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The Corporate ConspiracyBeginning in the late 1930s (extending into the 1950s), companies like General Motors, Standard Oil of California, and Firestone Tire formed holding companies such as National City Lines.What they did: They purchased over 100 electric streetcar systems in 45 cities, including Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Baltimore.The motive: They systematically ripped out the tracks and replaced the electric streetcars with diesel buses—strictly to boost the sales of their own buses, tires, and petroleum.The outcome: In 1949, these companies were convicted of criminal conspiracy for monopolizing the sale of buses and supplies to local transit companies (though the penalty was nominal).