What do bankers and gangsters have in common?

A lot!

For starters, they both want your money. From there, the degree of similarity differs from person to person. Nevertheless, on the whole, the banking industry and the mob share a lot more in common with each other than most people think.

[A] Goldman Sachs analyst, a Merrill Lynch banker and a printing plant worker were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly participating in a $6.7 million insider trading ring that involved stolen magazines, strippers and a retired underwear factory worker in Croatia.

Stanislav Shpigelman, a low-level investment banker at Merrill Lynch, was charged with tipping off Eugene Plotkin, a bond analyst at Goldman Sachs Group, and another member of the ring about upcoming mergers.

A third man, Juan Renteria, an employee at a plant that printed BusinessWeek magazine, was arrested in Milwaukee for allegedly giving pre-publication copies of the weekly to Plotkin and another member of the ring.

The case is linked to the arrest last year of David Pajcin, a former Goldman employee who allegedly made stock trades from stolen copies of BusinessWeek. Pajcin is cooperating with authorities, officials said.

The U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission said the schemes were orchestrated by Plotkin and Pajcin, who persuaded Shpigelman to provide tips on upcoming mergers in return for a share of $6.7 million of trading profits.

In a second scheme, Plotkin and Pajcin recruited two individuals, including Renteria, to obtain jobs at a printing plant, steal advance copies of BusinessWeek and tip them about the names of companies discussed.

Plotkin and Pajcin also contemplated hiring strippers to gain information from bankers while dancing for them, but this plan was never executed . . .

Plotkin, 26, faces a maximum penalty of 70 years in prison; Shpigelman, 23, could get up to 55 years; and Renteria, 20, could be jailed for 15 years. . . .

Plotkin and Pajcin met at Goldman Sachs, and had planned to recruit other bankers for their trading ring, authorities said.

Plotkin is only 26; Shpigelman, 23, and Renteria only 20!

We're supposed to believe that the first two, probably fresh out of college, were going to recruit other bankers and not vice versa???

Notice they did not mention how old Pajcin is, nor is there any indication that he's being charged with anything, presumably because he is cooperating with authorities.

The whole story sounds like a few arrogant little banksters with loose lips got caught doing what their mentors do regularly with their lips sealed.