Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, are politically motivated. Sometimes criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts money from shopkeepers for "protection". Gangs may become disciplined enough to be considered organized. A criminal organization or gang can also be referred to as a mafia, mob, ring, or syndicate; the network, subculture and community of criminals may be referred to as the underworld. European sociologists define a “mafia” as a type of organized crime group that specializes in the supply of extra-legal protection and quasi law enforcement. Gambetta's classic work on the original “Mafia”, or the Sicilian Mafia, generates an economic study of the mafia, which exerts great influence on studies of the Russian mafia, the Chinese triads, Hong Kong mafia and the Japanese yakuza.
A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in illegal, and possibly violent, behavior. Gangs arose in America by the middle of the nineteenth century and were a concern for city leaders from the time they appeared. Some members of criminal gangs are "jumped in", or have to prove their loyalty and right to belong by committing certain acts, usually theft or violence. A member of a gang may be called a "gangster", or, less specifically, a "thug".
A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the largest trafficking organizations reached an agreement to coordinate the production and distribution of cocaine. Since that agreement was broken up, drug cartels are no longer actually cartels, but the term stuck and it is now popularly used to refer to any criminal narcotics related organization.
Russian organized crime or Russian mafia, otherwise known as Bratva, is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union. The acronym OPG is Organized Criminal Group, used to refer to any of the Russian mafia groups, sometimes modified with a specific name, e.g. Orekhovskaya OPG. Sometimes the initialism is translated and OCG is used.
Montreuil, sometimes unofficially called Montreuil-sous-Bois, is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.6 km (4.1 mi) from the center of Paris. It is the fourth most populous suburb of Paris. Montreuil is located near the Bois de Vincennes park.
Les Apaches was a Parisian Belle Époque violent criminal underworld subculture of early 20th-century hooligans, night muggers, street gangs and other criminals.
Illegalism is a tendency of anarchism that developed primarily in France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland during the early 1900s as an outgrowth of individualist anarchism. Illegalists embrace criminality either openly or secretly as a lifestyle. Illegalism does not specify the type of crime, though it is associated with theft and shoplifting.
Organized crime in Italy and its criminal organizations have been prevalent in Italy, especially Southern Italy, for centuries and have affected the social and economic life of many Italian regions since at least the 19th century.
Alfred Polizzi was a Sicilian emigrant to the United States who was boss of the Cleveland crime family in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1935 to 1945. He stabilized the Cleveland crime family after a period of revenge killings, and was one of the most influential mobsters in the United States. He retired to Florida in 1945, where he was involved in the construction industry. He used several aliases, including "Big Al" and Albert Allen.
The gang de la Brise de Mer is one of the most powerful Corsican criminal organizations. Based in Northern Corsica, the gang controls various activities in Corsica, but also in the South of France, in Paris, in Italy, in Occidental African countries, and in Latin American countries.
The Free State of Galveston was a whimsical name given to the coastal city of Galveston in the U.S. state of Texas during the early-to-mid-20th century. Today, the term is sometimes used to describe the culture and history of that era.
The Corsican mafia is a set of criminal groups which are part of the French Mob, originating from Corsica. The Corsican mafia is an influential organized crime structure, operating in France, Russia, and many African and Latin American countries. The most important groups of the Corsican mafia include the Unione Corse and the Brise de Mer gang.
Primarily, organized crime in France is based in its urban, major cities such as Marseille, Grenoble, Paris, and Lyon. Organized criminals are collectively known as the French Mob and singularly known as les beaux voyous operating within Le Milieu.
Crime in France is combated by a range of French law enforcement agencies.
A triad is a Chinese transnational organized crime syndicate based in Greater China and has outposts in various countries with significant overseas Chinese populations.
The Azerbaijani mafia is a general term for organized criminal gangs, mostly based in Moscow and other major Russia cities like Saint Petersburg, that consist of ethnic Azerbaijanis. Outside of Russia they are active in most former Soviet states such as Ukraine, Baltic States such as Estonia and Latvia as well as in Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The Paris metropolitan area has a large Maghrebi population, in part as a result of French colonial ties to that region. As of 2012 the majority of those of African origin living in Paris come from the Maghreb, including Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. There were 30,000 people with Algerian nationality, 21,000 persons with Moroccan nationality, and 15,000 persons with Tunisian nationality in the city of Paris in 2009. In addition, there were thousands of Maghrebi Jews who fled the Maghreb as a consequence of the post-World War II Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries.
Cape Verdean organized crime refers to the various criminal organizations that are active in Cape Verdean diaspora communities. The Cape Verdean Islands themselves are not main centres for criminal activities, but Cape Verde's increased importance as a transshipment point in the West African cocaine trade and the existence of sizeable Cape Verdean communities in New England, the Dutch port city of Rotterdam as well as in several cities in Portugal, France and Switzerland led to the formation of criminal gangs in the community active in the international drug trade supplemented with other criminal activities. Cape Verdean organized crime primarily comes in the form of street gangs, with varying levels of organization and sophistication.
Karim Achoui is a French-Algerian lawyer.
