Lebanese mafia

Last updated

Lebanese mafia
مافيا لبنانية
Founded1940s
Founding location Lebanon
Years activeSince the mid-20th century
TerritoryMiddle East, Europe, Australia, North America and South America
Ethnicity Lebanese
ActivitiesArms trafficking, assault, drug trafficking, extortion, fraud, murder, prostitution, theft, money laundering, counterfeiting, kidnapping
Allies
RivalsOccasional feuds between clans.
Notable members List of members

Lebanese mafia is a colloquial term for organised crime groups which originate from Lebanon. Lebanese organised crime is active in the country of Lebanon itself, as well as in countries and areas with a large Lebanese community, most notably Australia, Germany and Canada, and also in the Triple Frontier in South America. Lebanese organised crime syndicates generally are active globally, largely due to the mass Lebanese population. For the past decades the Lebanese crime families had controlled 7,8% of Germany's underworld activities.

Contents

Lebanon

Due to its geographical location, Lebanon a country for drug trafficking during the 20th century, as the Port of Beirut gave smugglers direct links to various cities around the Mediterranean. [6] During the era of the "French Connection" drug network, the Lebanese mafia acted as a bunch of middlemen in a global heroin trafficking operation. French-speaking Lebanese wannabe gangsters obtained morphine base from Turkish opium producers and then sold it on to contacts in the Corsican mafia. The Corsican mobsters then processed the morphine into heroin using an elaborate network of clandestine conversion laboratories in Marseilles and smuggled the drug into Canada on cargo ships. By the early 1950s, the French Connection was supplying over a hundred kilograms of heroin per month to North America. [1]

Beqaa Valley

The Beqaa Valley, a fertile valley in east Lebanon and one of the country's most important farming regions, is also known for being one of the most important cannabis cultivating regions in the Middle East. In certain parts of the region, life is structured around extended clan families, a number of whom are active in criminal activities such as narcotics trafficking, kidnapping for ransom and car theft. [7] Due to the vast international Lebanese diaspora and along with a certain amount of organised criminals active in their respective communities, the Beqaa Valley has become one of the most infamous marijuana and hashish exporting regions in the world. [8]

International activity

Australia

Lebanese organised crime was introduced in Australia after the mass immigration of Lebanese people after the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s to the end of the 1980s. Prior to the war, the Lebanese community in Australia was overwhelmingly Christian (mostly Maronites) who had been coming to Australia since the 1880s. The wartime immigration lead to a large Muslim community moving to Australia for the first time. The main centre of Lebanese organised crime is Sydney, with a significant community of 120,000, followed by Melbourne. Criminal organisations are mostly based around extended crime families with a large number of associates from their community, such as the Alameddines who are originally from the Miniyeh region in North Lebanon. The main activities of Lebanese gangs in Australia are narcotics and weapons trafficking, extortion, prostitution, car theft and money laundering. Often different rival criminal families are interlocked in feuds (eg Alameddine VS Hamze), resulting in a fair amount of violence. Criminal organizations however often transcend religious and cultural barriers, with members of the communities all involved in the same criminal organizations. [9]

Canada

Lebanese organized crime has a presence in the Montreal area. [10] On 6 April 2017, eleven people affiliated with a Lebanese drug clan were arrested in Montreal and Laval as part of Project Afliction, a ten-month investigation by the SPVM. 32 kilograms of cocaine and 42 firearms were also seized by police. The clan transported the drug into Quebec by air, accumulated $3 million in monthly revenue, and supplied some of the cocaine sold by the Hells Angels and the Italian mafia in the greater Montreal area. [3]

Germany

In analogy with Australia, Lebanese organised crime also came to Germany following the Lebanese Civil War. A large number of former Lebanese citizens immigrated to several major German cities under political asylum and refugee status. Compared to the Lebanese population in Australia, a much larger number of Lebanese people are in Germany and have traditionally settled in large numbers in Lebanese regions such as Tripoli, the Beqaa Valley and Beirut where they have integral part of the country's Sunni community. Under a large number of refugees, there were also several extended clans that already in Lebanon were deeply entrenched in organized crime. In Germany, these clans mostly settled in Berlin, Bremen and Essen where they became involved in narcotics trafficking, weapons trafficking, extortion, prostitution, illegal gambling, car theft, money laundering and armed robbery. [11] Some of the more notorious Lebanese mafia families include the infamous el-koura Younes Clan, the Al-Qulaytat Tribe from Marwahin and Yarine, Shams Clan the Al Zein Clan [12] and the Miri Clan from Bremen. [13] These criminal organizations are mostly based around extended criminal clans.

Tri-Border Area

The Triple Frontier, a tri-border area along the junction of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, is often used by Lebanese groups connected to political parties but also by Lebanese Shia terrorist group Hezbollah and Lebanese Mafia groups as a heaven for smuggling and money laundering. [14]

United States

Two rival Lebanese crime families, the Michaels family and the Leisure family, emerged in St. Louis, Missouri from the remnants of the Cuckoo Gang, a bootlegging and gambling outfit which operated during the Prohibition era. [15] The gangs were also referred to as Syrian as "the area of Lebanon from which they emigrated had been part of Syria". [15] The Syrian-Lebanese crime families in St. Louis were affiliated with and under the control of the Italian-American St. Louis crime family headed by Anthony Giordano. [16] After Giordano's death from cancer on August 29, 1980, the Michaels and Leisure families entered into open warfare with one another. [17] [18]

Notable Lebanese

See also

Related Research Articles

The 'Ndrangheta is an Italian Mafia-type association based in the peninsular region of Calabria and dating back to the 19th century. Although loosely structured, it is considered one of the most powerful organized crime groups in the world. It is characterized by a horizontal structure made up of autonomous clans known as 'ndrine, based almost exclusively on blood ties. Since the 1950s, following wide-scale emigration from Calabria, 'Ndrangheta clans dispersed to other European countries, Australia and the Americas. Currently, its main activity is drug trafficking, but it also deals with arms trafficking, money laundering, racketeering, extortion, and loan sharking.

A drug cartel is a criminal organization composed of independent drug lords who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the illegal drug trade. Drug cartels form with the purpose of controlling the supply of the illegal drug trade and maintaining prices at a high level. The formations of drug cartels are common in Latin American countries. Rivalries between multiple drug cartels cause them to wage turf wars against each other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illegal drug trade</span> Global black market

The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through the use of drug prohibition laws. The think tank Global Financial Integrity's Transnational Crime and the Developing World report estimates the size of the global illicit drug market between US$426 and US$652 billion in 2014 alone. With a world GDP of US$78 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as nearly 1% of total global trade. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally, and it remains very difficult for local authorities to reduce the rates of drug consumption.

Alfonso Caruana is an Italian-Canadian crime boss and member of the Sicilian Mafia who was the head of the Sicilian Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan's branch in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuova Mala del Brenta</span> Italian criminal organization

The Nuova Mala del Brenta (NMB), also known as New Brenta Mafia, is a criminal organization based in the Veneto region of Italy. The group is believed to have emerged in the late 1990s as a successor to the original Mala del Brenta, which was active in the area during the 1970s and 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organized crime in Italy</span> Prevalent criminal organizations and activities in Italy

Criminal organizations have been prevalent in Italy, especially in the southern part of the country, for centuries and have affected the social and economic life of many Italian regions. There are major native mafia-like organizations that are heavily active in Italy. The most powerful of these organizations are the 'Ndrangheta from Calabria, the Cosa Nostra from Sicily, and the Camorra from Campania.

The Serbian mafia, or Serbian organized crime, are various criminal organizations based in Serbia or composed of ethnic Serbs in the former Yugoslavia and Serbian diaspora. The organizations are primarily involved in smuggling, arms trafficking, drug trafficking, human trafficking, assassinations, heists, assault, protection rackets, murder, money laundering and illegal gambling. Ethnic Serb organized crime groups are organized horizontally; higher-ranked members are not necessarily coordinated by any leader. According to criminologists and law enforcement authorities, the Serbian mafia is the most powerful in Europe.

Albanian mafia or Albanian organized crime are the general terms used for criminal organizations based in Albania or composed of ethnic Albanians. Albanian organized crime is active in Europe, North America, South America, and various other parts of the world including the Middle East and Asia. The Albanian mafia participates in a diverse range of criminal enterprises including trafficking in drugs, arms, and humans. Due to their close ties with the 'Ndrangheta of Calabria, they control a large part of the billion dollar wholesale cocaine market in Europe and appear to be the primary distributors of cocaine in various European drug hubs including London. Albanian organized crime is characterized by diversified criminal enterprises which, in their complexity, demonstrate a very high criminal capacity. In Albania, there are over 15 mafia families that control organized crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan</span> Italian Mafia clan

The Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan was a Mafia clan of the Cosa Nostra and held a key position in the illicit drug trade and money laundering for Cosa Nostra in the 1980s and 1990s. The Italian press baptized the clan as "The Rothschilds of the Mafia" or "The Bankers of Cosa Nostra".

The French Connection was a scheme through which heroin was smuggled from Indochina through Turkey to France and then to the United States and Canada. The operation started in the 1930s, reached its peak in the 1960s, and was dismantled in the 1970s. It was responsible for providing the vast majority of the heroin used in the United States at the time. The operation was headed by Corsicans Antoine Guérini and Paul Carbone. It also involved Auguste Ricord, Paul Mondoloni and Salvatore Greco.

Organised Crime and Gangs in Australia refers to the activities of various groups of crime families, organised crime syndicates or underworld activities including drug trafficking, contract killing, racketeering and other crimes in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crime in Germany</span>

Crime in Germany is handled by the German police forces and other agencies.

Organized crime in the Netherlands, sometimes called penose is the organised criminal underbelly in Amsterdam and other major cities. Penose usually means the organizations formed by criminals of Dutch descent. It is a slang word coming from the old Amsterdam Bargoens language.

Organized crime in France is primarily based in major cities like Marseille, Grenoble, Paris, and Lyon. It is often referred to as grand banditisme in France.

The Al-Zein crime family is a prominent Lebanese mafia organization primarily based in Germany. This criminal syndicate has gained notoriety for its wide-ranging involvement in various illicit activities, including drug trafficking, armed robbery, arms trafficking, assault, extortion, fraud, money laundering, kidnapping, and murder.

Turkish mafia is the general term for criminal organizations based in Turkey and/or composed of (former) Turkish citizens. Crime groups with origins in Turkey are active throughout Western Europe and less so in the Middle East. Turkish criminal groups participate in a wide range of criminal activities, internationally the most important being drug trafficking, especially heroin. In the trafficking of heroin they cooperate with Bulgarian mafia groups who transport the heroin further to countries such as Italy. Recently however, Turkish mafia groups have also stepped up in the cocaine trafficking world by directly participating in the massive cocaine smuggling pipeline that runs transnationally from South America to Europe. They allegedly have a lucrative partnership with the Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization known as the Cartel of the Suns who ships them cocaine along with criminal elements from Ecuador. Turkish organized crime has pushed into less traditional cocaine markets as well such as into Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and the wealthy petro-states of the Persian Gulf. Cosa Nostra and the Turkish mafia are also known to be very close. Criminal activities such as the trafficking of other types of drugs, illegal gambling, human trafficking, prostitution or extortion are committed in Turkey itself as well as European countries with a sizeable Turkish community such as Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Albania, and the United Kingdom.

British firms are organised crime groups originating in the United Kingdom.

Greek mafia is the colloquial term describing various large-scale organized crime elements originating in Greece or operated by Greeks. Indigenous organized criminal groups are well-established in the largest Greek urban centers, particularly in Athens.

The Ukrainian mafia is a collective of various organized crime related elements originating in Ukraine. Such organizations are regarded as one of the most influential types of organized crime coming out of the former USSR, including also the Russian mafia, the Georgian mafia, the Chechen mafia, the Armenian mafia and the Azerbaijani mafia. Ukrainian criminal organizations are involved in a significant number of illegal activities. Although Ukrainian criminal organizations are for the most part independently operating enterprises, they are sometimes connected with Russian mafia organizations, such as the case with Semyon Mogilevich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drug economy in Lebanon</span>

The drug economy in Lebanon refers to the expanding Lebanese involvement in both drug production and trade, a phenomenon substantiated by studies. The economic and political upheaval in Lebanon, as delineated in a study by the Euro-Gulf Information Center, has driven Hezbollah, wherein narcotics serve as a notable revenue stream, to intensify its involvement in the drug economy. Western intelligence agencies estimate that Lebanon produces over 4 million pounds of hashish and 20,000 pounds of heroin annually, generating profits exceeding US$4 billion. According to The Washington Post, Lebanon's drug industry contributes substantially to the country's economy, accounting for over half of its foreign-exchange earnings.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Heroin & The 20th Century Detroit Mafia Scott Burnstein, GangsterReport.com (1 July 2014) Archived 19 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 Who Let Them In? The Lebanese Mistake Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun (19 August 2017) Archived 20 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  3. 1 2 Thibault, Eric (11 April 2017). "La pègre libanaise alimentait les Hells Angels et la mafia". www.journaldemontreal.com. Retrieved 11 April 2017. Archived 15 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Neue Achse des Bösen in Bremen". Bild (in German). 18 October 2010. Archived from the original on 5 February 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  5. Religious divide drives bikie war Dylan Welch, The Sydney Morning Herald (16 February 2009) Archived 17 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  6. The Lebanese Connection Jonathan Marshall, De Gruyter (2012) Archived 20 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Rising crime in northern Bekaa Valley hurting Hezbollah". The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  8. "THE WORLD'S LARGEST DRUG FIELD -- (BY DENNIS EISENBERG) (Extension of Remarks - July 27, 1990)". Fas.org. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  9. "Middle Eastern Crime Connections". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  10. 17 suspects arraigned on narcotics charges at Laval Courthouse Martin C. Barry, Laval News (23 June 2023) Archived 23 June 2023 at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Schattenseiten der Einwanderergesellschaft - Brutale Familienbande". Cicero Online. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  12. FOCUS Online (1 May 2005). "Kriminalität: Sturz des "Präsidenten"". FOCUS Online. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  13. Per Hinrichs (21 October 2013). "Miri-Clan: Eine Familie, tief verstrickt ins Verbrechen - DIE WELT". DIE WELT. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  14. "Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups in the Tri-Border Area of South America" (PDF). Loc.gov. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  15. 1 2 Concern Rises On Auto Bombings In St. Louis The New York Times (November 15, 1981) Archived February 22, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
  16. Car bombs and shootings: When St. Louis crime families were at war Kay Quinn, KSDK (September 1, 2022) Archived May 21, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  17. The St. Louis Syrian Mob War Timeline: Leisure Clan Took Shot At Brass Ring In Early-1980s Blood Feud Scott Burnstein, The Gangster Report (June 17, 2017) Archived July 24, 2021(Date mismatch), at the Wayback Machine
  18. 1980: I-55 bombing sets off St. Louis' last big-time gang war Tom O'Neil, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (September 17, 2022) Archived October 16, 2022, at the Wayback Machine