Where the Mob Keeps the Money

by Roberto Saviano
THE global financial crisis has been a blessing for organized crime. A series of recent scandals have exposed the connection between some of the biggest global banks and the seamy underworld of mobsters, smugglers, drug traffickers and arms dealers.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/opinion/sunday/where-the-mob-keeps-its-money.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

Nowhere to turn: Britain's sex slaves

For women trafficked to the UK and forced into prostitution, escape from their captors is no guaranteee of a happy ending.

prison overcrowding in Italy

Italy has a serious problem with prison overcrowding. Data on suicides and other self-harming behaviours occurring in Italian prisons are worrying. Foreign inmates are a big percentage of prison population, even if often for trivial offences or awaiting trial. This inquiry shows the (terrific) sitaution in the prison of Canton Monbello (Lombardy).

Mexico's Security Initiatives Pass the 'Synthesis Test

News of growing violence and murder in Mexico was callously thrust upon an open world audience of information curiosity back in 2005, when narcoterrorism raised its sinister head on the US border with Mexico.

In what was essentially to become a war against drug gangs and rivals, the death toll that includes Mexican governing officials, police and military, media professionals, and other innocents would incredibly rise to over 50,000 deaths by 2012.

Georgia: Ways to Avoid Cyber Attacks

The FINANCIAL -- The computerization of Georgian society is resulting in an inevitable increase of cyber crime in the country. Specialists predict that there will be a growth of organized crime involved in cybercrime in the near future.



Cyber criminals can mislead consumers and carry out attacks via social networks. The most widespread methods are by creating false profiles of acquaintances and being added as a friend so as to get additional info, as well as sharing false, urgent information to mislead users and infect them with viruses.

People of Interest

interactive map of the drug war in mexico

From the blog of Diego Valle

"Così fan tutti". The 'Ndrangheta in Lombardy

An interesting inquiry on the 'Ndrangheta in Lombardy

Balkans: Organ trafficking investigation begins amid mixed expectations

The investigation into Council of Europe allegations that the Albanian KLA extracted and traded human organs began amid hopes for justice to be served, but many Serbs are doubtful.

The EU Task Force -- led by US prosecutor Clint Williamson -- launched its investigation last week into allegations made by CoE rapporteur Dick Marty's report that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) extracted and traded human organs of Serbian and Albanian civilians

The Rule Of Law In Kosovo: Mission Impossible? – Analysis

EULEX, the European Union’s rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, is unique in both scale and ambition; greater in size than all other EU operations put together.
Mandated to not only assist Kosovo’s own legal institutions in the fair and proper application of the law, EULEX has the power – on paper – to also independently investigate and prosecute serious cases of organised crime, corruption and war crimes.

the dark side of the Internet

A quick journey through the deep web (in Italian)

Negotiating with the Mafia: the origins

A new inquiry on the negotiations between Italian Government and Sicilian Mafia in the early 1990s to avoid attacks against high-profile persons.

Australia: the last frontier of criminal networks

The illegal smuggling and disposal of waste is a global, and widespread phenomenon. From this perspective, Australia represents an interesting case study to identify the forthcoming developments and trends which will be put in practice by main criminal networks. To identify analysis guidelines, it is useful to start by examining some recent cases recorded in the region of New South Wales and in its main city, Sydney.

WEBSITE: Organized Crime Research

This website presents information on organized crime from a social science perspective with a special geographical focus on the U.S. and Germany.

The site was first launched in 1999. The original purpose had been to share with a broader public some of the material collected for a doctoral dissertation on the concept and theory of organized crime in the U.S. The material includes, for example, a collection of organized crime definitions which has been considerably expanded over the years. A number of papers on organized-crime related subjects, including cigarette smuggling, have also consecutively been added and are available for downloading.

A more recent addition is the book-review section which features reviews of books on organized crime and related topics.

This site is bilingual (English and German). Some content, however, is available only in one of these two languages.

The material presented on this website may be used for academic, journalistic and official purposes in accordance with the applicable copyright laws. Please identify the source as 'Klaus von Lampe, Organized Crime Research (kvl-homepage), www.organized-crime.de'.

Basilischi: The Fifth Mafia

Disclaimer: Even though this article has been published in 2008, it is still important to give it publicity given the fact that it explains, in English, the rise and presence of the Fifth Italian Mafia, The Basilischi, a subject area not known or less known even to the experts of the field.

     "There is Cosa Nostra in Sicily, ‘Ndrangheta in Calabria, Camorra in Campania and Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia. A fifth mafia has been added, the Basilischi, in the region of Basilicata (also called by its former name, Lucania)".

Italy's Bloodiest Mafia: The Camorra

An investigation exposing how Italy's most ruthless organised crime syndicate has taken over one of the country's most beautiful cities, killing its citizens and poisoning its water, making massive amounts of money and effectively operating an alternative government.

'Italy's Bloodiest Mafia: The Camorra', documentary by the BBC, on air on the 8th of August on ABC1

Italy's 'Ndrangheta Mafia: A Powerful Ally for the Zetas

The rise of the Zetas as not just a Mexican menace but as a significant power in the international drug trade has been helped along by its growing links to a sprawling Italian mafia group known as the ‘Ndrangheta

The 'Ndrangheta: profile

The 'Ndrangheta, based in Calabria in the far south of Italy, is now believed to be the most powerful of Italy's four mafia organisations.

New drugs: an Italian inquiry

There are important changes in the drug market. This interesting inquiry offers a good overview of changes in the consumers attitude as well as of the new drugs that have entered the market (some of them are so little known that they are not classified as illegal yet). Struggle against drug trafficking will have to meet new challenges.

Global Organised Crime. A lecture.

A lecture by former BBC journalist Misha Glenny on how globalisation and the collapse of communism are jointly responsible for the exponential growth in the global shadow economy since the mid-1980s.