Transnational Organized Crime and Terrorism

The link between armed conflict and the production and trafficking of illicit drugs has been much noted in the popular literature, and recent research tentatively indicates a link between lootable resources, including narcotics, and conflict duration. Yet the specific dynamics of the linkage between narcotics and conflict remain poorly understood. Evolving theory on the link between organized crime and terrorism enhances and supplements the debate on economic incentives in civil war, proposing mechanisms whereby insurgent groups interact with narcotics production—a crime–rebellion nexus. Studies of nine major narcotics-producing areas indicates strong support for this nexus. Rather than generating or being generated by drug cultivation, armed conflict qualitatively and quantitatively transforms existing drug cultivation. Importantly, armed conflict is itself deeply affected by the narcotics industry, which tends to strengthen the capacity of insurgent movements while weakening that of the state. A momentous aspect of the crime–rebellion nexus is the effect that the drug industry tends to have on the motivational structures of insurgent groups: criminal involvement in some instances creates an economic function of war and vested interests in the continuation of armed conflict. This has substantial implications for strategies to resolve armed conflict involving the production and trafficking of illicit drugs.

The contributors to Cocaine analyze the contemporary production, transit, and consumption of cocaine throughout the Americas and the illicit economy's entanglement with local communities. Based on in-depth interviews and archival research, these essays examine how government agents, acting both within and outside the law, and criminal actors seek to manage the flow of illicit drugs to both maintain order and earn profits. Whether discussing the moral economy of coca cultivation in Bolivia, criminal organizations and drug traffickers in Mexico, or the routes cocaine takes as it travels into and through Guatemala, the contributors demonstrate how entire ways of life are built around cocaine commodification. They consider how the authority of state actors is coupled with the self-regulating practices of drug producers, traffickers, and dealers, complicating notions of governance and of the relationships between economic and moral economies. The collection also outlines a more progressive drug policy that acknowledges the important role drugs play in the lives of those at the urban and rural margins. Contributors. Enrique Desmond Arias, Lilian Bobea, Philippe Bourgois, Anthony W. Fontes, Robert Gay, Paul Gootenberg, Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Thomas Grisaffi, Laurie Kain Hart, Annette Idler, George Karandinos, Fernando Montero, Dennis Rodgers, Taniele Rui, Cyrus Veeser, Autumn Zellers-León

Due to the differences of historical traditions and observation angles, drug-crime is treated differently in criminal laws. A key difference is whether drug crimes committed by criminal groups are included in drug crimes. In fact, drug crimes should include many situations, and criminal judicial procedures should be treated differently. Individual possession and sale of drugs and individual drug-abuse has absolutely inconsistent social harm. The manufacture, possession, transportation and trafficking of drugs by drug criminal groups may cause great social harm and even threaten national security. The legalization of soft drugs seems to show tolerance for drug users, but if these soft drugs are still controlled by criminal organizations, the harm caused by soft drugs may not be as bad as heroin. There is a big gap in the penalty application of drug policies in various countries, but the understanding of organized drug crime should be basically the same. Drug trade is not a normal commodity trade. In fact, there is the mental control and utilization of drug addicts by drug dealers. If this kind of mental control and use of drug addicts falls into the hands of criminal organizations, it will cause great harm to national security.

This article examines Mexico's “war on drug trafficking” through its affective and ideological dimensions. By ethnographically exploring two sites of official representations of organized crime in Mexico City—the Secretariat of Defense's Drug Museum and the Institute to Give Back What Was Stolen from the People—I analyze the strategies through which the Mexican state acknowledges and addresses criminality's charisma as a key challenge to its authority. In these official representations, the drug world becomes visible in partial and selective ways, such as through drug traffickers’ confiscated possessions, which project ideas of extravagant capitalist consumption and transgressive social mobility. The state's inevitable failure to contain or redirect this criminal charisma is a symptom of a deeper problem. Such charisma is a key element constituting organized crime as a political actor that menaces state power. It does so not only through violence, but also by means of its capacity to align and organize publics ideologically by doubling and mimicking the state's forms of meaning‐making and valuation.

The article examines the features of Interpol’s work, its role and significance in the field of international cooperation between states to combat and prevent transnational crime. In the modern world, crime has become one of the most serious threats to security and stability at both the national and international levels. In this regard, the fight against crime is gaining decisive importance in modern politics and maintaining law and order. International cooperation between states is becoming a key factor in combating this negative phenomenon. Coordinated actions between countries allow combining resources and efforts, contributing to a more effective counteraction to threats and ensuring public safety. Crime takes on various forms: organized crime, terrorism, cybercrime, human and drug trafficking, financial fraud, etc. To successfully combat such challenges, a comprehensive approach is needed that takes into account the diversity of methods and mechanisms of their activity. The chronology of the formation of Interpol as an international law enforcement organization operating in the direction of combating crimes that go beyond the borders of a single state is presented. It is emphasized that the growth of activity and the number of criminal groups has become an impetus for the consolidation of the efforts of police forces at the global level. It is established that one of the key tasks of Interpol is the fight against organized crime, since its scale and influence require coordinated and joint steps from all participating countries. It is detailed that Interpol supports the law enforcement activities of member states through the application of special methods and principles. It is noted that the idea of creating an International Criminal Police Organization originated at the beginning of the 20th century. The article emphasizes that the main mission of Interpol is to ensure coordination between law enforcement agencies of different countries to support public security and combat such phenomena as terrorism, cybercrime, drug trafficking, economic crimes, human trafficking and other types of organized crime. The main areas of activity of the organization are criminal registration, international search for criminals and missing persons, search for stolen valuables and other objects of criminal encroachment. The article also emphasizes the importance of concluding cooperation agreements through negotiations between the parties in accordance with the existing legal framework.

Organized crime in Brazil emerged as a response to conditions of social inequality, corruption and failures in the public security system. The first organizations emerged in overcrowded prisons, where inmates formed hierarchical structures, forming networks that operated both inside and outside the penitentiaries. Drug trafficking was the starting point of these factions, but, over time, they diversified their illicit activities, expanding their operations to areas such as robberies, kidnappings, and territorial control. These criminal organizations have established parallel power, especially in urban regions and peripheries, directly challenging the State. Furthermore, the expansion of these factions was favored by the vulnerability of certain sectors of society, the ineffectiveness of public policies to combat crime and the lack of an integrated strategy between security bodies. Thus, criminal organizations have consolidated themselves as a significant force, operating in both drug trafficking and other large-scale crimes, causing profound impacts on public security and the country's governance.

Reviewed by: Cocaine: From Coca Fields to the Streets ed. by Enrique Desmond Arias, and Thomas Grisaffi Jane Rausch, Emerita Arias, Enrique Desmond, and Thomas Grisaffi, eds. Cocaine: From Coca Fields to the Streets. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2021. Bookended by editor Enrique Desmond Arias's introduction and conclusion, this volume is a collection of eleven essays written by scholars who participated in a series of panels at a Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Congress in 2016 to discuss the effects of drug trafficking in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Colombia, Bolivia, and Brazil. Setting their observations within the framework of moral economy, these researchers acknowledge the effect of global drug markets on the nations they examined, and they show how [End Page 225] drug trafficking has developed via a complex process of self-regulation in the shadow of a state power that formally seeks to destroy it. They review the interconnection between sites along cocaine's global supply chain; the implications of those interconnections for social, political, and economic experiences in places affected by the trade; and, conversely, how those interconnections affect the cocaine trade (3). Taken collectively, these essays demonstrate that entire ways of life are built around cocaine commodification and show how state authority is coupled with the self-regulating practices of drug producers, traffickers, and dealers. Their authors also suggest more progressive policies that acknowledge the important role drugs play in the lives of individuals at the urban and rural margins. Since the essays are all high quality, a brief comparison of just two of them will provide an idea of their collective value. In her article, "Drug Crops, Twisted Motorcycles, and Cultural Loss in Indigenous Colombia," Autumn Zellers-Leon notes that Colombian Law 30 of 1986 allows indigenous people to grow up to thirty coca plants for local traditional use and exchange, yet these farmers are also active participants in the illegal drug trade that began in the 1970s. Although the drugs they produce make up a crucial part of the drug commodity chain, they receive only 2 percent of the profits. Nevertheless, Zellers-Leon notes that rather than disrupt the traditional economy, the drug trade has promoted development of a cash-based economy in rural areas that has helped indigenous families meet their basic needs. One of the most basic changes has been the abandonment of horse-drawn vehicles for motorcycles. Drug gangs introduced these probably stolen motorcycles and then dumped them in remote places such as rural Cauca. Their presence promoted road building and the expansion of municipal town centers, but they also contributed to the breakdown of traditional community values. In this one example, indigenous families' increasing dependence on global commodities challenges their identity models rooted in past lifeways. In fact, many of Cauca's indigenous communities could not sustain themselves today without the availability of motorcycles for transport. Thus, in this way, the drug trade has helped to mitigate the effects of class inequalities in rural indigenous regions. Zeilers-Leon concludes that to resolve the situation, the state must prioritize the needs of indigenous farmers in both long-term agricultural development projects and policies that favor indigenous agricultural goods (114). [End Page 226] By contrast, Taniele Rui's essay compares drug consumption between 1990 and 2017 in two of Brazil's largest cities—São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Her case studies reveal that the illegal drug trade produces and regulates user scenes in both cities, but in different ways. In São Paulo, a single criminal faction manages conflicts that the trade generates, and illicit markets are not necessarily violent. Drug users concentrate in the downtown area, and the government's repressive efforts to repress drug use have not only increased the number of crack users in prison but also strengthen the criminal organization by providing new recruits. In Rio de Janeiro, state policies have displaced drug users to different parts of the city. This strategy has encouraged activities by illegally armed actors in the favelas and hides the problem from the view of tourists who do not see the consumption sites. Rui concludes that since the crack trade is not the same everywhere in Brazil and does...

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the development and nature of organized crime in the USA over the past 50 years, emphasizing organized crime's corruption and victimization of legitimate businesses and describing law enforcement's efforts to combat organized crime through specific case studies.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the paper analyzes the control over and corruption of legitimate businesses in the USA by the La Cosa Nostra (“LCN,” or the American Mafia), including the following industries: Las Vegas gaming; moving and storage; garment; waste – hauling; and, construction, and the following unions: the International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Laborers International Union of North America; and, the International Longshoreman's Association. The paper also describes law enforcement's successful efforts to combat such corruption through the use of criminal and civil racketeering laws and specific prosecutions. The paper then discusses the emergence in the mid‐1980s of non‐traditional organized crime groups in the USA, including various Asian ethnic groups and large‐scale human trafficking organizations that impact Europe and Asia as well as the USA.FindingsThe non‐traditional criminal groups not only prey on the legitimate businesses in ethnic Asian communities in the USA, but they also engage in complex crimes, alien smuggling, drug trafficking, credit‐card frauds, money laundering, and other financial crimes. There has emerged a new era for organized crime that began in the 1990s with the fall of the former Soviet Union and the emergence of transnational organized crime groups emanating from the nations comprising the former Soviet Bloc. These organized crime groups engage in a wide variety of economic crimes including extortion, fraud, illicit appropriation of natural resources, and public corruption. Such extensive corruption threatens the stability of some of these emerging nations.Originality/valueThis paper will be valuable to law enforcement offices and policy makers to assist them to understand the scope and nature of organized crime's adverse effects upon businesses and economic interests and to develop tools to combat such criminal activities.

The article states that given the complex nature of organized crime, the complex security environment around Ukraine and the criminogenic situation, the organization of a systematic fight against organized crime should become one of the priorities of public policy and requires effective interdepartmental measures and deepening law enforcement cooperation. It was found that organized crime in Ukraine is steadily developing and structuring, involving representatives of state authorities, local governments, law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, etc. in this process. The current state of organized crime threatens the national security and integrity of the state, which requires urgent administrative and legal measures to combat it. The fight against organized crime is not an isolated problem, to which there is now a simplified attitude to the inconsistent actions of individual actors, but a complex, complex administrative and legal mechanism that needs a strategic solution. The author analyzes the spread of organized crime by region of Ukraine during 2014–2018. Thus, in 2014 the most organized groups were found in Kyiv (14), Odessa (12), Kharkiv (10) Donetsk (9), Luhansk, Poltava, Chernivtsi regions (8 each), the least in Kyiv and Kherson regions (3 each). The author notes that high organization, the acquisition of transnational ties, in a certain inertia of national law, turns modern organized crime into a global threat to the world and international law and creates obstacles to socio-economic progress. The author argues that organized crime is the most complex and dangerous anti-social phenomenon, which is not limited to state borders. Today it poses a real threat to the state and society, manifested in the invasion of politics, economics, social, security, banking, financial and credit, law enforcement, privatization, investment, nature and other vital areas of the state, creating shadow criminal schemes in them.; establishing control over customs authorities; interference in the development of market relations; blocking effective reform processes in the state; organization of criminal activity in such areas as: drug trafficking, prostitution, gambling, illegal arms trafficking, theft and smuggling of vehicles, illegal migration, human trafficking, human organ transplantation; merging with international crime, creation of international organized transnational criminal organizations, etc.

Introduction - Shiro Okubo and Louise Shelley Part I: Transnational Crime and Human Security 1. Globalization, Human Security, and the Right to Live in Peace - Shiro Okubo 2. Human Security Objectives and the Fight against Transnational Organized Crime and Terrorism - Yvon Dandurand and Vivienne Chin Part II: Transnational Organized Crime and the Legal Reponse 3. Transnational Organized Crime: The German Response - Hans-Joerg Albrecht 4. International Organized Crime Operating in Western Europe: The Judicial and Police Approach Against Organized Crime in the European Union - Joaquin Gonzalez Ibanez 5. Crime in Japan and Its Relation to International Organized Crime - Ueda Kan 6. Drug Trafficking in Korea - Sung-Kwon Cho Part III: Human Smuggling and Trafficking 7. International Trafficking: An Important Component of Transnational Crime - Louise Shelley 8. Foreign Women's Life and Work in the Entertainment Sector of Korea from the Human Trafficking Perspective - Dong-Hoon Seol and Geon-Soo Han 9. Trafficking in Persons in the Americas: An Overview - John T. Picarelli Part IV: Responding to Human Smuggling and Trafficking 10. The EU Combat against Illegal Immigration, Smuggling, and Trafficking in Human Beings: Its Impact on Spanish Law - Emiliano Garcia Coso 11. Japanese Experience and Response in Combating Trafficking - Atushi Kondo 12. The Trafficking of Thai Women to Japan and Countermeasures of the Thai Government - Yuriko Saito

In the last few years the number of women arrested for crimes related to drug trafficking increased constantly, demonstrating that they are an active part of the criminal organisations in Mexico. Similarly, the number of young girls that confessed that they voluntarily joined the groups of killers have grown exponentially. Therefore, the present paper aims to illustrate this increasing position women have in Mexican drug cartels. The investigation into their roles follows the drug production process, meaning examining the women’s jobs in the cultivation, transportation, smuggling and selling of the drugs. In addition, the paper examines the part women take in the storing and safe keeping of the narcotic substances, and the women who takes part in armed groups. A special focus will be devoted to the superior women in the Sinaloa Cartel. Furthermore, to fully understand the reasons behind the upsurge in women’s participation, it is essential to study how the Mexican narcotic culture influences the Mexican society. Keywords: women, drug trafficking, Mexico, narcos, drug cartels

The present article aims at shedding some light to the question whether Mexico´s boom in remittances between 2015 and 2021 was the result of low rates of unemployment in the USA or of higher revenues of drug trafficking made by Mexican Criminal Groups. We found that Mexican migration to the USA took off up 2019 and accelerated with Covid-19 pandemic. Since higher rates of unemployment matched with larger number of remittances and a spike in drug overdose deaths in the USA, a hypothesis aroused stating that Mexican remittances could be related to drug trafficking revenues. An Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) found a normal negative correlation (not causation) between US-unemployment rate and remittances from 2015 to 2019 but an abnormal negative correlation from 2020 to 2021. We conclude that the record level in Mexican remittances between 2020 and 2021 could be the result of an increase in Mexican migration but also from a windfall in drug trafficking earnings mirrored in a spike of drug overdose deaths in the USA.

Organized crime is considered a serious threat to national and international security. Organized crime in Kosovo is one of the most present and serious forms of criminality. As such it is an evident occurrence especially in states that are in the phase of general transition. This type of crime is appearing more and more every day in new forms of criminal activities, especially in the period of globalization when such activities have advanced and been perfected as a result of technical-technological development. Despite the fact that Kosovo has its vision and interest to prevent and fight organized crime, in Kosovo this type of criminal activity is presented in various forms, such as corruption, drug trafficking, money laundering in real estate and construction, trafficking in human beings, smuggling of migrants, trafficking in weapons and ammunition, etc. Kosovo is not immune from this type of criminality, which is more and more present in all spheres of life and which heavily attacks the legal, economic, political and social order of the state of Kosovo.

[enter Abstract Body]Organized crime within and across the Southern Africa borders constitute a threat to regional peace, security and governance in the region. Organized crime such as drug trafficking, human trafficking/smuggling, stolen vehicle trafficking, illegal weapons trade, money laundering, illicit exploitation of natural resources, trafficking in counterfeit medication and cigarettes, and cybercrime continue to exact a high cost in terms of national and transnational security and governance as a result of the strong link between political and sector corruption. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the nature and impact of organized crime on regional peace and security and governance within the southern Africa region, and offers several recommendations such as effective policing across borders, enthronement of good governance and democratic principles and strengthening the capacity of legal instruments and agencies to control organized crimes within the region.

ABSTRACTHow has the involvement of the North Korean state influenced the geographic development of North Korean drug trafficking networks? In this paper, I use global value chain analysis to examine the characteristics of North Korean trade networks engaged in drug trafficking in two time periods during which state hostility toward drug trafficking varied markedly (from the early 1990s until 2005, when the central state encouraged production and trafficking, and since 2005, when North Korea cracked down on drugs). Access to a favourable institutional environment and state resources was associated with a spatial distribution of drug trafficking activities that was both territorially concentrated and territorially dispersed while the North Korean state sought to control as much of the value chain as possible. In the second period, the North Korean central state deprived many drug trafficking networks of state support, leading to networks with territorial distributions of production, distribution, and retail concentrated within both North Korea and adjacent countries, and more complex business relationships with various levels of the North Korean state, leading to a more distributed capture of value along the value chain.