Introduction

1. Criminal activity that transcends national borders is one consequence of the globalization of the world economy. The array of modern telecommunications, banking, travel and financial systems which now span the globe has given criminal elements the tools to move people, money and goods across national borders with much greater ease than in the past. As a result, today's international criminal organizations are adaptable, sophisticated, extremely opportunistic, and immersed in a full range of illegal and legal activities.

2. While still involved at the lower level with drug trafficking, prostitution, loan-sharking, illegal gambling and extortion, they have expanded their activities to a corporate level where they are active in migrant smuggling, bank fraud, gasoline tax fraud, the depletion of natural resources, environmental crime, corruption and large-scale insurance fraud. In addition, their frequent use of money earned from their illegal ventures to fund legitimate ones allows them to launder “dirty” money and earn even more profits. They also apply many of their criminal tactics in these legal business operations, using violence or murder to get ahead. Transnational criminal syndicates are not afraid to work globally in any country where legal or bureaucratic loopholes allow them to take advantage of the system. As with international corporations, these organizations are quite willing to work together, often bartering for the use of each other’s unique talents to accomplish specific tasks, or to make longer-term arrangements when it suits their needs.

3. At their Summit in Birmingham, England in 1998, the G-8 leaders identified transnational criminal activity as one of the three major challenges facing the world in the 21^st century. The leaders vowed to continue the fight against this worldwide problem which, they declared, threatens “to sap (economic) growth, undermine the rule of law and damage the lives of individuals in all countries of the world.” The G-8 Lyon Group, which was formed in 1996 after Canada raised the issue of international crime at the 1995 Halifax Summit, is an international working group dedicated to mobilizing the full resources and influence of G8 countries to combat the threat of transnational organized crime. Additionally, the United Nations (UN) has made the issue of organized crime one of its priorities for the 21^st century and is currently working to complete a Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

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Discussion

The Threat

4. As a threat to national security, transnational criminal activity can impact on both weak states and those which are stronger and more advanced. International criminal syndicates can affect the economic security of advanced industrialized states in that their basic activities of corruption, extortion, fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, price fixing, abusing immigration regulations and other criminal undertakings can seriously undermine the workings of the free market economy and have a negative impact on the integrity of government institutions such as immigration programs. In the case of less advanced nations with weak structures and/or tenuous legitimacy, the power wielded by transnational criminal organizations can even rival that of the state.

5. In any nation where transnational criminal groups are extremely powerful, even though the state may have nominal control over its sovereignty, the reality is that criminal syndicates are likely holding the reins. This has security implications not only for the country itself, but also, given the borderless nature of crime in today’s world, for the neighbours of any such criminalized state.⁽¹⁾ Unchecked transnational criminal activity can challenge a nation's sovereignty in other ways. Other nations may adopt measures designed to protect their country and citizens from transnational crime which may have extra-territorial consequences. For example, when the effectiveness of one country’s immigration laws has been weakened, either through the corruption of its immigration officials, or through the exploitation of any legislative loopholes in immigration laws, other nations may impose visa restrictions on citizens of that country as a protective measure. Furthermore, large-scale money laundering can cause a country’s banks and financial institutions to be bypassed and can make foreign investment unattractive.

6. Given that transnational crime groups do not consider international borders as impediments, they are not only a threat to the nations where they are based, but threaten any society where they conduct their activities. At a local / community level, the activities of these organizations pose threats in that they often give rise to a variety of social problems, such as drug abuse and violence, leading to increased health care, social program and law enforcement costs. However, since the majority of illegal activity takes place “underground”, and is therefore difficult for law enforcement to detect, actual numbers are unavailable.

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Transnational Criminal Activity “Hot Spots”

7. Transnational criminal activity, by its very nature, affects almost every area of the world, but some are more strongly affected by it than others. These areas include: Russia /Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. Crime groups from or operating in these areas are highly organized, operate globally and have the resources to divide different parts of the world amongst themselves for their specific criminal activities.

Russia / Eastern Europe

8. Due to the multitude of meanings given to the words “organized crime” by the Russian government, the media and the public, it is difficult to determine exactly what qualifies as organized crime—making it equally difficult to accurately quantify the problem.⁽²⁾ While estimates vary widely, it is generally accepted, in available literature, that 5,000 to 8,000 criminal organizations with as many as 100,000 members⁽³⁾ control between 25 and 40 per cent of Russia’s gross national product (GNP). The Russian Interior Ministry (MVD) estimates that criminal organizations control 40 per cent of private businesses, 60 per cent of state-owned enterprises and between 50 and 80 per cent of banks in Russia. The MVD believes the annual black market revenues of these groups to be more than $18 billion.⁽⁴⁾ Approximately 300 Russian and Eastern European organized crime groups are said to operate transnationally in various areas. Four key areas form the foundation of their global criminal power: narcotics trafficking, illegal arms dealing, money laundering and the export of Russian natural resources such as oil, minerals and precious metals.⁽⁵⁾

Western Europe

9. Although recent media hype regarding transnational organized crime has largely ignored Western Europe, one of the world’s oldest and most famous “brands” of international crime operates in the region: the Italian Mafia. While primarily involved in drug trafficking (largely heroin) and money laundering, Mafia groups are also active in the areas of extortion, weapons and diamond smuggling, and illegal disposal of radioactive waste.⁽⁶⁾ Italian Mafia groups, particularly the Sicilian Mafia, are active in Canada. According to Italian authorities, several of their most wanted Mafia members have found refuge in Canada, the US and South America.⁽⁷⁾

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Asia (Triads, Big Circle Boys, Yakuza, and Vietnamese gangs)

10. The Chinese Triads, the Big Circle Boys, and the Japanese Yakuza are among the most prominent types of groups involved in Asian-based transnational crime. Today’s triads, most of which are based in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, are not monolithic organizations with a strict hierarchical structure like other transnational crime groups, such as the Italian Mafia.⁽⁸⁾ Instead, they are collectives of individual groups which normally operate independently, yet will often cooperate with each other. The triads are involved in a variety of illegal activities, all of which are very lucrative. These include: drug trafficking; money laundering; corruption; computer software piracy; credit card forgery and fraud; counterfeit identification and currency operations; and migrant smuggling.⁽⁹⁾ The world’s largest triad is the Hong Kong-based Sun Yee On, with anywhere from 47,000 to 60,000 members carrying out activities worldwide. The second largest, the 14K triad, has an estimated membership of more than 20,000 operating internationally.

11. Another Chinese transnational crime syndicate of interest is the Big Circle Boys (Dai Huen Jai or BCB). This is less a single, centrally led organization than a loosely affiliated group of gangs operating independently and cooperating only when needed. Several BCB cells often operate in the same large city. While the BCB organization is not a triad, its operations are nearly as sophisticated as those of the triads. BCB members are active in drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and large-scale credit card forgery and fraud.⁽¹⁰⁾ Vietnamese gangs are also a concern. These gangs, known for their extreme violence, engage in illegal activities ranging from property crime, drug trafficking, and cigarette smuggling to high technology theft, financial fraud and other white collar crime. Vietnamese gangs have an established presence in Asia, Eastern Europe, Australia and North America.

12. The Japanese Yakuza (also known as the Boryokudan) groups are similar to the triads in that they have a long criminal history dating back at least to the 18^th century. Unlike most transnational criminal organizations, however, Yakuza syndicates are relatively open criminal societies, some of whose members have been known to have their own business cards, complete with Yakuza emblem. Some organizations have even published newsletters and magazines. Estimates of Yakuza membership in Japan run as high as 80,000. Their worldwide activities include the drugs and arms trades, money-laundering, the penetration of legal business enterprises and inflating land prices. The Yamaguchi-gumi, based in Kobe, is the largest Yakuza organization with an estimated 26,000 members in more than 944 affiliated gangs. Its estimated revenue in 1994 was in the range of US $25 billion to US $38 billion.⁽¹¹⁾ However, there is little evidence of Yakuza existence in Canada.

Africa (Nigeria and South Africa)

13. Given the political / economic instability and the rampant corruption⁽¹²⁾ found in Nigeria, it is no surprise that transnational crime has found a home there. For instance, Nigerian transnational crime groups are known in many areas of the world for their advance fee frauds, which are also known as “419 scams”—named for the article of the Nigerian criminal code that covers such operations. This operation involves duping an unsuspecting individual in another country into sending an amount of money by promising that a much larger sum will come their way after the completion of administrative necessities. Disguising their fraud as a business endeavour, Nigerian organized crime groups have been known to effectively target elderly people in the West who often have no recourse if they give up their life savings. Nigeria also acts as a base of operations for large trafficking groups which smuggle Southeast and Southwest Asian heroin into the United States and Europe.

14. In South Africa, international organized criminal activity takes two forms—groups which are native to the country and groups based in other areas of the world but active in South Africa. The ranks of some South African based groups include former members of the apartheid security forces who are involved in weapons smuggling, drug trafficking and prostitution rings. The Russian mafiya, Chinese triads and Nigerian groups are also active in South Africa, where in addition to being involved in the more common transnational crimes, they also engage in diamond smuggling and trafficking / smuggling of endangered species (or products made from them).

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Latin America / Caribbean

15. When it comes to transnational crime, Colombia and cocaine trafficking are inextricably linked. The bulk of the world’s coca leaf production occurs in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. However, according to the World Drug Report, published in 1998 by the UN, it is Colombia that manufactures some 70-80 per cent of the world’s refined cocaine. In the past, two main cartels—Cali and Medellin—dominated the cocaine trafficking business in Colombia, but after law enforcement crackdowns broke their hold in the mid-1990s, a decentralization of the industry occurred. For instance, the World Drug Report indicates that Mexican cartels have since become more prominent.

16. The tri-border region of South America (Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay) has been described as “a magnet for organized crime”, a “danger to the entire continent” and “a free zone for significant criminal activity”. Although it does not appear that the region is home to any major ethnic-based groups of its own, Asian-based organized criminal groups, such as the Big Circle Boys, are very active there. Crime groups from Colombia and Lebanon also operate in the area. Money laundering is another prominent activity. For example, Brazilian police have investigated bankers who reportedly laundered at least US $7 billion in the region.

17. International banking centres (IBCs) are renowned as tax-havens and often operate under strict bank secrecy rules, confidentiality laws and lax reporting regulations which often inhibit both domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies in properly investigating transnational financial crimes. Many of these IBCs are located in the Caribbean and the South Pacific Islands and are prime targets for transnational criminal groups to launder money. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), funds in worldwide offshore accounts grew from US $3.5 trillion in 1992 to between US $8 trillion and US $10 trillion today.⁽¹³⁾

North America (La Cosa Nostra and outlaw motorcycle gangs)

18. North America either acts as a base of operations or a sphere of activity for all of the transnational criminal organizations mentioned above. In addition to these groups, there are two other types of criminal organizations worthy of mention: La Cosa Nostra and outlaw motorcycle gangs.⁽¹⁴⁾

19. Generally speaking, La Cosa Nostra is the American offshoot of Italian-based organized crime. This group of Italian Mafia families has its beginnings in the United States’ Prohibition era when liquor trafficking made fortunes for those willing to break the law. There are 25 La Cosa Nostra families, with five of the most influential headquartering their operations in New York City. La Cosa Nostra organizations are involved in criminal activity in most major cities in the United States. Their activities include drug trafficking, illegal gambling, arms trafficking, prostitution, extortion, skimming public and private works contracts, usury and infiltration of legitimate business activities (such as construction, food retailing and influencing unions). La Cosa Nostra groups often work with their Italian-based brethren who conduct operations in the United States, although they occasionally compete with them as well.⁽¹⁵⁾

20. The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, with its headquarters in Oakland, California, is the world’s largest outlaw motorcycle gang. It has 180 chapters located around the world, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, numerous European countries, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Brazil. According to the RCMP, the Angels are involved in a variety of criminal enterprises, including drug trafficking, prostitution and money laundering. With 18 Canadian chapters and some 200 members across Canada, they exercise enormous criminal clout.

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Emerging Trends in Transnational Crime

21. Cybercrime has already emerged as a proven weapon in the arsenal of transnational criminal organizations and it is expected to play a bigger role in years to come. The growth and interconnection of global computerized financial networks has allowed these organizations to launder the profits of their illegal ventures quickly and easily through transactions that are instantaneous and difficult to trace. It is also believed that transnational criminal organizations have, or soon will have, the capability to use computers for a multitude of other illegal activities, for instance, “hacking” or “cracking” into the computer systems of corporations, accessing valuable information and then extorting the corporation by threatening to manipulate, deny access to or destroy the data.⁽¹⁶⁾

22. Legitimization is another trend among transnational criminals. Some are attempting to distance themselves from the illegal aspects of their operations by involving themselves in legitimate business ventures—which are funded by the almost bottomless profits acquired through their criminal activities. Others seek civic legitimacy by making donations to community hospitals, charities, universities and political parties.⁽¹⁷⁾

23. Cooperation among transnational criminal organizations, already a major factor in the new world order of crime, is expected to continue and expand. Partnerships, bartering arrangements and alliances, either short or long term, allow these syndicates to better evade law enforcement agencies, to share existing infrastructure and to improve risk management.

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Conclusions

• Transnational criminal organizations will continue to expand their influence - moving away from their centres of origins, spreading around the globe and insinuating themselves into the world’s economy.

• Weaker, developing countries are more susceptible to the threats posed by transnational crime groups. Stronger countries are also vulnerable and as such, transnational criminal organizations will continue to expand into Canada.

• Efforts are being made to curb the growth of transnational criminal activity in Canada through policy and legislative remediation. The effort is national in scope, with contributions coming from federal, provincial and municipal levels of government and from the private sector.

• New legislation such as Bill C-22: An Act to Facilitate Combatting the Laundering of Proceeds of Crime and to Establish the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) will create a financial intelligence unit that monitors suspicious transaction activity and cross-border currency movements. There are also proposed changes to immigration laws with Bill C-31: Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. These changes, combined with Canada’s participation at an international level, are positive steps in the fight against transnational organized crime.

• Law enforcement agencies in Canada have the lead role in the fight against transnational crime. They collect tactical intelligence, which leads to arrests and prosecutions, as well as strategic intelligence that provides a comprehensive view of a threat environment, assesses the extent of the threat and points out areas at risk. To this end, they cooperate with other police agencies in Canada, as well as international police agencies, through the sharing of evidence, legal instruments and the ability to seize assets acquired with the proceeds of crime.

• Due to the pervasive nature of transnational organized crime, law enforcement efforts alone are not sufficient. Global strategies are needed to stem its growth. In addition to the collection of strategic intelligence in Canada, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service participates in broader Government of Canada efforts at the international level. Organizations, like the G-8 Lyon Group, whose mandate is to combat the threat of transnational crime are an effective forum for dealing with common strategies. As well, Canada is currently involved in the United Nations Transnational Organised Crime Convention and its three protocols against Migrant Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Firearms.

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Canadian Concerns

24. Although reports vary, it appears that there are anywhere from five to 18 active transnational criminal organizations represented in Canada. This includes Asian triads, Colombian cartels, Italian Mafia groups, the most influential being the Sicilian Mafia, Russian/Eastern European mafiyas, Nigerian crime groups and major outlaw motorcycle gangs.⁽¹⁸⁾

25. Transnational crime poses a serious threat to Canada’s economic security. Criminal activities such as large-scale money laundering and fraud can make it more difficult for legitimate businesses to succeed. Furthermore, these activities can have a destabilizing effect on investment, tax revenues, international reputation, and consumer confidence. Canadian companies operating and investing abroad may unwittingly become involved in businesses with links to organized crime and may run the risk of losing their investments. This can negatively impact on both the domestic Canadian economy and on Canada’s international trade.

26. The illegal actions of transnational crime organizations threaten law and order, directly affecting people’s sense of security, trust and community. The growth of transnational crime has forced government to spend more of its budgets on enforcement. Adding to the increased enforcement expenditures and the burden on the criminal justice system is the fact these activities often result in social costs with long-term effects, e.g. drug dependency and a rise in violent crime. Additionally, attempts at corrupting public officials, and the exploitation of government programs such as the immigration system, jeopardize the integrity of these programs and institutions. Annex 1 discusses five areas of transnational crime affecting Canada.

Annex 1

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Five Types of Transnational Criminal Activity Affecting Canada

Economic Crime – One of the most potent examples of how transnational criminal activity has the capacity to affect Canada’s economic security came to light in May 1998, when the FBI seized financial documents in a raid at the head office of YBM Magnex Inc. in Newton, Pennsylvania. YBM was suspected of having ties to Russian organized crime and of money laundering. The Canadian arm of the company, YBM Magnex International Inc., was very popular on the Toronto Stock Exchange’s 300 composite index. It had amassed a market capitalization of almost $1-billion until trading was halted following the American seizures. This incident shows there is a legitimate concern that Canadian stock markets have the potential to be used in order to develop holding companies or shell companies to aid organized criminal elements in laundering their ill-gotten gains.⁽¹⁹⁾

Environmental Crime – There are two main areas of concern in Canada: illicit trade in ozone depleting substances (ODS) and illicit hazardous waste treatment and disposal. With respect to ODS, Canada purportedly supplies a substantial portion of the US black market in chlorofluorocarbons.⁽²⁰⁾ The treatment and disposal of hazardous waste is highly profitable and the existence of organized crime in this industry is internationally recognized. While there has been little research done in Canada, the Auditor General has concluded there are incentives for illegal trade in hazardous waste within the Canadian legislative system and it is likely that organized crime is involved in the Canadian industry.⁽²¹⁾

Illicit Drug Trade – Estimates of the size of the global illicit drug market range between US $350 billion and US $400 billion and estimates for the Canadian illicit drug market are between $7 billion and $10 billion annually.⁽²²⁾ The cost to Canadian society that comes with this level of drug trade is great. Increased costs to health care, social services, and law enforcement can shift resources and priorities for government spending. For example, in the 2000 budget, the Government of Canada increased the RCMP budget expressly to fight organized crime. Additionally, a large illicit drug market can affect foreign relations with the US and others who view Canada as a source country for drugs like cannabis or a transit country for heroin.

Illegal migration – Increasingly, human smuggling involves organized transnational criminal networks whose sophisticated methods are making detection and apprehension more and more difficult. The UN estimates that, of the 125 million displaced migrants throughout the world, 15 million were transported by illegal migrant-smuggling syndicates. In addition to economic concerns, illegal migration has serious implications for Canadian immigration and visa processes. The exploitation of Canada’s immigration system undermines its ability to operate and undermines the confidence Canadians have in government programs.

Money Laundering – The IMF estimates the present scale of global money laundering transactions to be 2 to 5 percent of global GDP and that the impact of money laundering is large enough that it must be taken into account by macroeconomic policy makers.⁽²³⁾ When using the IMF formula, it can be estimated that $5 billion to $17 billion is laundered in Canada every year. Canada is one of 48 countries designated as a ’primary concern’ for money laundering on the US State Department’s 2000 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. Money laundering is a key activity of organized crime groups. Without the ability to launder their illegally earned money, these groups would not likely survive.

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Endnotes

1. For a more in-depth analysis of threats to localized / individual, national and international security, please see the journal article, “Transnational Criminal Organizations and International Security”, which is noted in the “Bibliography” section of this paper.

2. There are a variety of reasons why any statistics coming from Russia regarding the phenomenon of organized crime should be viewed with care. For instance, the former head of the State Statistics committee, his deputy and the director of the committee’s computer centre were charged with “large-scale fraud committed by a group” in 1998. (“Former head of State Statistics Committee gave Skuratov his solemn word”, The Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press, vol. 50 no. 24, p. 12)

3. The ranks of the Russian mafiya include a large number of former KGB (former Russian foreign intelligence agency) and GRU (Russian military intelligence) employees. Their contribution includes professional knowledge and experience, networks of informers and agents, and close ties to their former employers. (From A Criminal Tango, by Slawomir Popwski, printed in the Warsaw Rzeczpospolita, March 10, 1999.)

4. The Merger: How Organized Crime is Taking Over Canada and the World, Jeffrey Robinson, McClelland Stewart Inc., 1999, p.7

5. Jane’s Intelligence Review, Special Report No. 10, “Mafiya: Organized crime in Russia”, June 1996.

6. Global Mafia, Antonio Nicaso and Lee Lamothe, Macmillan Canada, 1995 pp. 50-72

7. Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, 1999 Annual Report on Organized Crime in Canada, p. 13

8. “Best Practice in Intelligence Management with Respect to Chinese Organized Crime”, Trends in Organized Crime, published by Transaction Periodicals Consortium at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

9. Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, 1997 Annual Report on Organized Crime (Internet edition), p. 8 of 31 and “Asian Organized Crime in Canada,” Kenneth Yates, 17^th Annual International Conference on Asian Organized Crime, 1995, p. 160.

10. Dragons of Crime, James Dubro, Octopus Publishing Group, Markham Ontario, 1992, p. 240-241

11. Organized Crime in Japan - the Boryokudan, by Robert Mcdougall, Case Manager Branch, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, National Headquarters April 1994, Government of Canada, Unclassified See also: Yakuza Diary, Christopher Seymour, Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, N.Y., 1996, p.26.

12. A “corruption-perception” index released in 1999 by “Transparency International”, a Berlin-based, non-profit group, indicates that Nigeria is one of the world’s most corrupt nations. This index measures the impact of government corruption on national development.

13. SOURCES Global Briefings, Issue 181, 2000 04 19, p.7.

14. For an overview of outlaw motorcycle gangs and, more specifically, the Hells Angels, see the Gazette: A Royal Canadian Mounted Police Publication, vol. 60, nos. 9 10, September / October 1998.

15. World Drug Report, United Nations Drug Control Programme, 1998, p. 132

16. The term “hacker” previously was used to describe a person with the knowledge and capability to manipulate software applications at the code level, and the term had positive connotations. The term “cracker”, which originated in the engineering/security community, is used to describe a person who has the same skills as a hacker but uses them with malicious intent. The Service uses the term “hacker” to describe any person engaging in any type of unauthorized computer activity with malicious intent.

17. Some Canadian politicians have been targets of these tactics. Four Members of Parliament (MPs) received a total $33,000 from a businessman with direct ties to Russian transnational crime. When the source of the donation was discovered, the MPs tried to return it. However the businessman was deceased. (From Timothy Appleby and Keith McArthur; “Election ’97: Tainted Money Sticks to Grits: Officials Try to Unload Mob-Linked Donations”, The Globe and Mail, 24 May 1997, p. A1; also Canadian Press, “Returning mob-tainted money has Liberal lawyer at wit’s end,” The Edmonton Journal, 5 July 1997.)

18. This varies according to the source of the information. In its 1998 annual report on organized crime, the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada makes note of five types of ethnic-based organized criminal groups active in Canada. The Ottawa Citizen, in an article featuring an interview with organized crime expert Antonio Nicaso, has reported as many as 18. (“Canada makes it easy for the Mob”, Ottawa Citizen, 8 June 1998)

19. “YBM linked to Russian mob,” Financial Post, 20 May 1998

20. Organized Crime Impact Study: Highlights, Samuel Porteous for the Solicitor General of Canada, 1998, p.6

21. Organized Crime Impact Study: Highlights, pp. 6-7. Also from the report: “According to a 1990 study the estimated health care and loss of life associated with one tonne of improperly treated or handled hazardous waste on Canadian soil averages out to approximately $9,000 per tonne and amounts to several billion dollars per year. These estimates do not include clean-up costs.” (p.7)

22. The World Geopolitics of Drugs: 1998-99, Geopolitical Drug Watch, April 2000, p.18.

23. Money Laundering: The Importance of International Countermeasures, Address by Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of the IMF, 1998 02 10, p.1.

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Selected Sources

A Criminal Tango, by Slawomir Popwski, printed in the Warsaw Rzeczpospolita, March 10, 1999.

Dragons of Crime: Inside the Asian Underworld, James Dubro, Octopus Publishing Group, Markham, Ont., 1992.

Gazette: A Royal Canadian Mounted Police Publication, vol. 60, nos. 9 10, September / October 1998.

Global Mafia: The New World Order of Organized Crime, Antonio Nicaso and Lee Lamothe, Macmillan Canada, 1995.

IASOC Criminal Organizations, The Office of International Criminal Justice’s (Internet Editions found at: http://www.acsp.uic.edu/iasoc)

Jane’s Intelligence Review, Special Report No. 10, “Mafiya: Organized crime in Russia”, June 1996.

Los Angeles Times, “Jungle Hub for World’s Outlaws”, 1998 09 24.

Major Issues Relating to Organized Crime: within the Context of Economic Relationships, Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption, Margaret E. Beare and R.T. Naylor, April 14, 1999.

The Merger: How Organized Crime is Taking Over Canada and the World, Jeffrey Robinson, McClelland Stewart Inc., 1999.

Money Laundering, by Phil Williams (vol.10, no. 4)

Defining the Context of Organized Crime in Africa, by Gary Potter and Bankole Thompson (vol. 11, no. 12)

Counting the “Mafia” in the Former Soviet Union, by Joseph D. Serio (vol. 11, no. 12)

Money Laundering: The Importance of International Countermeasures, Address by Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of the IMF, 1998 02 10

Organized Crime Impact Study: Highlights, Samuel Porteous for the Solicitor General of Canada, 1998.

“Transnational Criminal Organizations and International Security,” by Phil Williams, published in Survival: The IISS Quarterly, International Institute for Strategic Studies, vol. 36, no. 1, Spring 1994, pp. 96-113 (Williams is Director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Ridgway Centre for International Security Studies. He is also the Editor of the journal Transnational Organized Crime.)

Transnational Organized Crime, A Frank Cass Journal

Summer 1997, vol. 3, no. 2 (particularly “State Responses to Organized Crime in South Africa”)

Autumn 1997, vol. 3, no. 3

Trends in Organized Crime, published by Transaction Periodicals Consortium at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (with the National Strategy Information Centre).

Winter 1997, vol. 3, no. 2

Spring 1998, vol. 3, no. 3

Summer 1998, vol. 3, no. 3

Fall 1998, vol. 3, no. 3

United Nations Crime Congress Concludes in Vienna by Adopting its Report, Press Release, April 17, 2000.

World Drug Report, United Nations Drug Control Programme, 1998.

The World Geopolitics of Drugs: 1998-99, Geopolitical Drug Watch, April 2000.

Yakuza Diary : Doing time in the Japanese underworld, by Christopher Seymour, Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, NY, 1996