Dallas and Houston remain in the top 10 list of cities where retailers say organized crime gangs are hitting their stores, distribution centers and cargo shipments

Dallas and Houston remain in the top 10 list of cities where retailers say organized crime gangs are hitting their stores, distribution centers and cargo shipments, according to an industry survey released Wednesday.
Organized crime is up 6 percent from last year, with 95 percent of 129 retail companies saying their operations were victims of crime groups over the last 12 months, according to the National Retail Federation survey.
For the first time, retailers were asked about cargo theft. The excuse that goods have mysteriously “fallen off a truck” is not just a line in a TV police drama. Fifty percent of retailers said that they had experienced theft of merchandise in transport from a distribution center to a store in the last year.
Other cities on the unranked list include Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Philadelphia. Making the list for the first time are Las Vegas and Phoenix. Baltimore and San Francisco dropped off.
Over the last year, several states passed laws that increase punishment for organized retail crime. The Texas Legislature recently passed HB 2482, which is awaiting a signature from Gov. Rick Perry. The bill is going through the review process, said the governor’s spokeswoman, Lucy Nashed.
The bill would remove the minimum threshold value of $1,500 to qualify for a charge of organized retail theft. Punishment would increase to the next higher category of offense for anyone who organizes, supervises, finances or manages one or more other people doing the stealing.
The pending law also covers fire alarm tampering and the use of shields or deactivation instruments designed to prevent stolen goods from being detected by equipment installed by retailers.
Gangs steal an estimated $15 billion to $30 billion a year in merchandise. Criminals go after merchandise with high resale opportunities, according to the survey. In the past year, targeted products included not only common consumables such as cigarettes and razor cartridges but also the not-so-obvious golf balls, lingerie and branded goods from Crest whitening strips to North Face jackets.