Red-Collar Crime: The Darkness Behind White-Collar Crime

Red-collar crime

White-collar crime is usually not violent. The FBI classifies white-collar crimes as ones that primarily financially motivated.

What about when a white-collar crime is committed, and the criminal turns out to be very violent?

Sometimes, white-collar crime is a precursor to more violent behavior. Experts in this field have termed it red-collar crime.

Red-collar criminals have been found to have committed horrible acts of violence after their financial crimes were found out.

Here’s something disturbing. Do you know what the 3rd leading cause of job-related deaths is?

Homicide.

This was reported by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Of course, not all of those injuries and fatalities came about because of red collar crime. However, it is becoming a danger.

Red-Collar Crime and Fraud-Detection Homicide

Here’s the thing about red-collar crime: it is also called fraud-detection homicide.

These homicides aren’t motivated by financial gain. The financial gain has already happened. The homicide happens because the fraud gets found out.

Christopher Porco is a good example of extreme reactions to fraud-detection.

In 2004, Christopher Porco used his father’s signature to take out $31,000 in student loans and to buy a Jeep Wrangler. They were two purchases in a streak of fraudulent behavior uncovered by police when the case was made against Porco. Porco’s parents found out about the fraud and attempted to get in touch with him.

Confrontational emails were read at his trial, from both his mother and father, asking him to come home and deal with his financial problems.

Seven days later, Peter and Joan Porco were attacked with an ax. Peter died of his injuries and Joan sustained severe wounds and was in a coma.

Although Joan did not testify against her son as she was unable to remember the event or having told a police officer it was Christopher on the night of the attack, he was convicted and is serving 50 years in prison for second-degree murder.

Apparently, Peter had threatened to call Citibank to alert them of his son’s fraud.

Attorney Frank Perri and Professor Rich Brody, the Douglas Minge Brown Professor of Accounting at the University of New Mexico’s Anderson School of Management, study and speak all over the country about red-collar crime.

There’s a new term for these types of crimes, or potential crimes, to help law enforcement – and even lawyers – identify who might be susceptible to violent behavior.

Fraud Concealment Homicide Triangle

They call it the “Fraud Concealment Homicide Triangle” and it’s real.

Often, the perpetrators of these crimes are quite secretly desperate. However, they are also very controlling. This is why, when their crimes are found out and all control over their life is being threatened, they can resort to such violence.

Christopher Porco entered his parents’ home and disabled the intruder alarm. Next, he smashed it to try to cover up that he had entered without breaking in.

Forty-five minutes later, he cut the phone line to make it look like a burglary gone wrong. Then he went back to school in the early hours of the morning.

It seems to have been a crime of revenge and rage – considering Peter Porco was hit 16 times with the ax. Christopher Porco intended to get away with it.

Conclusion

The field of fraud concealment homicide is relatively new. Thanks to the studies of Frank Perry and Rich Brody, law enforcement, and lawyers around the country know better what to look for in case a white collar criminal suddenly into something else.

If you or someone you love has been charged with red-collar crime, please contact my office today.

Let’s start fighting for your freedom.

Contact us