“World” Editorial Department. The mafia phenomenon, born out of the expansion of democracy and capitalism, continues to grow in the era of globalization. As a major threat to collective security, transnational organized crime has itself become a force. Driven by criminal activities, Mafia organizations invest more and more in the field of legal savings every year, and the main criminal activity is still drug trading. And the states, as our “Mafia Geopolitics” series showed every Saturday in the summer, are fighting this phenomenon while maintaining it.
In Mexico, the financial strike force of fifteen drug cartels was used to shape the political arena. Mexican criminals have vast means. Almost no election can escape their influence. The country is infiltrated. In some areas, we can even talk about joint governance between the state and cartels.
Fusion relationship
In the Balkans, criminals in Albania, Serbia or Montenegro have changed from ordinary thugs to major participants in international organized crime in the thirty years since the fall of communism. The problem here is also a close relationship with the country. In Serbia and Montenegro, criminal activities are carefully planned with the co-conspiracy of secret agencies and the cooperation of political power.
This kind of fusion relationship between the state and the Mafia is also found in other countries. In these countries, the totalitarian system, especially the communist system, has not been dominant until recently.This is the case in Russia and other countries in the former Soviet Union, where Warri v rooted (Thief Law) is getting stronger and stronger. The criminal organization born in the Gulag has long extended its wings far away from the cradle of white people in order to conquer the world.
On the contrary, in Hong Kong, since the return of Hong Kong to Beijing, democracy has regressed, and triad societies have also operated with the Chinese government. As an indispensable part of Hong Kong society, the Mafia has adapted to regime change and prosperity since the colonial era.
A new type of crime
In Italy, the motherland’s Mafia Literally, it has been a long time since criminals have begun to conquer the world. Following Europe, the United States and South America, their goal now is to expand their influence in Asia and Africa. Calabrian’Ndrangheta is now the most powerful mafia in Italy and is considered the most dangerous organized crime organization in the world.
Driven by the internationalization of trade, the Mafia invests more and more legal savings every day. The creation of virtual currencies also facilitates money laundering, and some organizations now prefer Bitcoin to cash. Moreover, as explained in the last episode of our series, virtual currency is now also the origin of a new type of crime, which cannot be compared with the Mafia, but it is also shaking the economy: l Global extortion.
As the Italian writer Roberto Saviano has long pointed out, or this week The world Russia’s opponent, Alexeï Navalny, stated that now is the time for countries to respond positively to the development of corruption and the control of organized crime at the international level.
Find all episodes of the “Mafia Geopolitics” series here.