Organised crime…..
Are there more gangs in the UK than ever? Cost centre 2, who is clearly more street smart than me, mentioned how he avoids certain parts of London because the gangs operate in broad daylight and teenagers like him are easy pickings. It slightly freaked me out if I’m honest.
According to the National Crime Agency (NCA) report 2020, there are 4,772 criminal gangs operating in the UK with c350,000 people involved in ‘serious and organised crime’. Crime by these groups spans but isn’t limited to trading guns, drugs, prostitution, modern day slavery, people trafficking, child sexual abuse and money laundering. It costs the economy billions each year and has a corrosive effect on society in lots of obvious to hidden ways such as the detrimental effects of addiction, theft, rising property prices from the proceeds of crime and the inappropriate allocation of capital. There are many other effects but even this short list reveals that the impact of crime is not just a localised issue.
Gangs or organised crime groups have become more sophisticated and their operations more complex. The larger entities operate poly-criminality. That is they don’t just stick to one criminal activity, they operate across several types. These organisations operate in a shadowy world of legal divisions whilst spreading slippery tentacles across countries. Technology and the internet has been a significant enabler with the dark web a veritable sweet shop for all things illegal. 60% of items for sale on the dark web are recreational drugs. Technology has fostered hidden means of communication made harder by the significant use of encryption. The NCA also suggest that border vulnerabilities and sinister in-country corruption contribute to an environment that allows criminal activities to be supported and fester.
Management of an organised gang is as nuanced as operating a legitimate business. Each group will vary in character with the long lasting organisation finely balancing the use of violence and corruption within an informal code of justice peculiar to them. Violence begot from torture, maiming and murders are often not carried out irrationally. They are acts to maintain reputation, control, or deliver revenge. Interestingly the Chechen gangs thrive on violence, whereas for example ‘Nem’ the Brazilian drug lord who is currently behind bars, cleverly used corruption over violence to remain top of the heap. In the favela’s of Brazil he would buy medicine for those who couldn’t afford it, adjudicate disputes, offer jobs and money to those in need. This seemingly compassionate approach ensured that people remained loyal but also had no where else to go. Very smart.
Misha Glenny wrote a book over 10 years ago on organised crime and I have listened to a few of his talks. He studied these groups existing across the globe and had long conversations with the henchmen as well as those in charge. He theorises that when Communism in Eastern Europe collapsed in the 1990’s, organised crime was able to rise up very quickly and take control as there were no resources or law enforcement to stop them. Western banking systems with their many tax havens enabled easier methods to money launder and with a large consumer market in the rest of Europe able to buy goods and services or open to trade, these organisations made off like bandits.
He seems to suggest that in his conversations he found that many of the senior management of these gangs felt they were mis-understood and in their own perverse logic believed they were performing a social function especially when all around them had collapsed. He anecdotes that in the Kobe earthquake in Japan in 1995 the first responders on the scene were the Yakuza, ready with food and water for the victims of the tragedy. It’s hard to have huge sympathy for this view but when there is no government infrastructure to fall back on you understand why locals can see these organisations as benefactors and hence willing to glamorise.
Across the world, authorities have taken different steps to limit the power of organised crime including harnessing the efforts of one group to bring down another, violence, sting operations and so on. There is not one single approach — and how could there be — these groups deliberately operate a tangled web. You cut off one head, another appears. The battle is long. Nem now behind bars has denounced militarized methods to bring down cartels and instead suggests efforts focused on education and healthcare with the legalising of drugs. Maybe he is right; this is not a quick fix.
I’ve written about dictatorship and organised crime….I really don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me…..
