NCJ Number
210372
Journal
Global Crime Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2004 Pages: 201-221
Date Published
May 2004
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This paper traces the origin and evolution of organized crime in postsocialist Lithuania and describes its dynamics.
Abstract
Since the late 1980s, Lithuania has seen a dramatic increase in organized crime, with the peak of criminal gangs' power and influence occurring between 1991 and 1993. At that time, nearly 100 organized crime groups were estimated to be operating in the country. Approximately 30 of these groups had international links. This growth in organized crime paralleled the liberalization of state socialism by the legalizing of cooperative and individual property as a basis for economic activities. Organized criminal groups were able to challenge the state by using violence to redistribute state-owned property. Police, judges, and journalists were intimidated by violence and murders. Criminal organizations systematically divided the Nation into spheres of influence, manipulating the legal economy and infiltrating almost every business. By the mid-1990s, the Lithuanian criminal justice system responded by adopting a number of measures to counter organized crime, and in 1993 strict anti-organized crime laws were passed. Three major criminal groups were dismantled by police operations. Although many journalists and politicians believe that organized crime is no longer a significant force in the Nation's life, the authors of this article argue that organized crime groups have merely shifted tactics to become less bold in challenging the economic and social order. Their primary criminal activities are now drug smuggling, prostitution, illegal gambling, and trafficking in human beings. Violence has decreased, and money laundering of illicit profits has become more sophisticated through networks of international criminal operators. 74 notes