IASOC Monthly Report on Organised Crime Related News

ORGANIZED CRIME AND THE NEW BUSINESS OF TERROR: The cover story for the current issues of U.S. News & World Report reports on how Jidahist groups are using organized crime to finance their attacks globally. In a series of three connected articles in the same issue, reporter David E. Kaplan points to hybrid activities of organized crime in support of terrorism that includes drug trafficking, human trafficking, extortion, and murder for hire. He also shows the overlap among smuggling routes used by terrorist and organized crime groups, as well as profiling the boss of India’s major criminal network, and the unique position of the city of Dubai in the Persian Gulf as a crossroads of legal and illegal business. An important piece of journalism for those seeking to better understand the links between terrorism and organized crime. (December 5, 2005 issue). The New Business of Terror: organized crime, where prosecutors must show that the suspects profited by directing three or more people to commit felony acts on their behalf. Extended prison sentences of more than 15 years are possible upon conviction. One of the suspects charged as a leader said during a police interview, “she had 60 or 70 different people bringing her account numbers and checks that were stolen from vehicles and burglaries. She would then alter the checks and call the bank to make sure the accounts were good, and then distribute the checks to four or five people to cash them." Thomas Clouse, “Identity theft probe nets charges against 22; Four suspects facing count of leading organized crime,” Spokane Review, (November 5, 2005).

OVERSIGHT OF NEW YORK’S FULTON FISH MARKET: There are those who sell the fish, those who move the fish, and the peacekeepers from the city's Business Integrity Commission, a three-year-old agency with a mandate to keep organized crime out of the market. Commission agents keep the numerous refrigerated 18-wheeled trucks moving, and make sure everyone at the market is carrying a special identification card. Created in 2001, the commission took on organized-crime-fighting duties, which formerly was handled by several city agencies. In addition to market inspectors, the Commission has four dozen employees who conduct background checks and monitor the business activities of wholesalers with troubled pasts. The Commission is now at the center of a dispute between the market's wholesalers and the unloaders who bring them their wares by forklift. The legal dispute pits the company that has a monopoly on the unloading business, Laro Service Systems, against the market's 40 wholesale fish sellers, backed by the city, who want to do the unloading themselves. The Giuliani administration installed Laro 10 years ago, to replace six unloading companies that it said were mob-influenced. Asserting that organized crime is now gone from the market, the Bloomberg administration would like to allow the fishmongers to do the unloading for greater efficiency. Opponents fear organized crime control of the market will return. Andrew Jacobs, “Dispute Over Who Unloads the Daily Catch Delays a Fish Market's Departure,” The New York Times, (October 31, 2005).

TRENDS IN ORGANIZED CRIME, IASOC’s professional journal, vol. 9, number 1, is coming soon: Dues-paying members of IASOC receive this quarterly journal published by Transaction, in addition to this monthly e-mail newsletter, free listing of expertise on IASOC website, and access to web page news, links, publications, and book reviews. Dues are still $55 for North America and $75 outside North America---the difference to cover journal shipping costs. Dues can be paid on-line via PayPal credit card payment service at www.iasoc.net, or by check or money order. Mailing address: IASOC, P.O. Box 50484, Washington, D.C. 20091.http://www.iasoc.net