Volume 13 - Issue 73
/ January 2024
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2024.73.01.7
How to Cite:
Nekoz, A., Vasyliuk, A., Danylevska, Y., Beseda, D., & Hrynkiv, O. (2024). Organized crime in the global context: emerging
threats and effective responses. Amazonia Investiga, 13(73), 87-99. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2024.73.01.7
Organized crime in the global context: emerging threats and effective
responses
Організована злочинність у глобальному контексті: актуальні загрози та ефективні відповіді
Received: November 27, 2023 Accepted: January 28, 2024
Written by:
Andrii Nekoz1
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1349-3967
Anatolii Vasyliuk2
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1991-2179
Yuliia Danylevska3
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1893-8473
Dmytro Beseda4
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0628-2605
Oleksandra Hrynkiv5
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1002-7955
Abstract
The research paper outlines several issues related
to the impact that the organized crime nowadays
has on global community. Various issues of
“group” criminality, its goals and motivations are
discussed at length. The difficulty of precisely
defining such phenomenon is explored. Two
major pieces of international legislation, the
United Nations Convention against Organized
Crime and the EU Council Framework Decision
2008/841/JHA of 24 October 2008, are discussed
in order to reveal some key parameters for
introducing national criminal law provisions
against organized crime.
By using comparative and other research
methods, American, Mexican and Ukrainian
approaches to outlining issues of organized crime
and responding to them are explained. As a role
model, historical roots, structural model and
impact of Mafia-type organizations in the United
States have been outlined. Also, successful
impact of the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and
1
Postgraduate Student of the Department of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies of the National Academy of the Security Service of
Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine). WoS Researcher ID: JTU-8819-2023
2
Candidate of Legal Sciences, Professor of the Educational and Scientific Institute of State Security of the National Academy of the
Security Service of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine). WoS Researcher ID: JTU-9150-2023
3
Candidate of Legal Sciences, Senior Researcher, Head of Doctoral Studies of the Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs
(Kropivnitskiy, Ukraine). WoS Researcher ID: ABF-2691-2021
4
Candidate of Legal Sciences, Head of the Department of the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine, (Kyiv, Ukraine).
WoS Researcher ID: JUF-6081-2023
5
Doctor of Legal Sciences, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine). WoS Researcher ID: IQV-8954-2023
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Corrupt Organizations Act on such types of
criminal activity has been revealed.
Finally, the structure of criminal community in
Ukraine as a typical form of organized crime in
this country has been described through the legal
analyses of its five key elements.
Key words: organized crime, criminal offense,
law enforcement agency, terrorism financing.
Introduction
The centuries-long fight against crime and
particularly against organized crime should be
viewed through the lenses of close international
cooperation among States to prevent and combat
this evil as a whole. This is not a task for a single
world jurisdiction but rather for the world
community as a collective global entity.
Pragmatic “anti-crime” international cooperation
has become ever more necessary after the
September 11 terrorist attacks on the United
States of America.
Modern organized crime has various forms and
involves various instruments; it relies on money,
reputation and other resources. However, it is
important to mention the most prominent forms
of organized crime, such as drug trafficking,
human trafficking, financial crimes (including
money laundering and terrorism financing), arms
trafficking. There is no doubt that organized
crime makes a huge negative impact on many
countries, especially those with transitional
economies, and has harmed the development of
democratic institutions and democracy in general
in these countries (Berisha, 2014).
Unfortunately, Ukraine serves as just one of
many examples in this respect.
Transnational organized crime is a rapidly
escalating issue for the world community.
Criminals have demonstrated that they can
quickly adjust to new technologies and take
advantage of the growing globalization of the
world’s economies. They know how to exploit
borders to their benefit to shield themselves, but
do not let issues of national sovereignty,
ethnicity, or language stop them when they find
an unlawful way to make money (Ohr, 2012).
According to the former American President
Barack Obama, technological innovation and
globalization have proven themselves as a
powerful force for good. However, transnational
criminal organizations have exploited our
increasingly interconnected world to grow their
illegal businesses. Criminal networks are not
only expanding their operations, but they are also
varying their activities, resulting in a
convergence of transnational threats that has
become more complicated, unstable, and
disruptive (U.S. Department of Justice, 2011).
The primary goal of our research is to analyze,
within different legal dimensions (international,
national, comparative), some pressing issues
related to organized crime in the modern
globalized world. Based on the provisions of two
major international conventions on the issue, as
well as national laws of several world
jurisdictions, it is expected to reveal both similar
and distinct features of organized criminality as
perceived by both legislators and societies in
different parts of the world.
Methodology
The quality of scientific results obtained in this
paper is ensured through the extensive
application of long-established research
methods.
The formal legal method was employed in the
course of studying normative legal material, in
particular the United Nations Convention against
Organized Crime (United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime, 2000) and the U.S. Strategy to
Combat Transnational Organized Crime:
Addressing Converging Threats to National
Security (U.S. Department of Justice, 2011).
Using this method allowed to clarify the meaning
and significance of the rule of law and other
major legal principles when applied to key
international legal documents which address
various issues of organized crime.
Nekoz, A., Vasyliuk, A., Danylevska, Y., Beseda, D., Hrynkiv, O. / Volume 13 - Issue 73: 87-99 / January, 2024
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The analytical (doctrinal) research method
allowed the authors to use various interpretive
techniques in order to examine statutes, practical
approaches and other forms of law operation,
with the aim of reviewing basic rules and
principles of liability for organized crime
offenses. Referring to this method allowed to
better interpret the fundamental legal category
“organized crime” in its broad international
context.
The statistical methods were employed to
analyze online databases and empirical sources,
thus allowing for the identification of emerging
trends and patterns within the criminal cycle
offenses by organized groups. This academic
paper primarily relies on non-government
research data as the principal source of
information, and less so on the court-based or law
enforcement data.
Finally, the critical analysis conducted enabled
formulation of conclusions and
recommendations for improving national and
international laws and regulations aimed at
combatting organized crime in its various forms.
The combination of such methods of legal
research has allowed us to exercise a systematic,
comprehensive approach to understanding the
illegal nature and crimes committed by organized
crime syndicates as well as law enforcement
approached to fighting various organized crime
groups. In particular, we have studied specific
legal provisions (normative-dogmatic method),
analyzed law and practice in the given area of
criminal law and criminology (analytical
method) and used some empirical data (statistical
method).
In addition to selecting specific scientific
research methods, the methodology of legal
research within our work relies heavily on
finding the optimal balance between empirical
and theoretical approaches to discussing the
organized crime phenomenon.
Overall, extensive use of methodological tools of
legal research has enabled us to take a closer, in-
depth and comparative look at several issues of
global security with regard to fighting organized
criminality, including various approaches, legal
actions and recommendations. It enabled a rigor
research and ensured the validity of the results
obtained.
The high quality of the research and the academic
validity of the results was ensured by the
diversified approach to official and academic
sources, analytical quality and accuracy of
empirical data used.
Literature review
The topic outlined in the title for this research
piece is deemed as both relevant and timely.
Various legal issues related to organized crime
and transnational organized crime have been
researched by Ukrainian (O. Dudorov,
Yu. Lutsenko, V. Kovalchuk, D. Kamensky,
A. Vozniuk among others) and other foreign
(such as F. Cingano, J. Albanese, M. Berisha,
K. von Lampe, M. Tonello, K. Gooch,
J. Treadwell) scholars at length.
In particular, A. Vozniuk and O. Dudorov
collectively observed that legislative changes
related to liability for crimes committed by a
criminal group, added in 2020, generally had a
positive effect, as they provide for elements of
influence on the leaders of the criminal world, in
particular, they make it possible to bring them to
criminal liability for manifestations of socially
harmful behavior (Vozniuk & Dudorov, 2021).
D. Kamensky has extensively researched the
“white collar” component of international
organized crime, by referring, in particular, to
RICO Act in the United States and statutes
against organized economic criminality in
Ukraine. His conclusion: over the three decades
of Ukrainian independence the organized crime
in this country has evolved from mostly “violent”
type to “white collar type” (Kamensky, 2020).
Yu. Lutsenko has researched a nexus between
organized crime and illegal immigration, based
on which he has formulated the following
conclusion: due to its transnational nature,
growing dynamics and impact on various aspect
of everyday life, migration is increasingly
perceived as a serious challenge to the
conventional paradigm of certainty and order, i.e.
national, public and personal security. The
relationship between migration and security has
a direct impact on public opinion, political
struggle, and governmental decisions (Lutsenko,
2022).
F. Cingano and M. Tonello, in their turn, made a
conclusion, based on exhaustive empirical and
theoretical data analyses, that policies
strengthening law enforcement mainly through
perceptions based deterrence or stimulating
social control may have non-negligible effects on
crime in jurisdictions, which are characterized by
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the pervasive presence of criminal organizations
(Cingano & Tonello, 2020).
And K. von Lampe, in his turn, calls for a
comprehensive analytical approach to organized
crime, based on the notion that such type of crime
is based on a concept driven by three distinct
focal concerns regarding: organization of crimes,
the organization of criminals, and the
organization of social spheres by criminals
(Von Lampe, 2019).
Overall, despite a rather extensive body of
scholarship related to the outlined research topic,
not all aspects of organized crime as a threat to
the global community have been covered so far.
This paper is written with an analytical goal of
addressing such issues, at least partially.
Results and discussion
The United Nations Convention against
Organized Crime (also widely known at the
Palermo Convention, hereinafter used as such)
remains the main international instrument in the
fight against transnational organized crime.
Being the main international instrument in the
ever going fight against transnational organized
crime, this document was adopted by the General
Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November
2000, followed by opening for signature by
Member States at a High-level Political
Conference convened for that purpose in
Palermo, Italy, on December 12-15, 2000 and
entered into force on 29 September 2003. It sets
up legal standards to assist parties in adopting
legislation to establish criminal offenses, and
also establishes frameworks for mutual legal
assistance and extradition, fosters law
enforcement cooperation (United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, 2000). The convention also
has three Protocols that target specific areas and
manifestations of organized crime, such as
trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants,
and trafficking in firearms. The Convention aims
to prevent and address a broad range of criminal
activities effectively, and to protect and assist the
victims of trafficking in persons with full respect
for their human rights. The Palermo Convention
remains among the most ratified international
legal instruments. Furthermore, it represents a
major step forward in the fight against
transnational organized crime and the
recognition by member states of the seriousness
of the issues posed by it, as well as the need to
foster and enhance close international
cooperation in order to tackle various issues,
which are both directly and indirectly related to
organized crime.
To this day, the concept of organized crime
serves as a focal point in continuing global
discussions on criminal policy. For at least two
decades, dating back to the formulation of the
abovementioned Palermo Convention, there has
been widespread acknowledgment, both
nationally and internationally, of the gravity of
this issue. There is an increasing willingness to
collaborate across institutional and jurisdictional
boundaries in endeavors to combat organized
crime. However, significant uncertainty exists
regarding the nature of the threat (Von Lampe,
2019).
Organized crime thrives worldwide, affecting
governance and political processes, and at the
same time weakening the advancement of the
rule of law. Numerous organized crime groups,
especially in democratic and industrialized
Western nations, primarily engage in
international illegal activities. Such activities
include drug trafficking, smuggling of illegal
immigrants, human trafficking for sexual
exploitation, arms trafficking, trafficking in
stolen vehicles, and other transnational illegal
practices like money laundering and tax evasion
(Kleemans & van Koppen, 2020). Common
examples also cover cigarette smuggling
(Movchan et al., 2021) and customs fraud
(Pidgorodynskyi et al., 2021), various
environmental crimes and soil pollution in
particular (Movchan et al., 2022). The so-called
transit crime as an emerging form of organized
crime focuses on generating profits through
international illegal trade rather than through
traditional methods such as protection, extortion,
or the exploitation of monopoly power,
commonly known as “racketeering” (more about
the meaning of this term later).
Organized criminal groups are flexible in
changing or expanding their illicit businesses for
profit. They traditionally misuse vulnerabilities
and crisis situations such as the COVID-19
pandemic, economic downturns, natural
disasters, and armed conflicts exploiting them for
their own purposes. Thus, there are a number of
similar features between, for example, organized
crime and white-collar crime (Lutsenko et al.,
2023).
As K. Gooch and J. Treadwell argue, the ‘era of
hard drugs’ has been superseded by an ‘era of
new psychoactive drugs’, redefining social
relations, transforming the prison illicit
economy, producing new forms of prison
victimization and generating far greater
economic power and status for suppliers. These
changes represent the complex interplay and
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compounding effects of broader shifts in
organized crime, among various other factors
(Gooch & Treadwell, 2020). Historically, all
major shifts in drug trafficking have been related
to organized crime. Mexican drug cartels are just
the latest example.
On July 25, 2011, the U.S. National Security
Staff released a fundamental document – the
Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized
Crime: Addressing Converging Threats to
National Security. According to this strategic
document, transnational organized crime denotes
persistent groups of individuals who operate
internationally with the aim of acquiring power,
influence, financial gains, and/or commercial
benefits, either entirely or partially through
unlawful methods. They safeguard their pursuits
through a combination of corruption and/or
violence, or by employing a transnational
organizational framework and exploiting
international commerce or communication
channels. The structure of transnational
organized crime lacks uniformity, ranging from
hierarchical setups to clans, networks, and cells,
with the potential to adopt other configurations
over time. The nature of their criminal activities
varies, and these criminals exhibit certain
characteristics, in particular they:
1) engage, at least in some of their activities, in
violence or other acts intended to intimidate
or make explicit or implicit threats;
2) exploit disparities between countries to
advance their objectives, enhancing their
organization, increasing its influence, and/or
avoiding detection or apprehension;
3) endeavor to wield influence in government,
politics, and commerce through both corrupt
and legitimate means;
4) strive to shield both their leadership and
members from detection, sanctions, and/or
legal prosecution through their
organizational structure.
5) also, their primary objective is economic
gain, not only through overtly illegal
activities but also through investments in
lawful enterprises (U.S. Department of
Justice, 2011).
The following diagram (Fig. 1), elaborated by the
Global Initiative Against Transnational
Organized Crime, demonstrates the 2023 global
averages for various criminal markets.
Figure 1. Criminal markets, global averages, 2023.
Source: Mexico Profile (2023).
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As put by American commentator
Jay S. Albanese, organized crime is a term with
a vague and unclear definition in law – thus, the
lack of precise definitions results in imprecision.
A consensus of some degree over the definition
has been established over the years, thus
characterizing organized crime as an ongoing
criminal enterprise with several key elements:
a) planned and rational acts carried out by
groups of individuals;
b) crimes that often cater to public demand for
illicit goods and services;
c) the primary objective being financial or
material gain;
d) the use of corruption and intimidation to
safeguard ongoing criminal operations.
It is important to note that organized crime
pursues financial gain, setting it apart from
terrorism, certain hate crimes, or other forms of
organized criminal behavior centered on
ideology or political objectives (Albanese, 2021).
A quite successful, in our opinion, conceptual
attempt of coining the term “organized crime”
was made in the EU Council Framework
Decision 2008/841/JHA of 24 October 2008 on
the fight against organised crime adopted by the
Council of the European Union. According to
this document, ‘criminal organisation’ means a
structured association, established over a period
of time, of more than two persons acting in
concert with a goal of committing offences which
are punishable by deprivation of liberty or a
detention order of a maximum of at least four
years or a more serious penalty, to obtain,
directly or indirectly, a financial or other material
benefit (European Union, 2008). Thus, the
European legislator has chosen the formal
parameters as background for the definition – the
minimum number of members, existence over a
period of time, severity of penalty.
Based on the results of their own comparative
analyses, some Ukrainian researchers argue that
similar criminal associations in the criminal
legislation of different states can exhibit both
similarities and differences. In specific instances,
certain states’ criminal codes encompass diverse
criminal associations, utilizing both distinct and
overlapping terms (e.g., “criminal association”)
within their respective jurisdictions. When
examining the criminal law characteristics of
organized groups as outlined in the Palermo
Convention and criminal organizations defined
by Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA, a clear
observation emerges: these entities represent
criminal associations of identical nature. The
international community recommends
criminalization of membership in criminal
associations with uniform parameters, even
though individual states may employ different
terminology. The partial justification for
separately criminalizing actions performed by
members of organized groups and criminal
organizations across different states lies in the
consideration of distinct international legal acts,
primarily the Palermo Convention and the
Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA, by national
legislators (Vozniuk et al., 2020).
In the ever-shifting landscape of public life and
global environment in general, organized
criminal activity is also a constantly evolving
phenomenon. Take American Mafia for example.
As is the common knowledge, Mafia is a network
of Italian-American organized crime groups,
which emerged in the late 19th and early 20th
century, especially in New York and Chicago, as
a result of immigration from Sicily and other
regions of Southern Italy. The Mafia initially
engaged in bootlegging during the Prohibition
era, and later expanded into other illegal
activities such as drug trafficking, gambling,
prostitution, racketeering, extortion, money
laundering, and murder. The Mafia also has been
infiltrating various legitimate businesses and
labor unions, and also influenced politics and law
enforcement.
The Mafia as a generic organized crime concept
reached its peak of power and influence in the
mid-20th century, under the leadership of
notorious figures such as Al Capone, Lucky
Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Carlo
Gambino, and John Gotti. However, the Mafia
also faced increasing challenges from law
enforcement and government, which used anti-
racketeering laws, such as the Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO)
Act, to prosecute and convict high-ranking
mobsters and weaken the Mafia. The Mafia also
suffered from internal conflicts, defections, and
competition from other criminal organizations.
Although it still operates today, it is a much less
powerful and influential organization than it used
to be in the past (McIntosh, 2023).
The organizational structure of an American
Mafia family (based on the typical structure of
five New York crime syndicates), which bears
more or less resemblance to organized criminal
structures in other countries, is best explained in
Figure 2.
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Figure 2. The Mafia Org Chart
Source: FBI. (2023).
Here is just one (of many) illustrative example of
organized crime in the United States operating
and then brought to justice, which refers to the
above-mentioned Mafia Org Chart. On
September 14, 2021, in federal court in
Brooklyn, a 19-count indictment was unsealed
charging 14 defendants, including 10 members
and associates of the Colombo crime family of
La Cosa Nostra and a member of the Bonanno
organized crime family, with various offenses
including labor racketeering involving multiple
predicate acts of extortion conspiracy, attempted
extortion and extortion, extortionate collection of
credit conspiracy, extortionate collection of
credit and money laundering conspiracy. The
charges in the indictment against the Colombo
crime family members related to multiple
charged schemes in a long-running effort by the
crime family to infiltrate and take control of a
Queens-based labor union (the “Labor Union”)
and its affiliated health care benefit program (the
“Health Fund”) that provides medical benefits,
including dental, optical and pharmacy benefits,
to the members of the Labor Union, and to a
conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with
workplace safety certifications (United States
Attorney’s Office, 2021).
Also, a brief overview the above-mentioned
RICO Act and its impact on putting organized
crime in America down will be of relevance here.
The history of the Act, which at the highest
legislative level embodies American
counteraction to organized crime, including
economic crime, dates back to 1970. According
to its legislative design, RICO was supposed to
introduce a new “game plan” in the form of an
autonomous set of legal grounds for applying
criminal sanctions for various crimes committed
by persistent criminal associations (criminal
organizations). By targeting specific criminal
organizations, Congress sought to overcome the
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significant negative impact that organized crime
has on American society. The legislative history
of RICO has not only repeatedly demonstrated
the need to reduce the impact of organized crime
on legitimate business, but also actualized the
need to protect general public from those who
run such organizations to the detriment of public
interest.
According to the Black’s Law Dictionary, a
widely recognized legal reference authority,
RICO is a federal statute which has been
designed to combat organized criminal activity
and preserve the integrity of the marketplace by
providing for the control and prosecution of
persons who engage in or conspire to engage in
racketeering activity. Accordingly, racketeering
is explained in this Dictionary as: 1) a system of
organized crime that traditionally involves
extortion of money from businesses through
threats, violence or other illegal means and 2)
manifestation of illegal activities (e.g., bribery,
extortion, fraud or murder) which are carried out
within a criminal enterprise (including any
criminal syndicate), which, in turn, is controlled
or owned by persons directly involved in
criminal activities (Garner, 2014).
Among various academic studies devoted to
clarifying the legal content and law enforcement
potential of the RICO Act, the study by
A. Vozniuk is noteworthy. In his monograph
“Criminal Liability for the Establishment of and
Participation in Criminal Associations”, this
author comprehensively analyzes the block of
criminal law provisions of RICO, calling this Act
a modern example of a conditional model of
entrepreneurship in the context of combating
organized crime. He identifies the following
features (characteristics) inherent in a “criminal
enterprise” as a basis for criminal liability for
organized criminal activity: 1) the enterprise
model does not require proof of an agreement
between a group of accomplices – in a simplified
form, the RICO model is focused on the actual
criminal activity of the “enterprise”; 2) in the
RICO model, the concept of “enterprise” is not
used in the standard sense – based on part. 4 of §
1961 of the US Criminal Code, it includes any
individual, partnership, corporation, association
or other legal entity, as well as any union or
group of related persons not being legal entities;
3) the purpose of RICO is to punish persons
involved in a “racketeering activity” scheme;
4) the key role in the issue of criminal
prosecution under RICO is played by the proof
of specific predicate offenses defined in the law
that embody racketeering activity; 5) one of the
main advantages of the RICO model compared to
other models is its ability to combine several
predicate offenses into a separate RICO offense
that reflects the organized nature of criminal
activity (Vozniuk, 2018).
It is worth adding that while in 1970, when RICO
was enacted, this Act had embodied thirty
predicate offenses, today there are over a
hundred such crimes. Such significant
quantitative growth is generally in line with the
trend in American criminal law over the past fifty
years of increasing (not always properly
justified) the number of federal crimes. We are
talking about the intensively debated (and also
controversial) phenomenon of excessive
criminalization of acts in American society.
As an interim observation, criminal legislation of
most world jurisdictions does not offer analogues
to the comprehensive legislative mechanism for
combating organized crime embodied in the US
within the extensive and quite effective RICO
provisions. At the same time, American law and
practice in this area can and should be compared
to available domestic provisions, regulatory and
law enforcement developments. A priori, the
possibility of such useful (not only in the
theoretical context) comparison will allow
various national legislators, law enforcement
agencies and courts to advocate for a much more
active approach to fight organized crime.
Overall, the ongoing serious battle against
organized crime, as American experience
illustrates, can be effective if there are such
factors in place: public demand, political will,
both flexible and “tough on crime” legislation
and also motivated and uncorrupt law
enforcement.
Nowadays any unbiased observer can see a
drastic contrast between effective cracking on
organized crime in the U.S. and almost zero
progress on the same law enforcement front, let
us say, in Mexico. Indeed, organized crime
syndicates in this country, namely notorious drug
cartels, are prospering in both money-making
and violence and at the same time even the
national military cannot deal with them. Among
the major reasons for such negative situation is
the prevailing corruption in Mexican government
and the society at large.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations exercise
control over the US’s heroin market, with almost
all heroin confiscated and tested in the US
coming from this South American country.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations are major
actors in the global cocaine trade, acting as
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intermediaries and transporters of the drug
worldwide. Mexico is an important transit
country for cocaine from South America to the
US and increasingly to the EU. Criminal groups
have become more involved in Central American
and Colombian cocaine trafficking markets, and
territorial conflicts between them over control of
north-bound cocaine shipment routes to the US
have caused extremely high levels of violence
across Mexico. At the same time, Mexican
cartels are involved in methamphetamine
trafficking to EU ports for further distribution
inside and outside the EU (Europol, 2022).
Mexico’s drug trafficking organizations are some
of the most advanced mafia-style groups in the
world. They have considerable territorial control
throughout the country and co-opt state
institutions through corruption and coercion.
Besides drug trafficking, these organizations
engage in other criminal activities such as oil
theft, human trafficking, kidnapping, and
extortion, thus making billions of dollars every
year. Mexican drug trafficking organizations fuel
violence across the country using various
firearms, including military-grade weapons,
resulting in fierce territorial conflicts with rival
drug trafficking organizations and state security
entities. The state’s no-confrontation policy and
perceived impunity worsen retaliatory attacks
against law enforcement initiatives (Mexico
Profile, 2023).
Thus, Mexican organized crime might serve as a
case study for the wide scale and systematic
impact on the society in any given nation when
there is no law enforcement pushback but at the
same time the country is plagued by the endemic
corruption.
There is a variety of law enforcement tools
available to the international community in its
war against organized crime in various parts of
the world. For example, as the leading global
police organization, Interpol has created the
Organized and Emerging Crime Strategy to help
its 190-member countries effectively deal with
the changing nature of organized and emerging
crime in the modern era. The main objectives of
the five-year (2016-2020) strategy have been to:
enable member countries to target and disrupt
cross-border criminal networks; and to identify,
analyze and respond to emerging criminal
threats. In order to tackle the dual challenge, the
Interpol strategy outlines four interrelated action
tools:
1) identification of criminal networks –
identifying key players involved in serious
transnational crime, related criminal
networks and their main activities;
2) illegal trafficking and illicit markets –
fighting criminal networks involved in all
kinds of illegal trafficking and identify and
address new trends and illicit markets;
3) enabling crimes and criminal convergence –
elaborating on connections between
different types of crimes and how one crime
can facilitate another, and help police in
stopping such enabling crimes from leading
to more criminal activity;
4) illicit flows of money and assets – disrupting
profits of organized criminal networks by
tracing and preventing the movement of
criminal assets, as well as freezing and
confiscating them (Interpol, 2021).
Obviously, helping all member countries to
combat various forms of organized transnational
crime is vast and complex. The Interpol strategy
focuses on the most serious criminal threats as
well as various emerging forms of crime. It
builds on the law enforcement agency’s
experience in leading and coordinating major
cross-border operations against multiple types of
crimes and achieving significant results in terms
of arrests and seizures of illicit commodities.
One of the major online instruments for
monitoring the status of organized crime
parameters is the Global Organized Crime Index
(hereinafter – the Global Index). It is a multi-
dimensional tool that measures the level of
criminality and resilience to organized crime for
193 countries along the three key pillars –
criminal markets, criminal actors and resilience.
The tool is supported by over 400 expert
assessments and evaluations by the regional
observatories. The aim of the Index is to provide
metrics-based information that would help
policymakers, continental and regional bodies to
prioritize their actions based on a comprehensive
assessment of where vulnerabilities lie, and
provide them with the means to evaluate the
effectiveness of their responses to reduce the
impact of the organized crime globally.
Analytical tools like this one help in
comprehending some key issues surrounding the
fundamental of organized crime and its core
principles of operation, largely driven by
income-earning motivation.
Mexican organized crime and its negative impact
both domestically and on its neighbor – the U.S.,
current Interpol initiatives, as well as analytical
data on the current status of organized crime in
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various jurisdictions – all this can be labeled
collectively as transnational organized threat.
Structurally solid and long-lasting criminal
entities like Sicilian mafia groups, Japanese
Yakuza groups, Hong Kong Triads, and Russian
mafia groups have either existed or still exist in
recent history. However, in numerous democratic
and industrialized Western nations such
organizations are either no longer present or
represent exceptions rather than the norm. The
primary factor contributing to this is that illicit
markets, frequently international in scope, often
coupled with robust government institutions and
effective law enforcement, impede the
development of extensive and enduring criminal
organizations (Kleemans & van Koppen, 2020).
Finally, and within the scope of our comparative
analyses, we will turn to organized crime in
Ukraine. There organized crime takes on various
forms, with a notable emphasis on criminal
communities exhibiting characteristics of
organized, recidivist, and professional criminal
activities. Participants in these communities
adhere to specific rules, follow established
traditions, have developed an extensive
infrastructure, and engage in effective
collaboration with organized criminals in other
countries. A particular concern with such
communities is that prosecuting individual
members and their associations does not
necessarily lead to their dissolution. Instead, one
criminal figure is often replaced by another, thus
allowing the continuation of organizing,
coordinating, or facilitating criminal activities
within a specific territory. This, in part, explains
why, despite authorities’ efforts to eradicate this
form of organized crime, it persists successfully
beyond the post-Soviet states.
Ukrainian scholars understand the process of
forming a criminal organization as the one
consisting of two independent stages:
1) preparatory (that is, support for the creation of
a criminal organization: a thorough, detailed
assessment of the favorable situation and the
possibilities of its use for the creation of a
criminal organization of a specific focus;
selection based on objective calculation of the
optimal option/way of its formation;
determination of the structure of the criminal
organization, its needs in human and other
resources, the general and components of the
target and functional orientation criminal
activity, subordination scheme of structural parts
and individual participants, quantitative and
qualitative characteristics of the organization and
its structural parts; development of the
conspiracy system and rules of internal security,
etc.) and 2) actual creation of a criminal
organization (search, study and selection
candidates, attracting them/achieving an
agreement/obtaining their consent to join a
criminal organization to commit joint purposeful
criminal activity; distribution/consolidation of
roles between persons who have
entered/accepted into the community;
determination of their personal position and
duties in the organization/structural part, line of
conduct, etc.) (Kovalchuk, 2013).
Just as in other national (or ethnic) criminal
organizations, the structure of the criminal
community in Ukraine can be described by
several key elements. Ukrainian commentators
name five such elements.
Firstly, at the apex of its hierarchy are “code-
bound thieves”, commonly referred to as “thieves
in law” or simply “thieves”, thus signifying
individuals bound by a criminal code.
Secondly, the primary function of the criminal
community is to organize, control, and
coordinate criminal and illegal activities within
specific territories or areas. Notably, exercising
control over an ordinary crime is a distinctive
feature of a mafia-type organization, setting it
apart from other forms of organized crime.
Thirdly, the economic foundation of this
organized crime variant lies in a so-called
“common fund”, financed by contributions from
both legal and illegal activities. This fund serves
collective needs of the criminal world, including
support for individuals incarcerated in detention
centers.
Fourthly, the criminal world adheres to specific
customs and traditions that have significantly
evolved over time. While subject to
transformation, these customs are predominantly
observed among community members and other
criminal offenders.
Lastly, criminal community features a collegial
management body known as the meeting. This
body addresses the most critical issues related to
criminal and illegal activities, contributing to the
organized and structured nature of the criminal
network.
Moving toward the end of our scholarly
discussion, it should be noted that the impact of
Russia’s invasion on the criminal underworld is
seismic, akin to an earthquake. The resilient
Ukrainian mobsters, traditionally closely aligned
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with their Russian counterparts, have
overwhelmingly ceased criminal collaboration.
This significant shift is not limited to ideological
changes; it has tangible effects on illicit activities
such as heroin smuggling. The rerouting of
lucrative smuggling routes has widespread
repercussions, while influencing prices and
profits for criminal syndicates operating
thousands of miles away. If such disruption
endures, it has the potential to reshape the whole
landscape of global crime. Indeed, such changes
are already underway, both in Ukraine and in
other countries (The Economist, 2023).
As yet another organized crime phenomenon,
which is emerging at the background of current
war in Ukraine, is humanitarian aid
embezzlement – immoral and now illegal
behavior on a large scale, which we have
previously researched at length (Kamensky et al.,
2023).
We also agree with the scholars, who write that
the strategy of combating organized crime in
Ukraine should primarily include combating
corruption, because even in the presence of ideal
laws on criminal liability, representatives of
organized criminal activity will avoid criminal
sanctions, if not completely, then at least to a fair
degree. Indeed, in the recent years Ukrainian
commentators observe a surge of corruption-
related offenses among various organized
criminal groups (Vozniuk et al., 2021). This
emerging issue needs to be addressed in a fast
and decisive manner.
Also, due to the unprovoked Russian aggression
against Ukraine, the migration-related organized
crime also causes big concerns for both law
enforcement and the government of Ukraine in
general (Lutsenko, 2022).
Nowadays organized crime is also connected to
terrorism financing. In the past, money.
Thus, we can make a conclusion that nowadays
almost any world jurisdiction has some form of
organized crime – such illegal “societies” have
their distinct features; however, their common
element is organized (often hierarchical) and
well-preserved structure.
Conclusions
In the course of our research we were able to
formulate the following conclusions.
In foreign criminal legislation, distinct terms are
employed to characterize criminal groups
(criminal organizations), and diverse approaches
are adopted for the criminalization of their
activities. National legislation of different states
outlines varying legal strategies for combating
organized crime. Specifications for the
criminalization of the activities of organized
criminal groups and members of such
organizations are encapsulated in various
international legal instruments.
Nowadays, transnational organized crime
presents a direct and further escalating menace to
such vital areas as public health, safety, and
national security. Criminal organizations
operating across borders are involved in a wide
spectrum of unlawful activities, including drug
and weapons trafficking, migrant smuggling,
human trafficking, cybercrime, intellectual
property theft, money laundering, wildlife and
timber trafficking, illegal fishing, and illegal
mining.
Such networks are continuously growing in size
and influence, both, as we have shown, within the
United States, Ukraine, Mexico and elsewhere.
Furthermore, transnational criminal
organizations jeopardize national security by
undermining security and stability of allied and
partner nations, eroding the rule of law, fostering
corruption, serving as proxies for hostile state
activities, directly or indirectly funding insurgent
and terrorist groups, depleting natural resources,
posing risks to human health and the
environment, contributing to climate change
through illegal deforestation and logging, and
exploiting and endangering vulnerable
populations.
In certain regions criminal organizations possess
capabilities akin to states, disregarding sovereign
borders, compromising the integrity of
democratic institutions, threatening the
legitimacy of fragile governments, and
consolidating their power through intimidation,
corruption, and violence. Effectively addressing
the threat posed by organized criminality
necessitates a unified federal framework,
supported by a comprehensive whole-of-
government initiative executed in cooperation
with local, national and international partners,
also while collaborating with mass media and
civil society activists.
The bottom line argument is as follows:
organized crime in the XXI century evolves
further and thus strong legislative and law
enforcement responses to this dangerous
phenomenon should evolve even faster.
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