This week's Crain's detailed a criminal conspiracy in Detroit [metro] that dwarfs the antics of the alleged Kilpatrick crime enterprise, Wayne County shenanigans, and certainly the small fry catalytic converter and GPS thieves.

Give up yet? Didn't see this in the breaking news? No Scott Lewis stakeouts? What? You haven't heard about theft in the [yawn] automotive wire-harness business? You're not alone. Me either.

Yet automotive supplier Furukawa Electric has agreed to pay, not a paltry $1 million restitution, but a $200 million dollar fine, that 3 of its local executives will serve 12-18 months and the company will cooperate in the ongoing investigation as part of its guilty plea for its role in a global price-fixing conspiracy for wire-harnesses in violation of the ye olde Sherman anti-trust act.

Now that this huge domino has toppled expect even more as raids and investigations have spread to Sumitomo, TRW, Yazaki, Lear, Denso and Tokyo Rika automotive suppliers.

Ho hum? No mega thread for this one?

I guest the lesson learned is to commit crimes that are boring and complex and don't do as the Rodney Dangerfield one-liner summarizes.

"My old man was so stupid he got fired from the bank for stealing pencils."