And I understand that a substantial angle on the whole thing is that they’re serving a financial intermediation purpose for illegal laborers who can’t easily tap other sources of credit.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5857806&forum_id=2E#49823555)

Police regularly roll through pawn shops. Back in the day, the police came through literally every day. You had to log with the cops in writing everything you bought and sold that day. Unless the pawn shop owner or the organization with which the pawn shop owner was working (see above re organized crime) had the cops in their pocket, it likely was not and is not worth it to deal in a significant portion of stolen goods.

To the extent there is or was stolen property coming through--beyond the ocassional item here and there that the pawn shop owner reasonably doesn't know is stolen--I suspect it's kept and sold off the books: e.g., I see you're looking at our diamond rings. My brother has a couple that aren't displayed out here. He can get you a great price if you want to take a look out back."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5857806&forum_id=2E#49823783)