CHAPTER 1: The discovery of organized crime: definitions and conceptualization
1. Introduction: Main points
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Law enforcement is more ⇒ Law enforcement (‘wetshandhaving’) ...: Het omvat de activiteiten die worden
than merely enforcing a rule / ondernomen door organisaties zoals de politie, het gerechtelijk apparaat, of andere
legal act overheidsinstanties om ervoor te zorgen dat mensen zich aan de wet houden.
● Phenomenon → Legislation → enforcement
● Examples:
○ ex. Detecting crimes
○ ex. Arresting suspects
○ ex. Protecting public order
⇒ … is more than merely enforcing a rule / legal act:
● Law enforcement also:
○ influences legislation (what politicians decide)
○ helps to enact1 legislation
● ex. They request help from politicians
○ “We need more manpower, technology, tools….”
2. The concept of “organized ⇒ “Organized crime”
crime” is a social construct ● ≠ A crime as such
● = A criminal phenomen
○ You can not see it
○ Its a label, concept formed by the society
■ How people define and understand organized crime can
change depending on social, political and cultural
factors.
○ It didn’t exist before 90’s
3. Usefulness of the concept of ⇒ Main idea: Seriousness → OC is crime and is serious
‘organized’ ● In UK they call it “serious crime”
2. History of the concept “Organized Crime” (OC) → Core Reading (text 1): Organized crime: A contested Concept
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
⇒ Shift in meanings, territorial scope & legitimacy
● Meanings
○ Many contradictory meanings
○ Switch back and forth between: Who and What
○ The different criminal actors & activities that belong under this label make it a vague umbrella concept
○ Can’t be used without specification as a basis for empirical analyses, theory building or policy making
● Territorial scope
○ Originally: Organised crime equated with racketeering
■ The core of it is extortion
■ An activity that is necessarily territorially based & carried out only on a local basis
○ Since 1990s: Organised crime has transnational nature
■ Dit werd door veel onderzoekers, overheidsinstanties en internationale organisaties (van de EU tot de VN)
benadrukt
● (The policy & scientific) Legitimacy (& relevance):
○ 1980s: From now on, most countries regarded organized crime as a serious domestic problem.
■ Before this was not the case
● Except in Italy and the U.S.
○ 1990s:
■ OC became an accepted policy & scientific concept throughout the world
● Result: Majority of governments & many international organizations (incl. UN) have adopted bills,
decrees, action plans or international treaties specifically targeting OC
● Focus on international dimension
■ OC became a legitimate scientific research topic
1
Invoeren
1
, 1. The American roots
1896 ⇒ The first use of the concept “OC” in the annual report of the New York Society for the Prevention of Crime
● It was used to refer to gambling & prostitution operations that were protected by public officials
○ “Protected gambling and prostitution”
● Illegal business dealings involving politicians, police officers, lawyers, etc.
● It was an American concept
1920 - 1930 ⇒ Development of illegal markets due to Prohibition
⇒ Serious efforts to define and discuss OC
● By who? Academics and commentators
● But: No specific reference to separate associations of gangsters (yet)
○ They were gangsters, but was he connected to other actors or politicians? That was not really
mentionned
● Often synonymous with ‘racketeering’
○ = Extortion (afpersing), predatory activities and provision of illegal goods and services such as
illegal gambling, counterfeit documents and trafficking in drugs and liquor.
⇒ 1927: ‘The Gang’
● Author: Thrasher
● = First pioneering work in the study of OC
● The main points:
○ First full scale treatment of OC
■ Dit boek was het 1e uitgebreide academische werk dat zich richtte op OC.
○ Structures of OC
■ ≠ hard, rigid structures
● ex. like in armies (soldiers), businesses
■ = Dynamic structures
○ Links, connection with the upper world
■ → Leading figures in society
■ ex. Police, Judges, Politicians, Academics
○ Indispensable2 functions played by certain specialized persons/groups including doctors, lawyers,
politicians, etc.
⇒ Between 1929 - 1931: Wickersham Commission
● = First federal government attempt to study OC
● Central: ‘What’
○ ‘What’ is more important than ‘who’
○ = The activities, criminal law categories
● Result: Rise of ‘Wickersham approach’
○ = understanding of OC as a set of criminal entrepreneurial activities with the frequent involvement
of legal businesses and state representatives
1945 - ⇒ After WOII
● Central: ‘Who’
○ ‘Who’ is more important than ‘what’
○ = The criminals
● Result: Rise of ‘alien conspiracy theory’
○ ‘Wickersham approach’ abandoned
1950 - 1960 ⇒ 1950: Kefauver Senate Investigation Committee
Peak ● Views:
○ ‘Alien conspiracy theory’
■ ‘Alien, parasitical corporation’
■ = Focus on foreign career criminals (foreigners)
● They constitue well-structured and powerful criminal organisations
representing a threat to the integrity of American society and politics
● = de theorie dat OC in de VS hoofdzakelijk werd aangestuurd dr
buitenlandse criminele netwerken, met name de Italiaanse maffia
■ Popularity: Remained3 official standpoint for almost three decades!
■ Result: Italian mafia-centred view of OC (‘La Cosa Nostra’)
○ Need for increased federal involvement in enforcement of gambling and drug laws
■ OC is nauw betrokken met gokken en drugshandel
○ Federal Narcotics Bureau (later DEA) as major ‘moral entrepreneur’ of organization-based
understanding of OC → Belangrijke speler in de strijd tegen OC
⇒ 1963: Joe Valachi
● = Member of Casa Nostra who was arrested
● What happened:
○ In jail he saw his boss → he got a kiss from his boss → He was sure it was the ‘kiss of death’ (he
was gonna get killed)
● His reaction: He testifies before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (Cosa Nostra)
○ He gave all inside info about La Casa Nostra
■ ex. About secret behaviors, codes, rituals of entering the organization…
○ Problem: The police only asked leading questions during the interrogation
● Result:
○ Enormous public impact
○ That moment: Merger4 of the two concepts of OC and ‘mafia’ fully accomplished
2
Onmisbare
3
bleef
4
Fusie
2
, ⇒ 1950-1960:
● Consolidation5 of the mafia-centred concept of OC
● Focus on NY City, but how ‘true’ and ‘general’ was this picture?
○ Police find out that what Valachi said was not all true
■ He told what the police wanted to hear
■ ex. There was no kiss of death, rituals of entering the cosa nostra were not all true
● Proposal to specifically outlaw6 membership of La Cosa Nostra rejected
○ Er waren voorstellen om het lidmaatschap van La Cosa Nostra, of soortgelijke criminele organisaties, expliciet
strafbaar te stellen.
○ Dit zou betekenen dat simpelweg deel uitmaken van de organisatie strafbaar was, ongeacht betrokkenheid bij
criminele activiteiten.
● Uneasiness7 with mafia paradigm
○ Demonstrated by:
■ Many law-enforcement officials at state and local levels
■ Members of Federal Organised Crime Strike Forces
○ There viewpoint:
■ Hoewel het beeld van de maffia als de belichaming van georganiseerde misdaad dominant was,
waren er veel actoren die twijfels hadden over dit paradigma.
■ Ze merkten op dat het simpelweg focussen op de maffia niet altijd werkte om georganiseerde
misdaad effectief aan te pakken.
■ Does not work to ban organizations
● Reason: OC is flexible
⇒ Past 1960’s:
● Central: ‘What’
○ Scientific attention shifted from ‘Who’ back to ‘What’
○ = The activities, criminal law categories
● Results: The rise of the illegal entreprise8 paradigm
○ Focus on the supply of illegal products and services
■ Focus on the market place → rise of the expression ‘illicit’ or ‘illegal enterprise’
■ The purpose of OC is to financially profit through crime and mainly responds to public demand for
services.
○ Idea of ‘alien conspiracy’ abandoned
■ Its been rejected by most American social scientists
● Ideological
● Serving personal political interests
● Lacking in accuracy and empirical evidence
1970 ⇒1970: RICO Act US Senate
● “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupted Organisations Act”
Peak ● = A landmark law aimed at fighting OC
● Main Point: Definition of OC in much broader terms than Cosa Nostra only to include less structured gangs and illicit enterprises.
○ However ....
■ Myth of powerful and centralized mafia organization long continued to be claimed whenever police
budgets had to be raised or new legislation had to be passed
○ And …
■ Public perception dominated by mafia-centered view on OC
● Movie The Godfather = obstacle for academics and policymakers
● Joe Valachi important role in the way we think
⇒ Beginning of the 1970s: War on drugs
● = Fighting drugs in the US, while drugs are pouring in from abroad?
● Critics of the war on drugs
○ Ethan Nadelman (1994)
■ ‘War on drugs’ = ineffective
● Leads to more criminality and social problems
● The fundamental problems of drugstrafficking will not be addressed
■ He advocates the decriminalization of certain drugs
○ Peter Lupsha (1981)
■ Purely repressive approach to organized crime = Counterproductive
■ He emphasized that drugs and OC are not mere law enforcement problems, but also have political
and economic dimensions that must be addressed.
● Law enforcement problems concerning drugs:
Case of Francois 〜 Belgium Case of IRT 〜 The Netherlands
⇒ François Thierry, who ran the drug-fighting OCRTIS ⇒ Interregionale Recherche Teams”:
("Central Office for the Suppression of Illicit Drug ● Aim: Tackle organized crime, especially drug
Trafficking") agency, faces allegations of: trafficking and other large-scale criminal
● het misbruiken van zijn positie om samen te activities.”
werken met drugscriminelen en was betrokken ⇒ = A scandal in which police forces allowed large amounts
bij illegale operaties, waarbij criminele of drugs to pass through in hopes of dismantling crim. netw.
organisaties met drugs mochten smokkelen ● Het leidde tot een groot politiek en
onder de schijn dat hij hen zou arresteren maatschappelijk debat over de grenzen van
opsporingsmethoden en het gebruik van
risicovolle tactieken in de strijd tegen
georganiseerde misdaad
● Export of the concept of OC as an instrument to increase international cooperation in the fight against drugs and to transfer law
enforcement techniques to other countries.
○ ‘You join us, or you are against us’
⇒ (Side-effect of) OC as a synonym for illegal enterprise!
● Term ‘OC’ used to refer to both
1. sets of people involved in illegal activities (e.g. Cosa Nostra) and
2. the sets of activities in itself.
● Thus: confusion between offender and offence, leading to circular reasoning
5
Versterken
6
Verbieden
7
Onbehagen
8
Onderneming
3
, 1980 ⇒ As from the early 1980s: host of other organized crime entities listed next to La Cosa Nostra, such as :
● Outlaw motorcycle and prison gangs
● Colombian cartels
● The Japanese Yakuza
● Eastern European (Russian) OC groups
● …
1990 ⇒ 1990’s onwards9: OC disappeared from US policy agenda
● Focus on terrorism, geopolitical issues
2000 ⇒ 2008: Interest in OC resurged
● Release ‘Law Enforcement Strategy to Combat International Organised Crime ’by US Department of Justice
● ‘Organized Crime Council’ reconvened10
⇒ 2009: Establishment of “International Organised Crime Intelligence and Operations Center’
2010 ⇒ 2011: ‘Strategy to Combat Transnational Organised Crime’ (Obama administration)
● Verantwoordelijke: Gelanceerd door de regering van president Barack Obama.
● = Het was een uitgebreide aanpak om de toenemende dreiging van georganiseerde misdaad op internationaal
niveau aan te pakken.
⇒ 2017: Executive Order on “Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and
Preventing International Trafficking
2020 ⇒ Increased policy attention in the US and EU
● Fighting organised crime – EU strategy for 2021-25
● This strategy aims to target action on the main criminal markets and address corruption and the financial
aspects of organized crime. It will be adopted together with a new strategy on human trafficking.
● Executive Order on Establishing the United States Council On Transnational Organized Crime, December 15,
2021
⇒ Intertwinement with cyber dimension
2. Europe
3. Transnational organized crime
Since late ● Transnational nature of OC emphasized → ‘transnational organized crime’ as a fixed expression
1980s ● e.g. Council of Europe, Schengen parties and European Communities focus on ‘cross-border crime’
1990s ⇒ ‘transnational organized crime’ fully institutionalized by UN
1994 ⇒ World Ministerial Conference
● Official baptism of the term, to dominate international debate11 for the following decade
⇒ Note:
● Later peak then in the US → Temporal mismatch
● Emphasis on transnational dimension of OC is misleading
○ Goods can cross borders, people can cross borders, but people still live somewhere and what we now know is that the
focus on transnational dimension is misleading
○ Majority of OC is very much locally based
9
Vanaf
10
Opnieuw bijeengeroepen
11
Debat
4
1. Introduction: Main points
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Law enforcement is more ⇒ Law enforcement (‘wetshandhaving’) ...: Het omvat de activiteiten die worden
than merely enforcing a rule / ondernomen door organisaties zoals de politie, het gerechtelijk apparaat, of andere
legal act overheidsinstanties om ervoor te zorgen dat mensen zich aan de wet houden.
● Phenomenon → Legislation → enforcement
● Examples:
○ ex. Detecting crimes
○ ex. Arresting suspects
○ ex. Protecting public order
⇒ … is more than merely enforcing a rule / legal act:
● Law enforcement also:
○ influences legislation (what politicians decide)
○ helps to enact1 legislation
● ex. They request help from politicians
○ “We need more manpower, technology, tools….”
2. The concept of “organized ⇒ “Organized crime”
crime” is a social construct ● ≠ A crime as such
● = A criminal phenomen
○ You can not see it
○ Its a label, concept formed by the society
■ How people define and understand organized crime can
change depending on social, political and cultural
factors.
○ It didn’t exist before 90’s
3. Usefulness of the concept of ⇒ Main idea: Seriousness → OC is crime and is serious
‘organized’ ● In UK they call it “serious crime”
2. History of the concept “Organized Crime” (OC) → Core Reading (text 1): Organized crime: A contested Concept
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
⇒ Shift in meanings, territorial scope & legitimacy
● Meanings
○ Many contradictory meanings
○ Switch back and forth between: Who and What
○ The different criminal actors & activities that belong under this label make it a vague umbrella concept
○ Can’t be used without specification as a basis for empirical analyses, theory building or policy making
● Territorial scope
○ Originally: Organised crime equated with racketeering
■ The core of it is extortion
■ An activity that is necessarily territorially based & carried out only on a local basis
○ Since 1990s: Organised crime has transnational nature
■ Dit werd door veel onderzoekers, overheidsinstanties en internationale organisaties (van de EU tot de VN)
benadrukt
● (The policy & scientific) Legitimacy (& relevance):
○ 1980s: From now on, most countries regarded organized crime as a serious domestic problem.
■ Before this was not the case
● Except in Italy and the U.S.
○ 1990s:
■ OC became an accepted policy & scientific concept throughout the world
● Result: Majority of governments & many international organizations (incl. UN) have adopted bills,
decrees, action plans or international treaties specifically targeting OC
● Focus on international dimension
■ OC became a legitimate scientific research topic
1
Invoeren
1
, 1. The American roots
1896 ⇒ The first use of the concept “OC” in the annual report of the New York Society for the Prevention of Crime
● It was used to refer to gambling & prostitution operations that were protected by public officials
○ “Protected gambling and prostitution”
● Illegal business dealings involving politicians, police officers, lawyers, etc.
● It was an American concept
1920 - 1930 ⇒ Development of illegal markets due to Prohibition
⇒ Serious efforts to define and discuss OC
● By who? Academics and commentators
● But: No specific reference to separate associations of gangsters (yet)
○ They were gangsters, but was he connected to other actors or politicians? That was not really
mentionned
● Often synonymous with ‘racketeering’
○ = Extortion (afpersing), predatory activities and provision of illegal goods and services such as
illegal gambling, counterfeit documents and trafficking in drugs and liquor.
⇒ 1927: ‘The Gang’
● Author: Thrasher
● = First pioneering work in the study of OC
● The main points:
○ First full scale treatment of OC
■ Dit boek was het 1e uitgebreide academische werk dat zich richtte op OC.
○ Structures of OC
■ ≠ hard, rigid structures
● ex. like in armies (soldiers), businesses
■ = Dynamic structures
○ Links, connection with the upper world
■ → Leading figures in society
■ ex. Police, Judges, Politicians, Academics
○ Indispensable2 functions played by certain specialized persons/groups including doctors, lawyers,
politicians, etc.
⇒ Between 1929 - 1931: Wickersham Commission
● = First federal government attempt to study OC
● Central: ‘What’
○ ‘What’ is more important than ‘who’
○ = The activities, criminal law categories
● Result: Rise of ‘Wickersham approach’
○ = understanding of OC as a set of criminal entrepreneurial activities with the frequent involvement
of legal businesses and state representatives
1945 - ⇒ After WOII
● Central: ‘Who’
○ ‘Who’ is more important than ‘what’
○ = The criminals
● Result: Rise of ‘alien conspiracy theory’
○ ‘Wickersham approach’ abandoned
1950 - 1960 ⇒ 1950: Kefauver Senate Investigation Committee
Peak ● Views:
○ ‘Alien conspiracy theory’
■ ‘Alien, parasitical corporation’
■ = Focus on foreign career criminals (foreigners)
● They constitue well-structured and powerful criminal organisations
representing a threat to the integrity of American society and politics
● = de theorie dat OC in de VS hoofdzakelijk werd aangestuurd dr
buitenlandse criminele netwerken, met name de Italiaanse maffia
■ Popularity: Remained3 official standpoint for almost three decades!
■ Result: Italian mafia-centred view of OC (‘La Cosa Nostra’)
○ Need for increased federal involvement in enforcement of gambling and drug laws
■ OC is nauw betrokken met gokken en drugshandel
○ Federal Narcotics Bureau (later DEA) as major ‘moral entrepreneur’ of organization-based
understanding of OC → Belangrijke speler in de strijd tegen OC
⇒ 1963: Joe Valachi
● = Member of Casa Nostra who was arrested
● What happened:
○ In jail he saw his boss → he got a kiss from his boss → He was sure it was the ‘kiss of death’ (he
was gonna get killed)
● His reaction: He testifies before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (Cosa Nostra)
○ He gave all inside info about La Casa Nostra
■ ex. About secret behaviors, codes, rituals of entering the organization…
○ Problem: The police only asked leading questions during the interrogation
● Result:
○ Enormous public impact
○ That moment: Merger4 of the two concepts of OC and ‘mafia’ fully accomplished
2
Onmisbare
3
bleef
4
Fusie
2
, ⇒ 1950-1960:
● Consolidation5 of the mafia-centred concept of OC
● Focus on NY City, but how ‘true’ and ‘general’ was this picture?
○ Police find out that what Valachi said was not all true
■ He told what the police wanted to hear
■ ex. There was no kiss of death, rituals of entering the cosa nostra were not all true
● Proposal to specifically outlaw6 membership of La Cosa Nostra rejected
○ Er waren voorstellen om het lidmaatschap van La Cosa Nostra, of soortgelijke criminele organisaties, expliciet
strafbaar te stellen.
○ Dit zou betekenen dat simpelweg deel uitmaken van de organisatie strafbaar was, ongeacht betrokkenheid bij
criminele activiteiten.
● Uneasiness7 with mafia paradigm
○ Demonstrated by:
■ Many law-enforcement officials at state and local levels
■ Members of Federal Organised Crime Strike Forces
○ There viewpoint:
■ Hoewel het beeld van de maffia als de belichaming van georganiseerde misdaad dominant was,
waren er veel actoren die twijfels hadden over dit paradigma.
■ Ze merkten op dat het simpelweg focussen op de maffia niet altijd werkte om georganiseerde
misdaad effectief aan te pakken.
■ Does not work to ban organizations
● Reason: OC is flexible
⇒ Past 1960’s:
● Central: ‘What’
○ Scientific attention shifted from ‘Who’ back to ‘What’
○ = The activities, criminal law categories
● Results: The rise of the illegal entreprise8 paradigm
○ Focus on the supply of illegal products and services
■ Focus on the market place → rise of the expression ‘illicit’ or ‘illegal enterprise’
■ The purpose of OC is to financially profit through crime and mainly responds to public demand for
services.
○ Idea of ‘alien conspiracy’ abandoned
■ Its been rejected by most American social scientists
● Ideological
● Serving personal political interests
● Lacking in accuracy and empirical evidence
1970 ⇒1970: RICO Act US Senate
● “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupted Organisations Act”
Peak ● = A landmark law aimed at fighting OC
● Main Point: Definition of OC in much broader terms than Cosa Nostra only to include less structured gangs and illicit enterprises.
○ However ....
■ Myth of powerful and centralized mafia organization long continued to be claimed whenever police
budgets had to be raised or new legislation had to be passed
○ And …
■ Public perception dominated by mafia-centered view on OC
● Movie The Godfather = obstacle for academics and policymakers
● Joe Valachi important role in the way we think
⇒ Beginning of the 1970s: War on drugs
● = Fighting drugs in the US, while drugs are pouring in from abroad?
● Critics of the war on drugs
○ Ethan Nadelman (1994)
■ ‘War on drugs’ = ineffective
● Leads to more criminality and social problems
● The fundamental problems of drugstrafficking will not be addressed
■ He advocates the decriminalization of certain drugs
○ Peter Lupsha (1981)
■ Purely repressive approach to organized crime = Counterproductive
■ He emphasized that drugs and OC are not mere law enforcement problems, but also have political
and economic dimensions that must be addressed.
● Law enforcement problems concerning drugs:
Case of Francois 〜 Belgium Case of IRT 〜 The Netherlands
⇒ François Thierry, who ran the drug-fighting OCRTIS ⇒ Interregionale Recherche Teams”:
("Central Office for the Suppression of Illicit Drug ● Aim: Tackle organized crime, especially drug
Trafficking") agency, faces allegations of: trafficking and other large-scale criminal
● het misbruiken van zijn positie om samen te activities.”
werken met drugscriminelen en was betrokken ⇒ = A scandal in which police forces allowed large amounts
bij illegale operaties, waarbij criminele of drugs to pass through in hopes of dismantling crim. netw.
organisaties met drugs mochten smokkelen ● Het leidde tot een groot politiek en
onder de schijn dat hij hen zou arresteren maatschappelijk debat over de grenzen van
opsporingsmethoden en het gebruik van
risicovolle tactieken in de strijd tegen
georganiseerde misdaad
● Export of the concept of OC as an instrument to increase international cooperation in the fight against drugs and to transfer law
enforcement techniques to other countries.
○ ‘You join us, or you are against us’
⇒ (Side-effect of) OC as a synonym for illegal enterprise!
● Term ‘OC’ used to refer to both
1. sets of people involved in illegal activities (e.g. Cosa Nostra) and
2. the sets of activities in itself.
● Thus: confusion between offender and offence, leading to circular reasoning
5
Versterken
6
Verbieden
7
Onbehagen
8
Onderneming
3
, 1980 ⇒ As from the early 1980s: host of other organized crime entities listed next to La Cosa Nostra, such as :
● Outlaw motorcycle and prison gangs
● Colombian cartels
● The Japanese Yakuza
● Eastern European (Russian) OC groups
● …
1990 ⇒ 1990’s onwards9: OC disappeared from US policy agenda
● Focus on terrorism, geopolitical issues
2000 ⇒ 2008: Interest in OC resurged
● Release ‘Law Enforcement Strategy to Combat International Organised Crime ’by US Department of Justice
● ‘Organized Crime Council’ reconvened10
⇒ 2009: Establishment of “International Organised Crime Intelligence and Operations Center’
2010 ⇒ 2011: ‘Strategy to Combat Transnational Organised Crime’ (Obama administration)
● Verantwoordelijke: Gelanceerd door de regering van president Barack Obama.
● = Het was een uitgebreide aanpak om de toenemende dreiging van georganiseerde misdaad op internationaal
niveau aan te pakken.
⇒ 2017: Executive Order on “Enforcing Federal Law with Respect to Transnational Criminal Organizations and
Preventing International Trafficking
2020 ⇒ Increased policy attention in the US and EU
● Fighting organised crime – EU strategy for 2021-25
● This strategy aims to target action on the main criminal markets and address corruption and the financial
aspects of organized crime. It will be adopted together with a new strategy on human trafficking.
● Executive Order on Establishing the United States Council On Transnational Organized Crime, December 15,
2021
⇒ Intertwinement with cyber dimension
2. Europe
3. Transnational organized crime
Since late ● Transnational nature of OC emphasized → ‘transnational organized crime’ as a fixed expression
1980s ● e.g. Council of Europe, Schengen parties and European Communities focus on ‘cross-border crime’
1990s ⇒ ‘transnational organized crime’ fully institutionalized by UN
1994 ⇒ World Ministerial Conference
● Official baptism of the term, to dominate international debate11 for the following decade
⇒ Note:
● Later peak then in the US → Temporal mismatch
● Emphasis on transnational dimension of OC is misleading
○ Goods can cross borders, people can cross borders, but people still live somewhere and what we now know is that the
focus on transnational dimension is misleading
○ Majority of OC is very much locally based
9
Vanaf
10
Opnieuw bijeengeroepen
11
Debat
4
