illegal way my friend makes a living

Okay today i was wondering how one of my friends makes a living. he didn't want to tell me at first but he told me anyway. Its an illegal way. What he and many other people at flee markets do. He buys a spot at a flee market and hires people to go to stores and still large amounts of things, and he will pay them like %60 percent commission on sale. a lot of teens work for him. then he sells it and its all profit. He is one of the richest people i know he makes about 700 thousand dollars a year. He has other people that run more stands for him as well. He makes a hell of a living. He does that and then just invests the money and does some online marketing on ebay and does some drop shipping. I was interested in doing that but i don't want to be the one to be put in prison for years on end.