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DeBeers

It's kind of refreshing to talk about the DeBeers in the scope of crime, because in the case of most companies, you can say "Well, at least they bring in low prices (Wal-Mart)" or "Man, those are some fine classic movies (Disney)". But the DeBeers empire has nothing good to speak for it; over a hundred years of rotten labor relations, a product of falsified value, and, if you're feeling particularly uncharitable, the blood of thousands of victims on its hands.

uncut_diamond_2 The story starts with Johannes De Beers in South Africa, who bought a farm from the South African government in 1860 for the sum of £50. In 1871, two mines were found on the property, called the De Beers and Kimberly Mines. De Beers and his brother elected to immediately "flip" on the property, selling the mines in that same year to a syndicate run by Cecil John Rhodes (British Freemason with a weakness for young boys) for £6,300. Quite a tidy profit, and not the last in this story. It is, however, the last time anyone with the name "De Beers" has anything to do with the story. It is a bad habit on the part of folks to call those who run the company "The De Beers" or "The De Beers Family"; there are none.

Instead, the De Beers Consolidated Mines Company came into effect.

Today, the cartel controls two-thirds of the world's diamond market.

uncut_diamond_3 Woe be to anyone who finds any amounts of diamonds on their property; it might seem like pennies from heaven (or the ground).. until the De Beers representatives show up. Spikes in diamond availability spell trouble for profits, and De Beers likes profits.

There's only one organization in the world philosophically opposed to the idea of a finders-keepers diamond mine open to the public. So if a dirty bomb ever goes off in Arkansas near the Crater of Diamonds state park, we shouldn't waste any time looking for Arab terrorists.

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