A few years ago, Erlanger, Kentucky—a quiet suburban community in northern Kentucky, close to Cincinnati, Ohio—experienced a series of mysterious crimes. Everything from wrought-iron fences to sewer covers was disappearing. The burglaries, though, were spread across several jurisdictions throughout northern Kentucky, and none of the police departments involved detected a pattern. It was not until some of the stolen goods turned up at a multijurisdictional recycling center that police could see the pattern and solve the crime. It turned out thieves were feeding the rising demand for contraband iron fueled by China’s industrial expansion.