NCJ Number
190049
Journal
Transnational Organized Crime Volume: 4 Issue: 2 Dated: Summer 1998 Pages: 1-207
Editor(s)
Phil Williams
Date Published
1998
Length
207 pages
Annotation
Six articles discuss various topics related to the nature of and countermeasures for the activities and networks of transnational organized crime.
Abstract
The first article discussed how corruption among public officials and crony capitalism were fueling the increase of transnational crime in the Asia-Pacific region of the world. This article argued that corruption, in its various forms, not only facilitated transnational criminal activities, but also had a significant impact on good governance and the stability of states. The second article challenged the traditional belief that transnational organized crime was a relatively new and emerging byproduct of post-Cold War trends. This was done by examining four case studies of drug smuggling networks that operated immediately before and after the passage of the 1914 Harrison Narcotic Act in the United States. The case studies were drawn from drug trafficking manifestations at the international border between the Mexican State of Baja California and the American State of California. The third article identified phases in the evolution of the drug cartel, from a highly centralized organization, to a decentralized network, to a potential (not yet fully realized) "criminal state successor." The fourth article provided an overview of the paradoxical, double-edged, and even interdependent relationship between the business of smuggling and the business of trying to thwart it. The fifth article examined the growing illicit trade in art, antiquities, and cultural property and suggested ways that governments and private art enterprises can counter this illicit trade. Finally, the sixth article provided a chronology of killings and attempted killings that had involved Russian victims both in Russia and in other countries, so as to provide some indication of the targets and activities of organized crime based in Russia and former States of the Soviet Union. Notes and tables accompany the articles.