(3) globalisation & transnational organised crime

What is the difference between “organisational” and “organised” crime?

“organisational crime” = corporate crime

UK’s National Crime Agency defines “organised crime” as “serious crime planned, coordinated + conducted by people working together on a continuing basis”

What is the popular image of organised crime groups (OCGs) and how is it outdated?

• informed by Hollywood blockbusters eg. The Godfather

• Italian mafia groups eg. La Cosa Nostra: tightly structured, hierarchical + based on family/ethnic ties

• increasingly dated image

• Europol (police support organisation): 30-40% of OCGs operating on international level today feature loose network structures + members who don’t share ethnic origins; approx. 20% of these networks only exist for short periods & are set up to support specific criminal ventures

What are organised crime groups known as?

OCGs

What is transnational organised crime known as?

TOC

What is transnational organised crime?

organised crime coordinated across national borders, involving networks of individuals working in dif. countries to execute crime

What has recognition of the growing problem of transnational organised crime led to?

• 1997 establishment of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

• UNODC estimated that in 2009, TOC generated $870 mil. of revenue (1.5% of global GDP)

What are the main types of transnational organised crime?

• drug trafficking (particularly of heroin + cocaine which accounts for over 1/3 of the total annual value of TOC)

• human trafficking for sexual-/labour-based exploitation

• smuggling of migrants (from Latin American —> North America, Africa —> Western Europe etc.)

• illegal trading in firearms

• trafficking in natural resources eg. diamonds

• illegal trading in wildlife eg. rhino horns

• supply of fraudulent medicines

• cybercrime eg. phishing, hacking, identity theft

What did Brittain-Caitlin (2005) call transnational organised crime?

“dark side of globalisation”

Who called transnational organised crime the “dark side of globalisation”?

Brittain-Caitlin (2005)

What features of globalisation enable transnational organised crime?

• development of cheaper + faster international transport

• deregulation of financial sector facilitating money-laundering

• explosion in computer + electronic communications

• collapse of the Iron Curtain allowing OCGs in former Soviet Union the opportunity to move into new territories

• growth of tax havens/ “secrecy jurisdictions” which aren’t worried about where money passing through them comes from

• growth of world trade

What is the “Global Laundromat”?

• recent example of transnational organised crime

• suggests that weak oversight of suspicious financial flows allowed nearly $740 mil. of suspect Russian funds to be laundered through UK high street banks + foreign banks with offices in London, between 2010-2014

• investigation led by Latvian + Moldovan police uncovered conspiracy

• money was sent from suspected Russian criminals —> accounts held in Latvian/ Moldovan banks —> anonymously owned shell companies, most registered in London

• HSBC processed over $500 mil. in Laundromat cash & virtually all major UK banks were implicated to some degree

• The Guardian contacted these banks & all insisted that they had strict anti-money-laundering policies as required by Financial Conduct Authority

• however, international financial investigator L Burke Files interviewed by The Guardian said that compliance checks at many western banks were half-hearted

Which studies suggest that organised crime is not a multinational or global system in the UK?

• Hobbs + Dunningham (1998) conducted ethnographic study of organised crime in Britain

• supports idea that organised crime increasingly involves individuals, coming together in loose-knit networks, who treat their criminal career like they would a business career ~ constantly on lookout for new business opportunities & often mix legitimate + illegitimate enterprises

• carried out research in economically depressed post-industrial town & found no ev. that there was any large criminal organisation in the area ~ instead individuals with extensive criminal contacts acted as “hubs” connecting diverse activities of loose groupings of criminals

• Hobbs + Dunningham: criminal activities are rooted in local contexts as criminals develop careers (esp. initially) in local areas & rely on networks of contacts to find money-making opportunities

• some may eventually become involved in wider networks eg. drug smuggling ~ they may emigrate but generally retain strong local links

What did Hobbs + Dunningham (1998) call organised crime in the UK?

a “glocal” system

Who calls organised crime in the UK a “glocal” system?

Hobbs + Dunningham (1998)

Which organisation estimated that around 5,300 OCGs were operating in the UK in 2013?

National Crime Agency

What did the National Crime Agency find about OCGs in the UK?

estimated that around 5,300 were operating in 2013

Who agrees with Hobbs + Dunningham (1998) that organised crime groups in the UK are predominantly local?

Wall + Christyakova

What do Wall and Christyakova argue about the locality of organised crime groups in the UK?

• OCGs are shifting towards “less risky + less violent […] market niches where detection is more difficult”

• their research showed that fraud, drug trafficking, counterfeiting, + tobacco smuggling = largest organised illegal markets in UK

What is the National Crime Agency?

established in 2013 to tackle serious organised crime in the UK

KEY TERM

either the transportation and dealing of illegal products or the transportation and dealing of legal products illegally required

trafficking

KEY TERM

the sending of emails from supposedly reputable companies asking the recipients to reveal personal details such as passwords

phishing

KEY TERM

gaining unauthorised access to data in a system or computer

hacking

KEY TERM

the crime of moving money that has been obtained illegally through banks and other businesses to make it seem as if the money has been obtained legally

money laundering

KEY TERM

the name coined by Churchill for the boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of WW1 until the end of the Cold War

iron curtain

KEY TERM

companies set up purely for purposes such as tax avoidance or evasion

shell companies