Neighborhood scouts lined up victims willing to fall in potholes or deliberately trip outside of restaurants, bodegas and dry cleaners. Doctors treated patients for broken limbs, busted knees and internal injuries, including some that were fake. Sometimes they performed unnecessary procedures that drove up the potential value of the personal injury lawsuits that followed.

Lawyers filed those suits in state courts. Behind the scenes, their fees and the doctors’ were "usually paid for" by specialized finance firms, which provide high-interest loans to plaintiffs."