Transnational Organized Criminal offence

FBI Agents Help Arrest Organized Crime Members (Reuters)

The FBI is dedicated to eliminating transnational organized law-breaking groups that pose the greatest threat to the national and economic security of the United States. The Bureau has plant that even if key individuals in an arrangement are removed, the depth and financial strength of the organization oft allow it to continue, so the FBI targets entire organizations responsible for a variety of criminal activities. The Agency draws upon the experience, preparation, and proficiency of its agents; its partnerships within the intelligence and constabulary enforcement communities; and its worldwide presence, using sustained, coordinated investigations and the criminal and civil provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Decadent Organizations Deed (RICO).

Overview

Transnational organized crime (TOC) groups are self-perpetuating associations of individuals who operate, wholly or in part, by illegal ways and irrespective of geography. They constantly seek to obtain power, influence, and monetary gains. At that place is no unmarried construction under which TOC groups part—they vary from hierarchies to clans, networks, and cells, and may evolve into other structures. These groups are typically insular and protect their activities through corruption, violence, international commerce, circuitous communication mechanisms, and an organizational construction exploiting national boundaries.

With few exceptions, TOC groups' principal goal is economic proceeds and they will employ an array of lawful and illicit schemes to generate profit. Crimes such as drug trafficking, migrant smuggling, human trafficking, coin laundering, firearms trafficking, illegal gambling, extortion, apocryphal goods, wildlife and cultural property smuggling, and cyber crime are keystones inside TOC enterprises. The vast sums of money involved tin compromise legitimate economies and have a direct impact on governments through the corruption of public officials.

TOC groups may encompass both the Eastern and Western hemispheres and include persons with indigenous or cultural ties to Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle E. These groups, still, are able to target victims and execute their schemes from anywhere in the earth; thus, the extent of their presence within a particular area does not necessarily reflect the caste of the threat they pose.

With the increase of technology bachelor effectually the earth, TOC groups are more commonly incorporating cyber techniques into their illicit activities, either committing cyber crimes themselves or using cyber tools to facilitate other unlawful acts. Phishing, Internet auction fraud, and avant-garde fee fraud schemes allow criminals to target the United States without being present in the state. Technology also enables TOC groups to engage in traditional criminal activeness, such every bit illegal gambling, but with a greater reach through use of the Cyberspace and off-shore servers, thus expanding their global impact.

TOC poses a significant and growing threat to national and international security with dire implications for public safety, public health, democratic institutions, and economic stability beyond the globe. It jeopardizes our border security, endangers our wellness through homo trafficking and counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and seeks to decadent officials domestically and abroad. These threats also include criminal penetration of global energy and strategic material markets that are vital to national security interests, and logistical and other support to terrorists and foreign intelligence services.

Countering Transnational Organized Crime

To combat the ongoing threat posed by these groups, the FBI has a long-established—yet constantly evolving—transnational organized crime program defended to eliminating the criminal enterprises that pose the greatest threat to America. Dismantling and disrupting major international and national organized criminal enterprises is a longstanding expanse of Agency expertise. The goal of the FBI is to bring down entire organizations, non but arrest select individuals.

The Bureau uses the RICO Act to expand criminal accountability for a number of "predicate offenses," and to expand a single criminal offense across multiple members of a criminal enterprise. Unlike typical investigations, which target a single criminal act, this multi-pronged approach allows the FBI to disrupt or dismantle the entire enterprise.

The FBI also employs a multifaceted approach to target TOC groups in an attempt to strategically remove their access to illegal gain, disable systems in place to accomplish their goals, and capture their members who often reside in prophylactic haven countries.

Due to the transnational nature of these criminal enterprises, the FBI leverages political and law enforcement relationships domestically and abroad to combat the influence and reach of these organized criminal offense groups. The Bureau deploys subject matter experts to international locations to develop strategies to address TOC matters impacting the region, also every bit to identify targets of common interest.

The FBI as well participates in selecting TOC groups to appear on the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Superlative International Criminal Organizations Target (TICOT) Listing, and contributes to the Treasury Department's Office of Strange Asset Control (OFAC) efforts to pursue criminal enterprises. Further, to pool resource and leverage technical and investigative expertise, the Agency participates in many Organized Offense Task Forces consisting of land and local law enforcement partners in the U.Southward.

Glossary of Terms

Criminal Enterprise

The FBI defines a criminal enterprise equally a group of individuals with an identified hierarchy, or comparable construction, engaged in significant criminal activity.

These organizations often engage in multiple criminal activities and have extensive supporting networks. The terms Organized Law-breaking and Criminal Enterprise are similar and often used synonymously. Nonetheless, various federal criminal statutes specifically ascertain the elements of an enterprise that demand to be proven in order to convict individuals or groups of individuals nether those statutes.

The RICO statute, or Championship eighteen of the United States Code, Section 1961(4), defines an enterprise as "any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity."

The Standing Criminal Enterprise statute, or Title 21 of the United States Lawmaking, Section 848(c)(2), defines a criminal enterprise as any group of six or more people, where ane of the six occupies a position of organizer, a supervisory position, or any other position of management with respect to the other five, and which generates substantial income or resource, and is engaged in a continuing series of violations of subchapters I and II of Chapter xiii of Title 21 of the United states Code.

Transnational Organized Crime

Those cocky-perpetuating associations of individuals who operate transnationally for the purpose of obtaining ability, influence, and monetary and/or commercial gains, wholly or in part by illegal means, while protecting their activities through a pattern of corruption and/or violence, or while protecting their illegal activities through a transnational organizational structure and the exploitation of transnational commerce or communication mechanisms.

Pregnant Racketeering Action

The FBI defines significant racketeering activities equally those predicate criminal acts that are chargeable under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute. These are found in Title 18 of the United States Lawmaking, Section 1961 (1) and include the post-obit federal crimes:

  • Bribery
  • Sports Blackmail
  • Counterfeiting
  • Embezzlement of Union Funds
  • Mail Fraud
  • Wire Fraud
  • Money Laundering
  • Obstruction of Justice
  • Murder for Hire
  • Drug Trafficking
  • Prostitution
  • Sexual Exploitation of Children
  • Alien Smuggling
  • Trafficking in Counterfeit Appurtenances
  • Theft from Interstate Shipment
  • Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property

And the following state crimes:

  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Gambling
  • Arson
  • Robbery
  • Bribery
  • Extortion
  • Drugs

Transnational Crime Threats and Programs

African Transnational Organized Criminal offence Groups

African TOC groups have adult quickly since the 1980s due to the globalization of the world'south economies and the great advances in communications engineering science. Easier international travel, expanded world merchandise, and financial transactions that cantankerous national borders have enabled them to branch out of local and regional criminal offense to target international victims and develop criminal networks within more than prosperous countries and regions.The political, social, and economic conditions in African countries like Nigeria, Ghana, and Republic of liberia accept helped some enterprises expand globally.

African criminal enterprises accept been identified in several major metropolitan areas in the U.S., but are most prevalent in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Milwaukee, Newark, New York, and Washington, D.C. Nigerian criminal enterprises are the well-nigh significant of these groups and operate in more than than 80 countries of the world, including the U.s.. They are amidst the about aggressive and expansionist international criminal groups and are primarily engaged in drug trafficking and financial frauds.

The nearly assisting activity of the Nigerian groups is drug trafficking—delivering heroin from Southeast and Southwest Asia into Europe and the U.S., and cocaine from South America into Europe and South Africa. The associated money laundering has helped constitute Nigerian criminal enterprises worldwide. Nigerian groups are besides infamous for committing fiscal frauds globally. These schemes are diverse, targeting individuals, businesses, and government offices. Examples of these activities include insurance fraud involving auto accidents; healthcare billing scams; life insurance schemes; bank, check, and credit card fraud; advance-fee schemes, known equally 4-1-9 letters; and certificate fraud to develop simulated identities. The advent of the Internet and eastward-mail has fabricated their crimes more assisting and prevalent.

Ane such prevalent criminal offence is Business concern E-mail Compromise (BEC), a sophisticated scam targeting businesses working with foreign suppliers or regularly performing wire transfer payments. The scam is carried out past compromising legitimate concern electronic mail accounts through social engineering or by computer intrusion techniques to conduct unauthorized transfer of funds. Most victims written report using checks as a common method of payment. The fraudsters volition use the method most ordinarily associated with their victim's normal business concern practise. Read more than about Business organisation E-postal service Compromise.

Besides using the standard Enterprise Theory of Investigation (ETI) and RICO investigative tools, the FBI participates in dissimilar working groups and initiatives to combat African organized crime on an international level.

Balkan Transnational Organized Crime Groups

Balkan TOC groups are politically and financially motivated groups influenced by, associated with, or originating from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, the sometime Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania. These organized crime groups cause meaning financial damage to the Us each year.

Different traditional organized criminal offense groups, Balkan groups practise not announced to operate under a traditional hierarchy, simply rather around indigenous associations and friendship ties. They also appear to be more than agile, organic, and projection-based. Balkan TOC groups are adept at adopting new technologies, thus increasing their ability to expand their criminal market place base through cyber-enabled fraud. These groups engage in a myriad of criminal action including passport fraud, access device fraud, identify theft, healthcare fraud, real estate fraud, insurance fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, man smuggling, prostitution, and extortion.

Organized crime in the Balkans has its roots in the traditional clan structures. In these largely rural countries, people organized into clans with large familial ties for protection and mutual assistance. Starting in the 15th century, clan relationships operated under the kanun, or lawmaking, which values loyalty and besa, or secrecy. Each clan established itself in specific territories and controlled all activities in that territory. Protection of activities and interests often led to violence between the clans. The elements inherent in the structure of the clans provided the perfect backbone for what is considered modern-day Balkan organized crime.

Many years of communist rule led to blackness market activities in the Balkans, but the impact of these activities was limited to the region. When communism collapsed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, information technology led to the expansion of Balkan organized law-breaking activities. Criminal markets once closed to Balkan groups suddenly opened, and this led to the creation of an international network. Within the Balkans, organized crime groups infiltrated the new democratic institutions, farther expanding their profit opportunities.

Middle Eastern Transnational Organized Offense Groups

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI has taken a new look at the various criminal threats originating in the Middle East and from Middle Eastern communities in the United States. The Bureau, and police enforcement in general, recognize that Centre Eastern criminal groups often take no straight nexus to terror. Rather, these groups often accept the same goals as any traditional organized crime band—to make money through illegal activities.

Criminal groups with associations to the Eye Eastward accept been active in the U.S. since at to the lowest degree the 1970s, particularly in areas with significant Center Eastern or Southwest Asian populations. These organizations are typically loosely organized theft or fiscal fraud rings formed along familial or tribal lines, and include criminals from Afghanistan, Arab republic of egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Hashemite kingdom of jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. They typically use small storefronts as bases for criminal operations.

Centre Eastern transnational criminal organizations typically appoint in automobile theft, financial fraud, money laundering, interstate transportation of stolen belongings, smuggling, drug trafficking, document fraud, health intendance fraud, identity fraud, cigarette smuggling, trademark counterfeiting and sales of apocryphal goods, and the theft and redistribution of infant formula. These enterprises rely on extensive networks of international criminal assembly and tin can be highly sophisticated in their criminal operations. Middle Eastern criminal organizations often engage in joint criminal ventures with one another and across indigenous lines when there is potential profit.

Besides the standard ETI, OCDETF, and RICO investigative tools, the FBI participates in different working groups and initiatives to combat Centre Eastern TOC groups on an international level.

Asian Transnational Organized Crime Groups

Asian TOC groups have been operating in the United States since the early 1900s. The commencement of these groups evolved from Chinese tongs—social organizations formed past early Chinese-American immigrants. A century later, the criminalized tongs have been joined past like organizations with ties to Eastward and Southeast Asia.

Members of the about ascendant Asian criminal enterprises affecting the U.Due south. take ties—either directly or culturally—to People's republic of china, Korea, Nihon, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Yet, other enterprises are emerging as threats, including groups from the South Pacific island nations. These enterprises rely on all-encompassing networks of national and international criminal associates that are fluid and extremely mobile. They adapt easily to the changes around them, have multilingual abilities, tin can exist highly sophisticated in their criminal operations, and have extensive fiscal capabilities. Some enterprises have commercialized their criminal activities and can be considered business firms of various sizes, from small family-run operations to big corporations.

Asian criminal enterprises have prospered thanks largely to the globalization of the earth economies and to communications technology and international travel. Generous immigration policies have provided many members the power to enter and live undetected on every populated continent in the world today. And there are two categories of Asian criminal enterprises: Traditional criminal enterprises include the Chinese triads (or hugger-mugger societies) based in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, every bit well as the Japanese Yakuza or Boryokudan; and not-traditional criminal enterprises include groups such as Chinese criminally-influenced tongs, triad affiliates, and other ethnic Asian street gangs found in several countries with sizable Asian communities.

Asian criminal enterprises conduct traditional racketeering activities normally associated with organized crime—extortion, murder, kidnapping, illegal gambling, prostitution, and loansharking. They too smuggle aliens; traffic heroin and methamphetamine; commit financial frauds; steal autos and computer fries; counterfeit figurer and clothing products; and engage in money laundering.

In that location are several trends amidst Asian criminal enterprises. Get-go, information technology is more mutual to see criminal groups cooperate beyond ethnic and racial heritage lines. Second, some gangs and criminal enterprises take begun to structure their groups in a hierarchical fashion to be more than competitive, and the criminal activities they engage in have become globalized. Finally, more of these criminal enterprises are engaging in white-neckband crimes and are co-mingling their illegal activities with legitimate business ventures.

In the U.S., Asian criminal enterprises accept been identified in more than 50 metropolitan areas. They are more prevalent in Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Besides the standard ETI, Organized Law-breaking Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), and RICO investigative tools, the FBI participates in different working groups and initiatives to gainsay Asian organized crime on an international level.

Eurasian Transnational Organized Crime Groups

Eurasian TOC groups are politically and financially motivated organized criminal offense groups influenced by, associated with, or originating from the former Soviet Union or Central Europe. These criminal groups continue to thrive outside their borders in numerous countries around the world, including the United States. It is estimated that Eurasian TOC groups have caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to U.S. businesses, investors, and taxpayers.

Evidence and studies propose Eurasian TOC groups no longer conform to the typical hierarchal structure of traditional organized criminal offense groups, only instead are divided into supporting networks, or cells, each having a unlike function or responsibility while sharing a mutual overarching goal. This framework allows cells to operate independently, limiting their contact with members of the entire organization, thus protecting high level organized crime figures.

Eurasian TOC groups oftentimes engage in a myriad of criminal activity including healthcare fraud, securities and investment fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, extortion, motorcar theft, interstate transportation of stolen property, robbery, attempted murder, and murder.

The roots of Eurasian organized criminal offense in the United States prevarication with the Vory 5 Zakone, or "thieves in law." These are career criminals who banded together for support and profit in the Soviet prison arrangement. During the Soviet menstruum, their leaders, or "shop managers," were illicitly paid a thirty percent margin to learn scarce consumer goods and divert raw materials and finished appurtenances from production lines for the do good of Nomenklatura, or the educated aristocracy, and criminals.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, members centrolineal themselves with corrupt public officials to larn the control of industries and resources that were being privatized. This gave the syndicate a i-fourth dimension infusion of wealth and supplied the infrastructure for standing cash flows and opportunities to launder criminal proceeds. In February 1993, Boris Yeltsin, the first elected president of the Federation of Russian States, said, "Organized crime has become the No. i threat to Russia's strategic interests and to national security...Corrupted structures on the highest level have no interest in reform."

Organized crime members first emerged in the W in the 1970s when Soviet Refuseniks were allowed to emigrate to Europe, Israel, and the United States. Amid the Refuseniks were criminals who sought to exploit their new-constitute freedoms. These criminals helped the major criminal groups expand to the West when the Soviet Union collapsed and the people of the region were able to move about freely.

These groups based in the sometime Soviet Spousal relationship have also defrauded newly formed governments of billions of dollars, equally industries and resources formerly endemic by the government have been privatized. They profit through tax-evasion schemes and using decadent officials to embezzle government funds. Their activity threatens to destabilize the emerging political institutions and economies of the former Soviet Union, where nuclear weapons remain deployed. The potential political and national security implications of this destabilization cannot be ignored.

Mafia Suspect Arrested

A doubtable is arrested during a massive takedown of the Mafia in New York City and other East Coast cities in 2011.

Italian Organized Offense/Mafia

Since their appearance in the 1800s, Italian organized crime groups, broadly known as the Italian Mafia, have infiltrated the social and economic fabric of Italy and accept become transnational in nature. Inside Italy, at that place are four agile groups: Cosa Nostra (Sicilian Mafia), Camorra, 'Ndrangheta, and Sacra Corona Unita. They are also known to collaborate with other international organized offense groups from all over the globe to carry out their criminal activities.

In the United States, La Cosa Nostra originated with Cosa Nostra, and at that place are several Mafia groups operating in the Us under the La Cosa Nostra proper noun. The FBI estimates the group has more than iii,000 members and associates scattered mostly throughout major cities in the Northeast, Midwest, California, and the South. Their largest presence centers effectually New York, southern New Bailiwick of jersey, and Philadelphia. The major threats to American social club posed past these groups are drug trafficking—heroin, in detail—and money laundering. They as well are involved in illegal gambling, political corruption, extortion, kidnapping, fraud, counterfeiting, murders, bombings, weapons trafficking, and the infiltration of legitimate businesses.

A Long History

These enterprises evolved over the course of 3,000 years during numerous periods of invasion and exploitation by numerous conquering armies in Italy. Over the millennia, Sicilians became more clannish and began to rely on familial ties for condom, protection, justice, and survival. An undercover secret society formed initially as resistance fighters against the invaders and to exact frontier vigilante justice against oppression.

In Sicily, the word Mafia tends to hateful "manly." A member was known as a "man of honor," respected and admired because he protected his family and friends and kept silent fifty-fifty unto decease. Sicilians weren't concerned if the group profited from its actions because it came at the expense of the oppressive authorities. These secret societies somewhen grew into the Sicilian Mafia, and changed from a group of honorable Sicilian men to an organized criminal group in the 1920s.

La Cosa Nostra

La Cosa Nostra evolved from the Sicilian Mafia and is i of the foremost organized criminal threats to American society. Translated into English it means "this affair of ours." It is a nationwide alliance of criminals—linked by claret ties or through conspiracy—dedicated to pursuing crime and protecting its members. Information technology also is called the Mafia, a term used to draw other organized law-breaking groups.

The LCN, as it is known by the FBI, consists of different "families" or groups that are mostly arranged geographically and engaged in significant and organized racketeering activity. It is involved in a broad spectrum of illegal activities: murder, extortion, drug trafficking, corruption of public officials, gambling, infiltration of legitimate businesses, labor racketeering, loan sharking, prostitution, pornography, tax-fraud schemes, and stock manipulation schemes.

The LCN is most active in the New York metropolitan expanse, parts of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, and New England. The major LCN families include the five New York-based families—Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Luchese; the Newark-based DeCavalcante family; the New England LCN; the Philadelphia LCN; and the Chicago Outfit. They have members in other major cities and are involved in international crimes. Although the LCN has its roots in Italian organized crime, it has been a split organization for many years. Today it cooperates in various criminal activities with different criminal groups that are headquartered in Italy.

LCN and Labor Racketeering

Labor racketeering is the domination, manipulation, and control of a labor motion in order to bear on related businesses and industries. FBI investigations over the years have clearly demonstrated that labor racketeering costs the American public millions of dollars each year through increased labor costs that are eventually passed on to consumers. This crime has become one of the LCN's fundamental sources of profit, national power, and influence. In addition to the LCN, the FBI has seen an increase in labor racketeering activities by other TOC groups.

Labor unions provide a rich source for organized criminal groups to exploit: their pension, welfare, and health funds. At that place are approximately 75,000 union locals in the U.S., and many of them maintain their own benefit funds. Labor racketeers attempt to control health, welfare, and alimony plans by offering "sweetheart" contracts, peaceful labor relations, and relaxed work rules to companies, or past rigging union elections. Labor police force violations occur primarily in large cities with both a stiff industrial base and strong labor unions, like New York, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. These cities too take a large presence of organized crime figures.

The FBI works closely with the Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General and with the U.Southward. Attorneys' offices in investigating violations of labor constabulary. We besides have several investigative techniques to root out labor law violations, including electronic surveillance, undercover operations, confidential sources, and victim interviews. Additionally, numerous criminal and ceremonious statutes are at our disposal, primarily through the RICO statute.

The civil provisions of the RICO statute, especially the consent decrees, have proven to be very powerful weapons against labor racketeering. They are often more productive because they set on the entire corrupt entity instead of imprisoning individuals, who tin easily be replaced with other organized crime members or associates. Consent decrees are well-nigh constructive when in that location is long-term, systemic corruption at virtually every level of a labor union by criminal organizations. A civil RICO complaint and subsequent consent decree can restore commonwealth to a corrupt union by imposing civil remedies designed to eliminate such corruption and deter its re-emergence.

Read more nigh the history of La Cosa Nostra and the Genovese Offense Family.

Cosa Nostra (Sicilian Mafia)

Since the early on 1900s, Cosa Nostra has evolved into an international organized law-breaking group. Some experts estimate it is the second largest arrangement in Italian republic. Based in Sicily, this group specializes in heroin trafficking, political corruption, and military arms trafficking—and also is known to engage in arson, frauds, counterfeiting, and other racketeering crimes.

The Sicilian Mafia is infamous for its ambitious assaults on Italian constabulary enforcement officials. In Sicily the term "excellent cadaver" is used to distinguish the assassination of prominent government officials from the mutual criminals and ordinary citizens killed by the Mafia. High-ranking victims include police commissioners, mayors, judges, police colonels and generals, and Parliament members.

'Ndrangheta (Calabrian Mafia)

The discussion "'Ndrangheta" comes from Greek, meaning backbone or loyalty. The 'Ndrangheta formed in the 1860s when a group of Sicilians was banished from the island past the Italian authorities. They settled in Calabria and formed small criminal groups.

'Ndrangheta has many cells, which are loosely continued family groups based on blood relationships and marriages. They specialize in kidnapping and political corruption, simply also appoint in drug trafficking, murder, bombings, counterfeiting, gambling, frauds, thefts, labor racketeering, loansharking, and alien smuggling.

Camorra (Neapolitan Mafia)

The Camorra first appeared in the mid-1800s in Naples, Italy, as a prison gang—the word "Camorra" ways gang. One time released, members formed clans in cities and eventually grew into the largest of the Italian organized criminal offence groups.

The Camorra fabricated a fortune in reconstruction later an convulsion ravaged the Campania region in 1980. Now it specializes in cigarette smuggling and receives payoffs from other criminal groups for whatever cigarette traffic through Italy. The Camorra is also involved in money laundering, extortion, alien smuggling, robbery, bribery, kidnapping, political abuse, and counterfeiting.

Sacra Corona Unita

Constabulary enforcement became enlightened of the Sacra Corona Unita—translated to "United Sacred Crown"—in the tardily 1980s. Like other groups, information technology started as a prison gang. As its members were released, they settled in the Puglia region of Italy and continued to abound and form links with other Mafia groups.

The Sacra Corona Unita specializes in smuggling cigarettes, drugs, arms, and people. Information technology is besides involved in money laundering, extortion, and political corruption. The organization collects payoffs from other criminal groups for landing rights on the southeast coast of Italy, a natural gateway for smuggling to and from post-Communist countries similar Croatia, Republic of albania, and the former Yugoslavia.

Western Hemisphere Organized Crime


The FBI remains focused on efforts to counter transnational criminal threats originating from the western hemisphere—in particular, in three critical areas of criminal activity known as the source zone (where the activity originates), the transit zone (the areas through which the activity passes), and the retail zone (the action'due south ultimate destination).

Source zone countries such as Colombia, Peru, and Republic of bolivia account for all the coca harvested in the globe, while Mexico is the largest producer of heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana in the western hemisphere. The paramount offense issue in the source zone is the production of illicit narcotics, followed by money laundering, alien smuggling, illegal weapons trafficking, and human being trafficking. The transnational criminal organizations enriched and empowered past these activities are responsible for much of the violence in this zone.

The transit zone is comprised of Mexico and Central American countries, primarily Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Republic of el salvador. The various Key American gangs and other regional groups are involved in migrant smuggling, human trafficking, drug smuggling, and the trafficking of firearms. Due to escalating Mexican law enforcement attention against transnational criminal organizations in that land, Central American drug menstruation has increased dramatically in the last decade. The resulting displacement of criminal action and attendant violence from Mexico to other countries in this zone underscores the need for coordinated regional strategies to address transnational criminal activities, so that one land'due south success does not negatively bear upon another'due south. Also, the islands of the Caribbean, including Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, can be considered points of business organisation for similar reasons.

The retail zone comprises the United States and Canada. The U.Southward. provides the largest drug consumption market in the western hemisphere while Canada serves two roles—as both a destination and transit country for illicit activities including drug smuggling and global alien smuggling.

To combat the activities of Mexican, Central American, and South American transnational criminal organizations—including illicit finance and money laundering activities and the flow of illegal drugs—the FBI works side-past-side with its numerous domestic and international partners to infiltrate, disrupt, and dismantle these groups by targeting their leadership and using sensitive investigative and intelligence techniques in long-term, proactive investigations.

International Organized Law-breaking Intelligence and Operations Eye


On May 29, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder announced the creation of the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2), which marshals the resources and information of nine U.Southward. law enforcement agencies, as well equally federal prosecutors, to collectively combat the threats posed by international criminal organizations to domestic safety and security. The IOC-2 allows partner agencies to join together in a job forcefulness setting, combine information, and produce actionable leads for investigators and prosecutors working nationwide to combat international organized law-breaking, and to coordinate the resulting multi-jurisdictional investigations and prosecutions.

The members participating in the IOC-2 include the Federal Agency of Investigation (FBI); U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice); the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); U.S. Internal Acquirement Service (IRS); the Agency of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); U.S. Secret Service (USSS); U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS); U.S. Department of Land, Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS); U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General (DOL-OIG); and the U.South. Department of Justice (DOJ), Criminal Sectionalisation.

The mission of the IOC-2 is to disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations posing the greatest threat to the United states of america by (1) providing de-confliction and coordination of multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency, and multi-national law enforcement operations, investigations, prosecutions, and forfeiture proceedings; (two) identifying and analyzing all source information and intelligence related to transnational organized crime; and (3) disseminating such data and intelligence to support member agency investigative efforts.

According to the U.S. Law Enforcement Strategy to Combat International Organized Crime (IOC Strategy) released in April 2008 past DOJ, international organized crime has considerably expanded in presence, sophistication, and significance in contempo years and it now threatens many aspects of how Americans live, piece of work, and do business. These threats include criminal penetration of global energy and strategic textile markets that are vital to American national security interests; logistical and other back up to terrorists and foreign intelligence services; the utilize of cyberspace to target U.S. persons and infrastructure; and the manipulation of securities markets and financial institutions.

Major Theft Crimes

Major theft crimes caused by transnational, national, and regionally based criminal enterprises have a devastating touch on the U.S. economy, not only contributing to the rise of consumer prices, but also to the loss of tax revenues to states and communities. Major theft crimes may support terrorism-related funding and are directly related to organized offense groups, drug trafficking organizations, gang criminal enterprises, and illegal alien groups. Groups that commit major thefts likewise appoint in other criminal acts, including vehement crimes, fraud, money laundering, wire and mail fraud, intellectual property crime, and public corruption.

The FBI focuses its resource on the most egregious major theft activity which crosses state and sometimes international lines, particularly thefts of art, cargo, jewelry and gems, retail, and vehicles. Often working adjacent with state and local law enforcement on task forces and in partnership with many manufacture groups, the FBI uses sophisticated techniques, including undercover operations and court-authorized surveillance, to identify and dismantle the criminal networks that commit these major thefts.

Art Theft

Art theft is the illicit trade in fine art and cultural artifacts includes theft of individual works of art, illegal export of objects protected past international laws, and pillaging of archaeological sites. The art and cultural holding community estimates thefts to be near $500 million annually. It is an international problem requiring cooperation at all levels of police enforcement. Significant efforts are currently focused on ISIL looting and trafficking in cultural property to fund their terrorist agenda.

Although tremendous strides accept been fabricated to gainsay cultural property crime, intelligence reveals this is a growing global threat, demanding proactive FBI measures and resources. To aid in this endeavour, the FBI established the National Stolen Art File (NSAF)–a computerized index of stolen art and cultural belongings as reported to the FBI past law enforcement agencies throughout the U.South. and internationally–and the Fine art Crime Team, responsible for addressing art and cultural criminal offense cases.

Read more about our Art Theft Program.

Cargo Theft

Cargo theft is a significant offense problem in the U.S.  According to industry estimates, annual losses attributed to stolen cargo are estimated to be in excess of $thirty billion and greatly affect United states, interstate, and international commerce. Widespread cargo theft has too given rise to concomitant offenses such as robbery, kidnapping, homicide, interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles, drug trafficking, health intendance fraud, money laundering and insurance fraud.

Despite the creation of a national cargo theft definition and subsequent addition of a cargo theft category in the FBI'due south Uniform Law-breaking Reporting (UCR) Plan, UCR reporting of cargo theft remains at a fraction of estimated cargo theft activity nationally. Cargo theft is identified as a high priority due to its adverse economic bear upon, negative impact on the retail supply concatenation, disruptive nature on the flow of commerce, and the potential for significant wellness and prophylactic implications. Health and prophylactic implications focus heavily on a business organisation for the theft of food and drink consumables, health and dazzler aids, and prescription and over-the-counter medicines and pharmaceuticals.

Jewelry and Precious stone Theft

Jewelry and gem thefts are oftentimes committed by organized criminal enterprises consisting of sophisticated thieves and organized fences for the stolen belongings. The jewelry and jewel manufacture sustains estimated annual losses in excess of $ane.5 billion. In some cases, these crimes resulted in serious concrete injury or expiry. Jewelry and gem theft investigations can be extremely complex, national or international in telescopic, and crave a specialized cognition of the jewelry manufacture and how it operates.

As part of these investigations, the FBI liaisons with the jewelry industry and police departments, coordinates multi-divisional investigations, assists the field offices and Legal Attaché offices overseas in JAG-related investigations, and supports an manufacture-owned and operated database, which is available to all law enforcement from the Jewelers' Security Brotherhood.

Read more about our Jewelry and Precious stone Theft Program.

Organized Retail Theft

Industry experts approximate that organized retail crimes cost the U.S. approximately $30 billion each year. While that estimate includes other crimes like credit card fraud, souvenir card fraud, and toll tag switching, other forms of theft may threaten consumer wellness and safety as stolen food products, pharmaceuticals, and other items are non maintained under proper weather or labeled so may be less effective or chancy when used past unsuspecting consumers. Organized retail theft causes higher prices for American consumers and less sales tax acquirement for country and local governments.

The FBI focuses on the well-nigh pregnant retail theft cases involving the interstate transportation of stolen property every bit organized retail theft is a gateway crime, which major crime rings use the illicit proceeds to fund other crimes, such every bit organized crime activities, health care fraud, money laundering, and potentially terrorism. The FBI uses many of the same investigative techniques against organized retail theft groups that it uses against whatever criminal enterprise and partners with police force enforcement at the federal, country, and local levels in society to share intelligence and work together operationally.

Vehicle Theft

From 2011 through 2015, reported vehicle thefts averaged just nether 707,000 per yr.  Industry experts guess that vehicle thefts account for $4.95 billion in losses annually.  The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) estimates a national recovery rate of approximately 50-60 per centum, making the average annual realized loss over $2 billion. In add-on to the agin economic impact, vehicle theft and its associated national and international criminal enterprises have been identified equally having a strong nexus to threat financing where the vehicles are used equally a medium or currency for worldwide financial transactions relating to drug trafficking, money laundering, terrorism, and RICO violations.

With a majority of stolen vehicles occurring in cities and states in close proximity to export areas such as international borders and seaports; it is believed that many unrecovered stolen vehicles are exported to Mexico and countries in Central America, Eastern Europe, Westward Africa, and Asia.  The FBI focuses its limited resources on disrupting and dismantling the most sophisticated multi-jurisdictional criminal organizations responsible for the interstate and international trafficking of stolen vehicles, peculiarly those that use the criminal proceeds from vehicle theft to fund other criminal activity.