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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. While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, rebel forces, and separatists, are politically motivated. Many criminal organizations rely on fear or terror to achieve their goals or aims as well as to maintain control within the organization and may adopt tactics commonly used by authoritarian regimes to maintain power. Some forms of organized crime simply exist to cater towards demand of illegal goods in a state or to facilitate trade of goods and services that may have been banned by a state. Sometimes, criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts money from shopkeepers for "protection". Street gangs may often be deemed organized crime groups or, under stricter definitions of organized crime, may become disciplined enough to be considered organized. A criminal organization can also be referred to as a gang, mafia, mob, (crime) ring, or syndicate; the network, subculture, and community of criminals involved in organized crime may be referred to as the underworld or gangland. Sociologists sometimes specifically distinguish a "mafia" as a type of organized crime group that specializes in the supply of extra-legal protection and quasi-law enforcement. Academic studies of the original "Mafia", the Italian Mafia, which predates the other groups, generated an economic study of organized crime groups and exerted great influence on studies of the Russian mafia, the Chinese Triads, the Hong Kong Triads, and the Japanese Yakuza.
A balaclava, also known as a balaclava helmet, ski mask, or shiesty, is a form of cloth headgear designed to expose only part of the face, usually the eyes and mouth. Depending on style and how it is worn, only the eyes, mouth and nose, or just the front of the face are unprotected. Versions with enough of a full face opening may be rolled into a hat to cover the crown of the head or folded down as a collar around the neck.
Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank-owned property, such as a train, armored car, or (historically) stagecoach. It is a federal crime in the United States.
The Brabant killers, also named the Nijvel Gang in Dutch-speaking media, and the mad killers of Brabant in French-speaking media, are responsible for a series of violent attacks that mainly occurred in the Belgian province of Brabant between 1982 and 1985. A total of 28 people died and 22 were injured. The actions of the gang, believed to consist of a core of three men, made it Belgium's most notorious unsolved crime spree. The active participants were known as The Giant ; the Killer and the Old Man. The identities and whereabouts of the "Brabant killers" are unknown. Although significant resources are still dedicated to the case, the most recent arrests are of the now-retired original senior detectives themselves, for alleged evidence tampering.
A disguise can be anything which conceals or changes a person's physical appearance, including a wig, glasses, makeup, fake moustache, costume or other items. Camouflage is a type of disguise for people, animals and objects. Hats, glasses, changes in hair style or wigs, plastic surgery, and make-up are also used.
The 2006 Securitas depot robbery in Tonbridge, England, was the UK's largest cash heist. It began with a kidnapping on the evening of 21 February 2006 and ended in the early hours of 22 February, when seven criminals stole almost £53 million. The gang left behind another £154 million because they did not have the means to transport it.
Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud ; theft; scams or confidence tricks; tax evasion; bribery; sedition; embezzlement; identity theft; money laundering; and forgery and counterfeiting, including the production of counterfeit money and consumer goods.
The Graff Diamonds robbery took place on 6 August 2009 when two men posing as customers entered the premises of Graff Diamonds in New Bond Street, London and stole jewellery worth nearly £40 million. It was believed to be the largest ever gems heist in Britain at the time, and the second largest British robbery after the £53 million raid on a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006. The robbers' haul totalled 43 items of jewellery, consisting of rings, bracelets, necklaces and wristwatches. One necklace alone has been reported as being worth more than £3.5m. Britain's previous largest jewellery robbery also took place at Graff's, in 2003.
Forrest Silva "Woody" Tucker was an American career criminal first imprisoned at age 15 who spent the rest of his life in and out of jail. He is best known as an escape artist, having escaped from prison "18 times successfully and 12 times unsuccessfully", by his own reckoning. The 2018 film The Old Man & the Gun, starring Robert Redford as Tucker, is based on his life.
"Geezer Bandit" is the name given by the FBI to a man who committed a series of bank robberies in Southern California. The Geezer Bandit is accused of robbing at least sixteen banks so far, many in the San Diego, California area. His most recent robbery occurred on Friday, December 2, 2011.
On 18 February 2013, eight masked gunmen in two cars with police markings stole approximately US$50,000,000 worth of diamonds from a Swiss-bound Fokker 100 operated by Helvetic Airways on the apron at Brussels Airport, Belgium, just before 20:00 CET. The heist was accomplished without a shot being fired.
Rédoine Faïd is a French gangster and serial jailbreaker, considered France's most wanted criminal in 2013.
Anti-mask or anti-masking laws are legislative or penal initiatives prohibiting the concealment of one's face in public. Anti-mask laws vary widely between jurisdictions in their intent, scope, and penalties.
Ho! is a 1968 French-Italian crime film directed by Robert Enrico and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. It is based on the 1964 novel Ho! by José Giovanni.
Major Grom is a 2017 Russian short action film directed by Vladimir Besedin, based on the comic character Major Grom.
The Air Canada masked stowaway case, also known as the Case of the "Disguised Man" (“易容男”案发) in Chinese, began with a stowaway incident on October 29, 2010, when a young man of Chinese descent illegally boarded Air Canada flight 018 from Hong Kong to Vancouver wearing a commercially available silicone head and neck mask to impersonate a white elderly man. He removed the mask in the aircraft lavatory later in the flight, and a passenger alerted the crew after a young Asian man tried to occupy the seat formerly occupied by what appeared to be an old white man. The crew questioned the man and then alerted authorities who took the man into custody after landing. He requested asylum in Canada, and was released on bond three months later. Because of privacy concerns the Canada Border Services Agency and the Immigration Ministry would not reveal the man's name. The incident was detailed in a confidential CBSA alert titled "Unbelievable Case Of Concealment" that was leaked to the American news network CNN who made it an international story on November 5. In Hong Kong, an organized crime probe was launched after this case embarrassed security services, and several people were arrested and convicted in conjunction with this and related cases.
The Felony Lane Gang is an organized crime gang that has been based on Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
References
- ↑ Silicone masks -- the new criminal weapons , retrieved 2019-11-03
- ↑ "US criminals using film quality masks during bank robberies". December 10, 2010 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ↑ "White Robber Used Black Mask to Evade Arrest". ABC News. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
- ↑ Hutcheon, Stephen (2010-11-10). "Meet the man behind the mask". The Courier. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
- ↑ "Hong Kong conviction over 'old man' plane disguise". 2011-10-17. ISSN 0307-1235 . Retrieved 2019-11-02.
- ↑ Loughran, Jack (2017-11-16). "Hollywood's silicone masks used to commit crimes, most people can't distinguish from real faces". eandt.theiet.org. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
- ↑ Bernstein, Sharon (2010-12-09). "'Hyper-realistic' masks put new faces on crime". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2019-11-03.
- ↑ "North Carolina bank robber caught after using latex mask to look like old man: cops". New York Daily News. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
- ↑ El-Ghobashy, Tamer. "How scammers used a silicone mask and Skype to impersonate a French minister and steal $90 million". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
- ↑ Schofield, Hugh. "The fake French minister in a silicone mask who stole millions". BBC News. BBC.
- ↑ Agence France-Presse in Paris (March 11, 2020). "Gang impersonated Jean-Yves Le Drian, sometimes with lookalike mask, to dupe rich and famous". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
- ↑ "Gang leader disguises himself in silicone mask of his daughter's face in jailbreak bid". The Independent. 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
- ↑ "A man using a prosthetic mask stole more than $100,000 at casinos, prosecutors say". CBS58. Retrieved 2020-07-27.