somalia and Libya.<\/p>\n Apart from the devastating impact on individuals and families, extortion exacts extreme societal costs: displacement, a profound sense of insecurity and the distortion of local economies.<\/p>\n In Mexico, strong-armed extortion gangs have been accused of price-fixing, taking over industries, unions and transport routes, and running construction sites \u2014and even setting prices for foodstuffs, building materials and other items.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n