Missing In Action
written by
The Scorpion
According to “official” FBI statistics, nearly 650,000 missing persons cases were filed in the U.S. back in 2016. The reasons of the disappearances range from kidnapping, murder, runaways, human trafficking, etc. A decent percentage of these cases get resolved and get put in the win column by investigators to pad their annual clearance stats. However, a considerable number of these missing persons cases go unsolved. Some of them magically vanish from law enforcement databases after a certain time. Have you ever wondered why so many of these cases mysteriously get swept under the rug? Well I have three words for you: HUMAN ORGAN HARVESTING. First and foremost, it is imperative for people to understand that organ trafficking is BIG BUSINESS! For example, the going rate for a heart on the black market is $125K! A liver? $150K! Kidneys are at the top of the pyramid and are priced at a whopping $250K EACH! So why are these prices so astronomically high?
Well, first off, the typical waiting list for patients who need a heart transplant is longer than the Nile River. It may take anywhere from six months to three years for a heart to become available. Under these time parameters, a lot of transplant patients won’t live long enough to make it to the operating table. However, if you’re wealthy or a person of high societal status, you can leapfrog the common folk on the recipient list and get that the front of the line. Another reason why the prices of these organs are so outrageous is because they don’t simply grow on trees. Human organs don’t have a long shelf life like blood or semen. As soon as they’re removed from a donor, they need to be implanted into the recipient within four to eight hours. Organ donors aren’t going to give up their heart or a liver until they officially “expire.” So how do black market organ dealers obtain their merchandise to keep up with the global demand? They illegally harvest them from unsuspecting victims. The brutal realities of illegal organ harvesting were displayed in a highly underrated film called Turistas.
Back in 2006, the movie Turistas premiered in theaters. It was a cautionary tale about a group of college-aged tourists who were vacationing in a beautiful and remote part of Brazil. These college kids go on a bus trip through the mountains to get to another gorgeous location. However, the bus breaks down and they’re forced to travel to a nearby town on foot. In this town, they run into a local Brazilian man who’s really a recon guy for an organ harvesting ring looking for new marks. Like clockwork, the protagonist group falls into his lap. The recon guy immediately ingratiates himself with the college kids He shows them around the town, parties with them, and gets them so drunk that they wake up broke and without their passports. Because they’re suddenly broke and destitute, they need someplace to stay so they can rest, regroup and focus on a way to get back home. The recon guy tells the group that they can stay at his “uncle’s” house in the jungle. The group agrees and follows the recon guy through some foothills and an underwater tunnel which leads to a special pathway to the house that’s well secluded in the rainforests. Once the group gets to the house, the recon guy’s uncle shows up out of nowhere with his organ harvesting goons. The uncle, who’s actually a surgeon and the ringleader of the operation, ties up the group and drugs them, and starts carving them up like slabs of brisket.
The best part of the movie was when the surgeon was operating on a female member of the group. The woman was in a semi-conscious state as the surgeon began to remove her organs. The surgeon then proceeded to reveal some juicy details about the organ harvesting trade. He gave his unfortunate victim a quick synopsis of why he was slicing out her liver and giving it to some “rich gringo” on the black market. Many of the people who has ever watched this movie probably thought of it as mildly entertaining horror story full of hot women and incredible tropical locales. The mere concept of organ harvesting seemed like more of an urban legend back in 2006. Eleven years after Turista’s release, the public is fully aware of it, but because we are bombarded with distractions from all directions, the evils of organ harvesting are often placed on the back burner in people’s minds. However, we must not allow ourselves to forget that no one is exempt from turning up missing when a black market financial juggernaut such as organ harvesting continues to make football numbers.
Well, first off, the typical waiting list for patients who need a heart transplant is longer than the Nile River. It may take anywhere from six months to three years for a heart to become available. Under these time parameters, a lot of transplant patients won’t live long enough to make it to the operating table. However, if you’re wealthy or a person of high societal status, you can leapfrog the common folk on the recipient list and get that the front of the line. Another reason why the prices of these organs are so outrageous is because they don’t simply grow on trees. Human organs don’t have a long shelf life like blood or semen. As soon as they’re removed from a donor, they need to be implanted into the recipient within four to eight hours. Organ donors aren’t going to give up their heart or a liver until they officially “expire.” So how do black market organ dealers obtain their merchandise to keep up with the global demand? They illegally harvest them from unsuspecting victims. The brutal realities of illegal organ harvesting were displayed in a highly underrated film called Turistas.
Back in 2006, the movie Turistas premiered in theaters. It was a cautionary tale about a group of college-aged tourists who were vacationing in a beautiful and remote part of Brazil. These college kids go on a bus trip through the mountains to get to another gorgeous location. However, the bus breaks down and they’re forced to travel to a nearby town on foot. In this town, they run into a local Brazilian man who’s really a recon guy for an organ harvesting ring looking for new marks. Like clockwork, the protagonist group falls into his lap. The recon guy immediately ingratiates himself with the college kids He shows them around the town, parties with them, and gets them so drunk that they wake up broke and without their passports. Because they’re suddenly broke and destitute, they need someplace to stay so they can rest, regroup and focus on a way to get back home. The recon guy tells the group that they can stay at his “uncle’s” house in the jungle. The group agrees and follows the recon guy through some foothills and an underwater tunnel which leads to a special pathway to the house that’s well secluded in the rainforests. Once the group gets to the house, the recon guy’s uncle shows up out of nowhere with his organ harvesting goons. The uncle, who’s actually a surgeon and the ringleader of the operation, ties up the group and drugs them, and starts carving them up like slabs of brisket.
The best part of the movie was when the surgeon was operating on a female member of the group. The woman was in a semi-conscious state as the surgeon began to remove her organs. The surgeon then proceeded to reveal some juicy details about the organ harvesting trade. He gave his unfortunate victim a quick synopsis of why he was slicing out her liver and giving it to some “rich gringo” on the black market. Many of the people who has ever watched this movie probably thought of it as mildly entertaining horror story full of hot women and incredible tropical locales. The mere concept of organ harvesting seemed like more of an urban legend back in 2006. Eleven years after Turista’s release, the public is fully aware of it, but because we are bombarded with distractions from all directions, the evils of organ harvesting are often placed on the back burner in people’s minds. However, we must not allow ourselves to forget that no one is exempt from turning up missing when a black market financial juggernaut such as organ harvesting continues to make football numbers.