Italy fears for 'vanishing' heritage after arrests over sacking of historic library

Someone is stealing Italy's old books, and probably paintings too...on behalf of the wealthy. There's a surprise.

Fall in UK crime rate baffles experts

Oh No it doesnt. Actually, experts have lots of explanations, starting with just how suspect the statistics have become, because they dont record fraud, retail crime or internet crime adequately. Criminology isn't dead...it just smells that way!

China police bust extortion ring

I have a feeling this blog has already picked this up somewhere really obscure, but if it's reached the irish Times, then it must be worth re-posting!

Iran creates fake blogs in smear campaign against journalists in exile

Something else for your bloggers to lose sleep over. Is this state cyber-terrorism?

Latest issue of Standing Group on Organised Crime Newsletter

Volume 10 Issue 1 is out and can be downloaded from the site linked in the title to this post. New look and a new editorial team as well as a new website. More news will follow

The death of Moscow's Don: Aslan Usoyan gunned down outside his favourite restaurant

Doesnt tell us much about what illegal businesses he was involved in. Makes the point that he was a Kurd, well-connected and one of the last of the old guard.

Corleone does not belong to the Mob

The major of Corleone, Leoluchina Savona, apologized with the families of mafia's victims on 20th anniversary of Riina arrest. Corleone is a small town in the province of Palermo, Sicily, which is moslty known as the birthplace of several Mafia bosses, both fictional and real.

Dognappings: organised gangs behind a surge of dog thefts across the country

If it can be sold, it will be stolen...If it has excise duty on it, it will be smuggled. If it is banned, it will be both. Yet again, police arent interested and dont investigate. Another reason why Torygraph readers are disenchanted with the police?

Who, What, Why: Why do criminals smuggle garlic?

Same old lesson. Bring in a tax and you'll create smugglers, even of garlic!

Three more arrests over phishing scam targeted students

scam targeting student loan scheme. students asked to update bank details and accounts then raided by criminal network

Surge in Belfast violence blamed on resurgent UVF

Oh joy! UVF leaders implicated in the flag riots and prominent activist suggests that the police are Catholics. Down the road of mean steeples we traipse again...

Traders' email messages give frauds away, study shows

new software developed by Ernst and Young together with FBI shows key phrases in rogue traders messages to colleagues. But presumably, you have to exercise surveillance over everyone? privacy issues? good heavens, dont be silly!

The Grime Behind the Crime

George Monbiot...controversial eco-warrior who has days when he thtinks nuclear power is the answer, draw our attention to research that demonstrates an intriguing correlation between lead pollution and violent crime.

'We're happy to help MI5 – but coercing us to spy is unacceptable': British Somalis say intelligence agents asking for too much

Same old, same old. this was going on back in the 60s with students pressurised to spy on lefties. Just go to the Tory party mate. They'll sell their grandmothers just to feel important :-)
NKVD used to do this under Stalin. Stalinism appears to be winning the battle with democracy in a multicultural world...

Police 'not very interested' in stolen $1 million Matisse painting found in Essex

Sort of sums it up, doesnt it..."a million quids worth of stolen property...nah, sonny, we only deal with stuff over £5million. Try the mangel wurzels from the county forces, eh?"

Standing Group on Organised Crime Panels at ECPR Plenary

ECPR General Conference

Bordeaux 5-7 September 2013

Standing Group on Organised Crime Section

We are extremely happy to inform you that a Standing Group section entitled ‘Transnational Organised Crime in a Globalised World’ has been accepted for the ECPR General conference, which will take place in Bordeaux from the 5^th to the 7^th of September 2013. It will be composed of 9 panels on the following topics:

• Transnational organized crime and terrorism
• Transnational organized crime, corruption and State infiltration
• Transnational organized crime and ‘Gangster Politics’
• Organized crime in cyberspace: governing, controlling and exploring cyber crime activities
• Transnational organized crime and Criminal mobility
• Transnational organized crime and Human trafficking
• ‘It’s all about the money’: Exploring the inter- relation between transnational organized crime and the economic crisis
• The internal/ external continuum in transnational organised crime
• Putting OC in place: How situational crime prevention can inform enhanced policy design

We would be delighted to receive any expressions of interest for any of the panels. In order to submit your abstracts, please refer to the ECPR website (www.ecprnet.eu).The deadline for Paper proposals is 1 February 2013.

Best Wishes,

Helena Carrapico (Section Chair/h.carrapico@dundee.ac.uk)

Daniela Irrera (Section co- chair/dirrera@unict.it)

Panel Details:

1. Transnational organized crime and terrorism

Chair: Bill Tupman (w.a.tupman@ex.ac.uk)

Co- chair: Liz Campbell (liz.jane.campbell@gmail.com)

The distinction between terrorism and organised crime has increasingly been blurred by governments and policy makers in order to escape due process in investigation and prosecution, and justify national security approaches, that involve suspending human rights. This panel wishes to look at whether the gloablization of reponses has genuinely reflected globalization in the nature of terrorism and organised crime?

2. Transnational organized crime, corruption and State infiltration

Chair: Anna Sergi (asergi@essex.ac.uk)

Co- Chair:Anita Lavorgna (anita.lavorgna@gmail.com)

This panel looks at an analysis of the links between corruption and organised crime, in particular the way in which organised crime groups exploit state institutions, affect voting processes and move away from violent street crimes, either in traditional crime settings and in new trends of white collar crime.

3. Transnational organized crime and ‘Gangster Politics’

Chair: Panos Kostakos (panos.kostakos@gmail.com)

Co- chair: Petr Kupka (kupka@fss.muni.cz)

Why is it that politicians behave like gangsters and gangsters like politicians? In order to better understand the linkages between organized crime, politics and economics (legitimacy vs. legality), this panel will extrapolate and explore theoretical and behavioral synergies between the licit and illicit worlds.

4. Organized crime in cyberspace: governing, controlling and exploring cyber crime activities

Chair: Helena Carrapico (Helena.carrapico@eui.eu)

Co- chair: Javier Argomaniz (ja51@st-andrews.ac.uk)

Given modern societies’ increased reliance on borderless and decentralized information technologies, cyberspace has been identified as an easy target for actors such as organised criminals, hacktivists or terrorist networks. Such analysis has been accompanied by governmental calls to step up the fight against unlawful online activities, namely through increased cooperation among law enforcement authorities, the approximation of legislations, and public- private partnerships. This panel welcomes papers exploring cyber crime activities and methods, as well as their control by governmental and/ or international actors.

5. Transnational organized crime and Criminal mobility

Chair: Felia Allum (f.s.allum@bath.ac.uk)

Co- chair:Helena Carrapico (Helena.carrapico@eui.eu)

This panel seeks to understand and analyse the different forms of groups, markets and activities involved in criminal mobility. It will seek to analyse the different dynamics and logics behind criminal mobility in order to develop some theoretical and practical considerations as to how to understand it better and fight it more efficiently.

6. Transnational organized crime and Human trafficking

Chair: Jon Spencer (jonathan.w.spencer@manchester.ac.uk)

Co- chair: Laura Requena Espada (laura.requena@uam.es)

The moving of people across borders illegally is organised in different forms, people smuggling, facilitation and trafficking. To understand the dynamics of the illegal movement of people, this panel wishes to explore the different forms of how such crimes are organised and sustained.

7. ‘It’s all about the money’: Exploring the inter- relation between transnational organized crime and the economic crisis

Chair:Yuliya Zabyelina (yuliya.zabyelina@sis.unitn.it)

Co- chair: Benjamin Farrand (Benjamin.farrand@eui.eu)

The global economic crisis has limited the ability of the State to provide for the economic and social well-being of its citizens, particularly as a result of austerity measures. As often happens, where social and economic needs are not fulfilled by legitimate enterprise or State function, organised crime steps in to accommodate these needs. This panels seeks to analyse the impact that the global economic crisis has had on organised crime activities and to explore organised crime groups’ strategies of adaptation to the current economic context.

8. The internal/ external continuum in transnational organised crime

Chair: Francesca Longo (lonfran@unict.it)

Co- Chair: Daniela Irrera (dirrera@unict.it)

The panel aims at investigating the implication of the external dimension of JHA for the European security concept with particular focus on the reliance of the TOC issue in the process of interlinking EU domestic and external security.

9. Putting OC in place: How situational crime prevention can inform enhanced policy design

Chair: Anita Lavorgna (anita.lavorgna@gmail.com)

Co-Chair: Falko Ernst (faerns@essex.ac.uk)

Departing from the local- and sphere-specific constitution of OC-phenomena, we examine how revisited models of situational crime prevention can pertinently inform policy approaches to traditional as well as novel forms of OC.

One of our dinosaurs is missing: The global hunt for prized Tarbosaurus fossil

Independent tells tale of an organised crime group specialising in smuggling dinosaur fossils. Florida bnased dealer allegedly smuggling fossils out of Mongolia via Britain. UK police claiming igmorance...seems reasonable!

China’s ten biggest criminal cases of 2012

From the Qinghai daily News, reported by the Danwei website. They almost certainly arent what we would call the ten biggest criminal cases, but its a step forward for China to allow the media to report these areas, because they demonstrate the existence of negative aspects to China's society. Mostly though, crimes that would be recognised as such in the rest of the world.