Transnational Organized Crime: An Overview from Six Continents PDF
Preview Transnational Organized Crime: An Overview from Six Continents
Transnational Organized Crime Transnational Organized Crime An Overview from Six Continents Jay Albanese Virginia Commonwealth University, USA Philip Reichel University of Northern Colorado, USA Transnational Organized Crime An Overview from Six Continents Jay Albanese Virginia Commonwealth University, USA Philip Reichel University of Northern Colorado, USA For inFormation: Copyright 2014 by SAGE Publications, Inc. SaGE Publications, inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be 2455 teller road reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, thousand oaks, California 91320 electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, E-mail: [email protected] recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. SaGE Publications Ltd. 1 oliver’s Yard 55 City road London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom Printed in the United States of America SaGE Publications india Pvt. Ltd. Transnational organized crime : an overview from B 1/i 1 mohan Cooperative industrial area six continents / [edited by] Jay S. Albanese, Virginia mathura road, new Delhi 110 044 Commonwealth University, USA, Philip L. Reichel, india University of Northern Colorado, USA. SaGE Publications asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. pages cm 3 Church Street Includes bibliographical references and index. #10-04 Samsung Hub ISBN 978-1-4522-9007-2 Singapore 049483 1. Transnational crime. 2. Organized crime. I. Albanese, Jay S. II. Reichel, Philip L. HV6252.T7325 2014 364.106—dc23 2013015490 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Executive Editor: Jerry Westby Publisher associate: maryann Vail marketing manager: terra Schultz Permissions Editor: Jennifer Barron Project Editors: amy Schroller and Veronica Stapleton Hooper Copy Editor: Linda Gray typesetter: C&m Digitals (P) Ltd. Proofreader: Wendy Jo Dymond indexer: Jean Casalegno Cover Designer: anupama Krishnan 13 14 15 16 17 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Introduction 1 1. Transnational Organized Crime Networks Across the World 7 Jan van Dijk and Toine Spapens 2. Transnational Organized Crime in North America 29 James O. Finckenauer and Jay Albanese 3. Transnational Organized Crime in Latin America 57 Mary Fran T. Malone and Christine B. Malone-Rowe 4. Transnational Organized Crime in Europe 75 Klaus von Lampe 5. Transnational Organized Crime in Africa 93 Mark Shaw 6. Transnational Organized Crime in Asia and the Middle East 117 Richard H. Ward and Daniel J. Mabrey 7. Transnational Organized Crime in Oceania 141 Roderic Broadhurst, Mark Lauchs, and Sally Lohrisch 8. Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime 163 Gus Martin Index 193 About the Editors 209 About the Contributors 211 Introduction T ransnational organized crime characterizes the 21st century in the same way that traditional street crimes characterized the 20th century. The provision of illicit goods and services and the infiltration of business and government have become the major problems of the modern age of globalization, technology, international travel and communications, multinational migration and business, and their down- sides: smuggling, trafficking, laundering, and corruption. This book contributes to our understanding of these global trends by examining transnational organized crime from the perspectives of the world’s six inhabited continents: North America, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. It also includes a final chap- ter that addresses the overlaps between transnational organized crime and terrorism. Each chapter is written by authors who are either native to each world region or who have extensively traveled and worked there. In addition, the contributors to this book possess recognized expertise through their research and writing on organized crime issues and their transnational manifestations. Therefore, this book provides a unique overview of transnational orga- nized crime in each continental region of the world. It offers students and researchers a perspective that is often lacking in contemporary writing on this issue: a regional perspective by authors having expertise both in the field and also in the region. Organized crime has been defined through a consensus of scholars as continuing criminal enterprises that rationally work to profit from illicit activities that are often in great public demand. Its continuing existence is maintained through the use of force, threats, monopoly control, and/or the corruption of public officials (Albanese, 2011). But how large a prob- lem is organized crime on a global scale? 1 2 TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME Several organizations have attempted define and quantify what the world’s largest problems are. The Arlington Institute (2012) identified the five largest world problems as follows: • Economic collapse: Will a fragile current global economy tip the world into depression? • Peak oil: Petroleum has powered the world for 100 years; have we reached a peak in oil production? • Global water crisis: Over the last 50 years, the world population has tripled, but pollution, bad agricultural practices, and poor civic plan- ning have decreased the water supply. • Species extinction: Certain species that we depend upon for food are going extinct—impacting our own survivability. • Rapid climate change: Global warming is an empirical fact. Will people from different cultures work together to reduce global warm- ing or will they suffer from it? In a related way, the U.N. Millennium Development goals identified serious challenges for attention as including ending poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, com- bating HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability, and global partnership (U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011; U.N. Habitat, 2011). Two common features are apparent when you consider these serious international issues. First, they are all either entirely manmade, or they have been pushed to a crisis point by decisions of humans. In addition, these decisions appear to be the result of some combination of ignorance, selfishness, criminality, and corruption. To the extent that the problems also reflect opportunities for criminal enterprises to profit from illicit activities linked to those problems, an argument can certainly be made that organized crime and corruption play an important role in their exacerbation. These largest world problems range from health to environment to social instability to civil conflict—all of which are either created or wors- ened by organized crime and corruption. The issue addressed in this book is crucial: More effective control of organized crime and corruption would reduce many other significant world problems! The chapter contributions to this book are noteworthy in several ways. The opening chapter by Jan van Dijk and Toine Spapens examines the global trend away from established organized crime “groups” toward organized crime “networks,’” which are more loosely formed and more Introduction 3 difficult to defeat. This chapter also offers a quantitative analysis of the extent of organized crime in different world regions and how its extent is associated with the quality of the institutions responsible for the rule of law in these countries. It provides a useful framework for understanding the local nature of much organized crime and how its reach is enhanced in a globalized world. Chapter 2 reviews organized crime in North America, including Canada, Mexico, and the United States. This assessment by James O. Finckenauer and Jay S. Albanese describes several major known orga- nized crime threats, which are presented in terms of their nature and extent and the law enforcement response. The economic disparities between Canada and the United States on one hand, and Mexico on the other, create a lucrative supply-and-demand environment, and the land and water access facilitates trafficking routes for illicit goods and services and human smuggling. The influence of the Mexican drug cartels in cross-border trafficking is discussed. Chapter 3 on transnational organized crime in Latin America by Mary Fran T. Malone and Christine B. Malone-Rowe provides a compelling overview of the organized crime issues and their context in a number of Central and South American countries. Excellent use is made of timely source material to place organized crime in this region in the context of the institutional weakness of countries, the role of political and economic elites, and geography. Chapter 4 by Klaus von Lampe addresses transnational organized crime in Europe. This review provides an up-to-date summary of trans- national organized crime both within and also extending outside Europe. Excellent use of source material explains contemporary research on the issues of transnational organized crimes, the offenders, and their environ- ment. A patchwork of trafficking routes and crime hotspots are found in Europe, involving criminals of different ethnic and national backgrounds, forming networks and groups of varying degrees of sophistication. Chapter 5 describes organized crime in Africa. Mark Shaw presents a well-documented account of what (little) we know about the African con- tinent in terms of organized crime and how the dramatic changes on the continent are affecting organized crime throughout the region. The over- lapping threats of state fragility/failure, organized crime, and corruption are explained clearly, and differences within the continent are noted. Recent data and research are cited throughout this African overview. In Chapter 6 on transnational organized crime in Asia and the Middle East, Richard H. Ward and Daniel J. Mabrey cover a vast geographic area.
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