A lot of the blue collar professions are in cahoots with organized crime (and similarly many adjacent white collar industries like real estate)

In New York it has gotten so bad that even first responders have been subverted

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/gang-members-and-others...

“Fire Mitigation” are not first responders: they’re private entities that listen to the FDNY’s radio frequencies and follow them around. They’re ambulance chasers and that’s always been a scummy domain; it’d be much more surprising (and worse) if FDNY themselves were somehow involved.

Towing companies enjoy special privileges and presumed innocent, e.g. no penalties for "towing the wrong car."

I mean, everyone is (supposed to be) presumed innocent. But point taken about the special privileges.

It approaches qualified immunity.

Consider an AWD BMW without badges. If it's a 3 series or above all you know is that it's either RWD or AWD.

If they tow it by the rear wheels you blow up your transfer case. But try and prove that it was THAT action that blew it up.

The proper way to deal with this is to lift the car using a crane and put it on a platform like this https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/seeligstadt-germany...

Call your buddy at the towing company, give them $20 cash.

Criminals are quite efficient at getting things done

Two things. Sometimes these venue areas have other central business district employers who don’t allow overnight or weekend parking for the public, but don’t enforce it. (But they are signed to allow towing) The fake parking guy probably has a relationship with the tow driver.

Also, tow operators are generally pretty shady. Because they operate in a second responder capacity, they have personal relationships with cops and sheriffs, repair garages, etc.