I've heard of this being prevalent in NYC in particular. I remember reading a story, and it was corroborated by some folks I knew at the time, in particular abo

I've heard of this being prevalent in NYC in particular. I remember reading a story, and it was corroborated by some folks I knew at the time, in particular about car repair shops and adjacent activities (like pick n pull style places, part resellers etc). The police, in large, know that a lot of these places use gray area sources for getting parts and sometimes labor, but they're not really itching to do much about it on that level, because it provides this type of employment across the board in the burroughs where its most prevalent. I have no idea how true this is today, but in circa 2015 or so, seemed to very much be the norm.