shakedown

Sharpe, a Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end, first addressed the allegations Tuesday in a video posted on Instagram, in which he called the lawsuit “a shakedown.”

As a lifelong grifter, he can't help but keep returning to the site of a successful shakedown, and will drain a victim dry, as long as they keep complying.

The professor said the groups committed crimes, but their offenses were relatively petty by today’s standards: brawling and shakedowns of non-gang members for their bikes or lunch money.

To explain how and why the five men died, prosecutors called to the witness stand a parade of admitted murderers, thieves, scammers and shakedown artists, who testified in exchange for leniency in their own cases.

Given the political hegemony enjoyed by vast corporate interests and institutional leviathans like the military, how is it that they can no longer fend off shakedowns by hack politicians?