Together, We Can Uproot the Tares of Corruption
Like the weather, corruption is something that everybody talks about but nobody seems to do anything about. Around the world, people complain that the system is rigged, the politicians are thieves, the police are crooked, and money talks. It’s always been so and always will be. It’s part of the “culture.”
History shows this cynicism isn’t entirely justified. The New York of Tammany Hall is now a relatively safe and well-governed city. In just the last fifty years, Hong Kong and Singapore transformed from notoriously corrupt port cities into global powerhouses of lawful commerce. On the other hand, nowhere is corruption entirely eradicated. Failed anti-corruption efforts dwarf success stories. One of the reasons it is so heartbreaking to fight corruption is that progress seems almost, but not quite, impossible.
For more than forty years, Vincent E. Green has done the gritty work of battling corruption in New York City. Beginning as a field investigator in the city’s primary anti-corruption agency, the Department of Investigation, Green rose through the ranks to become a deputy commissioner. He went on to become the founding director of the Department of Integrity and Investigations for the City University of New York, as well as a trainer of corruption fighters in other government institutions, several universities, and more than 75 countries. His efforts have uncovered scores of millions of dollars in graft and fraud, led to hundreds of arrests, and—most importantly—contributed toward better systems and processes with fewer opportunities for future corruption. When Green says corruption can be beaten and challenges us to join in the fight, it is hard to sit still.
Green’s books are more than a call to arms; they are how-to manuals for the difficult art of corruption investigation. Corruption investigation poses unique challenges. There is never a body or a smoking gun, rarely a paper trail. The crime is often consensual; the bribe-giver and bribe-taker negotiate an agreement both are comfortable with and complicit in. Victimhood is diffused across the amorphous and unsympathetic “government,” with losses hard to trace. But as Green powerfully illustrates, those losses are real and they are ours. They mean higher taxes, unbuilt schools, unsafe buildings and bridges, police officers equipped with faulty body armor, hospitals stocked with expired medicine.
There is a undeniable force to Green’s war stories and anecdotes from his long career of investigating corruption. From the ruins of the World Trade Center (more connected to corruption than one might think) to harrowing public housing projects overrun by rats, Green shows us the stakes of the fight. He also gives us practical lessons in corruption investigation, with sections on tactics, techniques, and advice for detecting and preventing procurement fraud. Even for someone who will never interrogate the mastermind of a fraud ring, these lessons are both eye-opening and entertaining. There’s always something magical about hearing the advice of someone who has spent a lifetime mastering a difficult craft. And techniques of interviewing and surveillance are widely applicable skills.
Corruption is a relative crime: a bribe in one country might be a gratuity in another or a lawful act of lobbying in yet another. However, these norms are not set in stone. Public servants and businesspeople adjust to new systems. Citizen expectations change. Democracies evolve. These changes require enforcers like Vincent Green. But they also require whistleblowers and everyday people who refuse to acquiesce to wrongs. Green’s books show why we should fight for a more transparent and accountable democracy, and many concrete and important steps towards this goal.
History shows this cynicism isn’t entirely justified. The New York of Tammany Hall is now a relatively safe and well-governed city. In just the last fifty years, Hong Kong and Singapore transformed from notoriously corrupt port cities into global powerhouses of lawful commerce. On the other hand, nowhere is corruption entirely eradicated. Failed anti-corruption efforts dwarf success stories. One of the reasons it is so heartbreaking to fight corruption is that progress seems almost, but not quite, impossible.
For more than forty years, Vincent E. Green has done the gritty work of battling corruption in New York City. Beginning as a field investigator in the city’s primary anti-corruption agency, the Department of Investigation, Green rose through the ranks to become a deputy commissioner. He went on to become the founding director of the Department of Integrity and Investigations for the City University of New York, as well as a trainer of corruption fighters in other government institutions, several universities, and more than 75 countries. His efforts have uncovered scores of millions of dollars in graft and fraud, led to hundreds of arrests, and—most importantly—contributed toward better systems and processes with fewer opportunities for future corruption. When Green says corruption can be beaten and challenges us to join in the fight, it is hard to sit still.
Green’s books are more than a call to arms; they are how-to manuals for the difficult art of corruption investigation. Corruption investigation poses unique challenges. There is never a body or a smoking gun, rarely a paper trail. The crime is often consensual; the bribe-giver and bribe-taker negotiate an agreement both are comfortable with and complicit in. Victimhood is diffused across the amorphous and unsympathetic “government,” with losses hard to trace. But as Green powerfully illustrates, those losses are real and they are ours. They mean higher taxes, unbuilt schools, unsafe buildings and bridges, police officers equipped with faulty body armor, hospitals stocked with expired medicine.
There is a undeniable force to Green’s war stories and anecdotes from his long career of investigating corruption. From the ruins of the World Trade Center (more connected to corruption than one might think) to harrowing public housing projects overrun by rats, Green shows us the stakes of the fight. He also gives us practical lessons in corruption investigation, with sections on tactics, techniques, and advice for detecting and preventing procurement fraud. Even for someone who will never interrogate the mastermind of a fraud ring, these lessons are both eye-opening and entertaining. There’s always something magical about hearing the advice of someone who has spent a lifetime mastering a difficult craft. And techniques of interviewing and surveillance are widely applicable skills.
Corruption is a relative crime: a bribe in one country might be a gratuity in another or a lawful act of lobbying in yet another. However, these norms are not set in stone. Public servants and businesspeople adjust to new systems. Citizen expectations change. Democracies evolve. These changes require enforcers like Vincent Green. But they also require whistleblowers and everyday people who refuse to acquiesce to wrongs. Green’s books show why we should fight for a more transparent and accountable democracy, and many concrete and important steps towards this goal.