International Organized Crime: Recent Developments in Policy and Research - Panel at the 2010 NIJ Conference

• NCJ Number: 234784
• Author(s): John T. Picarelli; Jennifer Shasky; Lisa Holtyn
• Date Published: June 2010
• Length: 10 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Presentation (Multimedia); Issue Overview; Conference Material

Annotation

This audio and its transcript cover panel presentations from the 2010 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Conference that address recent policy and research developments on international organized crime.

Abstract

Jennifer Shasky Calvery - the director of the Attorney General's Organized Crime Council and head of the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center - presents a profile of the contemporary international organized crime networks. They have billions of dollars at their disposal, which are used to pay off leaders of foreign countries. They hire the best accountants, lawyers, and financiers to assist in furthering their criminal enterprises. Money is used to buy into and manipulate economic and strategic affairs. Financial institutions are used to launder money from criminal activities and perpetrate fraud. Public corruption and violence are used to protect their interests. The U.S. Justice Department's efforts to counter the threat of international organized crime are described. The second presentation by Lisa Holtyn - senior intelligence advisor in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the U.S. Justice Department - first describes the various functions and activities of the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. She then outlines the threats from organized crime identified by an interagency intelligence study. Threats identified are organized crime's penetration of nations' leadership, so that the rule of law is selectively applied in the protection of criminal enterprises; the manipulation of global economic markets to favor the investments of criminal networks; the piracy of intellectual property and the marketing of counterfeit products; involvement in cyber crime frauds; the funding of terrorism from the proceeds of organized crime; and the expansion of drug trafficking. This presentation also reports on developments underway to counter these various organized-crime threats. Questions and answers from the session are included.