Uncloaking a Slumlord Conspiracy with Social Network Analysis

[TalkingDog]

http://www.orgnet.com/slumlords.html

The EJO had been working with local tenants in run-down properties and soon started to notice some patterns. The EJO began to collect public data on the properties with the most violations. As the collected data grew in size, the EJO examined various ways they could visualize the data making it clear and understandable to all concerned. They tried various mind-mapping and organization-charting software but to no avail -- the complex ties they were discovering just made the diagrams hopelessly unreadable. They turned to social network analysis [SNA] to make sense of the complex interconnectivity.

The data I will present below is not the actual data from the criminal case. However, it does accurately reflect the social network analysis they performed. The names and genders of the individuals, as well as the names of real estate holdings [LLC] and other businesses have all been masked. This case will be presented in the sequence the EJO followed, first they looked at the real estate holdings, then the owners of the holdings, and then their connections, which led to other connections, and more people and entities.

The EJO worked with the tenants and city inspectors to assess the buildings and document the violations. But every time documented problems were delivered to the current LLC owners by city officials, nothing would happen. When the city's deadline approached to fix the violations, the old LLC owner would explain that the property had changed hands and they were no longer involved. The buildings continued to deteriorate as owner after owner avoided adressing the violations.

/snip

Or why slum lords favor SOPA and PIPA

[hunter]

1. Petty criminals in this example...

... compared to those conspirators who "strip mined" the equity of the entire U.S.A.

Imagine charting out the connections between this nation's wealthiest people...

[TalkingDog]

2. You mean this 147?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html

The capitalist network that runs the world

"An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy."

[hunter]

3. Excellent.

k&r

If people can recognize how it works with the small timers, maybe they'll see how it works at a global scale.

[salin]

4. Very interesting read.