TV series en Films zijn en blijven fictie voor ons amusement. Alleen vergeten mensen dat de realiteit met dingen in de echte wereld anders zijn dan wat je op het scherm ziet. Zo luisteren niet alle hackers tijdens hun hack naar The Prodigy en dragen ze een hoodie en een zonnebril terwijl ze bezig zijn. Dit gaat ook op voor misdaad, want door Hollywood hebben mensen hier een heel ander beeld over en daarom heeft de website Cracked.com nu dit artikel er over geschreven.

#3. Smuggling Goes Way Beyond Guns And Drugs

If you've watched any crime drama like Sons Of Anarchy or The Wire, then you know that the only things people ever smuggle are drugs, guns, or drugs hidden inside guns. Even Han Solo, with a whole galaxy of illegal, interspecies super porn to be delivered to the hands of trillions of furiously masturbating perverts, chose to smuggle space pot (you're not fooling anyone with that "spice" stuff, Lucas). The reason is obvious: Mo' danger, mo' money, right?

Actually, the market for counterfeit products (including the money coming from pirated digital material) is worth a Tony Stark-dwarfing $650 billion, which is way more than the global drug trade. And, even better, it's a lot safer, since a) few people are going to get into shootouts over a few kilos of Faux-kley sunglasses, and b) there's less risk from cops, because, despite our best training, we still can't get German shepherds to recognize the difference between authentic and fraudulent Gucci bags.

But products for people who lack the money to be authentically shallow and materialistic are not the only thing being smuggled. If your dog or cat food has fish in it, there's a chance it was illegally caught in Indonesia, where nearly half of the world's illegal fishing is done. And for a double super bonus dose of guilt, the illegal fishing industry is a big vector for human trafficking. The fish that are usually caught are small and not worth much money so, in order to keep costs down, the companies resort to the oldest stand-by in business: paying your workers jack shit. Many of the fishermen are slaves who endure horrendous living conditions, which include being locked in the ship's hold with rotting fish, getting thrown overboard, or being fucking beheaded if they get too uppity.

Did you also know that there's a huge market for illegal wood? No, not counterfeit Viagra: We're talking actual trees. While the trafficking and importation of exotic animals grabs headlines and Twitter hashtags, the global wildlife trade is estimated to be just south of $20 billion a year. Compare that to the black-market timber industry, which nets a cool $100 billion. Those clandestinely cut-down forests end up going to companies like Gibson, who was raided in 2008 for buying illegal "tone woods" for use in their instruments -- all so you could leave that guitar casually laying around during dates and then never touch it again. Still, as big as the illegal timber industry is, it's hard to get anyone to care. Trees just aren't as sexy and won't garner as much sympathy when they're killed, which makes it hard for police departments real or fictional to secure funding for forestry crime divisions.