This installment of "Racket Squad" is about a practice they call 'chain selling', though today it's commonly known as multi-level marketing. It's clearly illegal and only gullible and greedy folks would invest in such a program. Here's how it works. A person is recruited to sell a product. Then, they themselves recruit a certain number of salespersons who then hire a certain number or salespeople and so on. Each salesperson is to give a certain percentage to the folks who recruited them. In theory, the first level or two of salesmen make a ton of money but after a while there are so many salespeople at the higher levels that they cannot possibly even break even. It's a modified pyramid scheme and has been illegal for years...yet such schemes still are rampant today.
This show begins by a flashy salesman, Hooper (Gordon Jones), approaching Mr. Hicks. He wants to buy a shipment of nylons from Hicks even though they both know the hosiery is not good. It runs easily and comes in odd sizes. Hicks agrees to split the profits and will sell the salesman all of them--however he does NOT want to know how the sells them.
Hooper then runs ads in the paper promising huge profits for salespeople and he gets rid of the stockings very quickly. The new sales team has been lured by the scheme and think they'll get rich--not realizing that Hooper does a variation on the multi-level marketing by not paying ANYONE!! Fortunately, as usual, Captain Braddock learns about it and catches him just in time.
So why did I score this one so low? After all, it was performing a community service by exposing such rackets. The problem is the acting. Much of it was just god-awful. The teenage boy was so broadly played that he was downright embarrassing. Also, Mr. Hicks ranged from nice to insanely nasty from moment to moment in the show--showing a wider and more fluid personality that a drug addict! The both managed to make me cringe several times. A really poor example of an otherwise decent old cop series.
This show begins by a flashy salesman, Hooper (Gordon Jones), approaching Mr. Hicks. He wants to buy a shipment of nylons from Hicks even though they both know the hosiery is not good. It runs easily and comes in odd sizes. Hicks agrees to split the profits and will sell the salesman all of them--however he does NOT want to know how the sells them.
Hooper then runs ads in the paper promising huge profits for salespeople and he gets rid of the stockings very quickly. The new sales team has been lured by the scheme and think they'll get rich--not realizing that Hooper does a variation on the multi-level marketing by not paying ANYONE!! Fortunately, as usual, Captain Braddock learns about it and catches him just in time.
So why did I score this one so low? After all, it was performing a community service by exposing such rackets. The problem is the acting. Much of it was just god-awful. The teenage boy was so broadly played that he was downright embarrassing. Also, Mr. Hicks ranged from nice to insanely nasty from moment to moment in the show--showing a wider and more fluid personality that a drug addict! The both managed to make me cringe several times. A really poor example of an otherwise decent old cop series.