Legal Definitions - bagman

A bagman is an individual who serves as an intermediary in illegal financial transactions, primarily by collecting and distributing money obtained through unlawful means. This role often involves handling bribes, payoffs, or other illicit funds, typically to create a layer of separation between the original source of the money and its ultimate recipient, thereby concealing the true nature of the transaction.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a large construction company that wants to secure a lucrative government contract. Instead of directly offering a bribe to the city council member responsible for approving the project, the company might use a trusted associate to deliver a briefcase full of cash to the official. This associate, who collects the money from the company and delivers it to the council member, would be acting as the bagman, facilitating the illegal payment while attempting to shield the primary parties from direct involvement.

• Consider a criminal organization involved in a protection racket, extorting money from small businesses in a particular neighborhood. A specific individual might be assigned the regular task of visiting these businesses, collecting the weekly cash payments, and then delivering the accumulated funds to the higher-ranking members of the organization. In this scenario, this individual functions as the bagman, collecting illegally obtained money (extortion payments) and distributing it within the criminal enterprise.

• In a complex drug trafficking network, one person might be responsible for gathering large sums of cash from various street-level dealers across different locations. This individual then transports and delivers these funds to the central leader or financier of the operation, ensuring that the proceeds of the illegal drug sales move through the network without direct contact between the dealers and the top figure. This person, handling the collection and transfer of illicit cash, would be considered the bagman for the operation.