Spotlight 33: The art of money laundering
What do money laundering and antiquities trafficking have in common?
Hi and welcome back to the 33rd issue of Spotlight, a fortnightly collection of news, articles, and events about organised crime and corruption curated by Firm UK.
Every two weeks a collective of experts, academics, and volunteers will select a few relevant articles and/or events that will help you to understand our society under the hood.
Money laundering is an art: in fact, to be done properly and never get caught, it requires a lot of knowledge in different areas. But, as we have just seen, money laundering can also involve art itself and is linked to antiquities trafficking as well, as the latest news from France tell us. It might all make material for a new Dan Brown book, but it is all true. As the OCCRP’s piece that we suggest says: “antiquities trafficking is a major funder of militant groups, terrorism and organized crime around the world.”
Nothing fun then!
This issue is also packed with interesting events (you might need to subscribe to some of those) and open access articles.
We hope you enjoy Spotlight. And if you like it, please share it with your network and invite them to subscribe.
Thank you!
Former Louvre director charged with money laundering
It’s not a crime whose only victims are the millennia-long dead, and the only perpetrators are high society art dealers who deal with museums and the ultra-wealthy. In addition to robbing nations of their material heritage – and often much needed tourism dollars, by transferring that history abroad – antiquities trafficking is a major funder of militant groups, terrorism and organised crime around the world.
The Captagon trade between Syria and Iraq
The Captagon trade between Syria and Iraq would not be possible without armed groups protecting the smugglers on both sides of the borders. This article brings to light an often-underestimated aspect of the drug trade.
Last month, nearly 16 million Captagon pills, an amphetamine-type stimulant that is quickly becoming one of the Middle East’s most ubiquitous narcotics, were seized by Iraqi security forces. The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs), state-sponsored militias, have a strong presence on both sides of the Syria-Iraq border and are directly involved in facilitating the trade.
Besides having a strong grip over the official border crossing, the PMUs run dozens of unofficial makeshift corridors between the two countries. In exchange for safe passage, they charge fees based on the size of the shipment. This gives the armed forces plausible deniability if authorities intercept the drugs. However, in some instances, the PMU have even used their political connections to arrange for the release of drug traffickers.
On the waterfront: the political fight over organised crime at the Port of New York
(Behind paywall - also available without paywall here)
This long read updates readers on the complex vicissitudes of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbour. The Commission, established in 1953 sits over New York and New Jersey and has the specific duty of investigating organised crime in the ports, specifically with new hires.
It is currently contested in its status, as the state of NJ has unilaterally decided that they no longer need the Commission, which is considered obsolete because organised crime is not as invasive in the port.
This is considered untrue by the Commission, which has the data to show the opposite, and the legal battle is currently at the Supreme Court level. This is a story of political and trade union corruption at the highest levels in one of the most important and iconic ports of the world.
Looking back at when the Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra assassinated Italian judges
Three decades after Cosa Nostra killed judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and those with them, France24 correspondents report on how these assassinations by Cosa Nostra sparked an awakening and an ongoing fight against the mafia.
The Roots of Environmental Crime in the Peruvian Amazon
This investigation reveals the range of culprits behind the devastation of Peru’s Amazon: from illegal gold miners who leave behind pools of poisonous mercury to poor locals coopted into harvesting valuable trees, to a complex web of front companies, agribusiness subsidiaries, corrupt officials and criminal groups that prosper from the Amazon’s destruction.
Conducted with the Igarapé Institute – a Brazil-based think tank devoted to the development, security and climate issues – the six-part series also unravels the crucial links in the chain of specific environmental crimes contributing to forest loss, including illegal logging, illicit gold mining, coca cultivation, wildlife trafficking and the usurping of lands for cattle farms and booming agricultural industries.
UK outsources post-Brexit border checks to EU
The British government last month announced it would ditch planned animal and plant health checks on imports from Europe following multiple postponements. Instead, it intends to introduce a new border model for imports from right across the world that will make checks digital and decrease the hassle for traders.
Some argue the U.K. has reduced its border security with the EU when it comes to criminality and illicit trade as a result of the ditched border checks.
Anna Sergi, an expert in organised crime at the University of Essex and FIRM UK’s associate, said the British ejection from various EU policing institutions had reduced the chance of criminals being caught when sending illicit goods to the U.K.
"There's one thing that is always true around the world when it comes to illicit trade,” Sergi said, speaking from the perspective of an organised criminal. “The more black holes you have, the better you are at reducing risk."
From Copper Theft to Ransomware - Chile's Criminal Challenges Begin to Mount
Chile is often considered to be a standout in Latin America, benefitting from low homicide rates and lower levels of corruption compared to its neighbouring countries. Despite this, concerns around organised criminality in the country are growing.
As homicides saw a worrying spike in 2020, with gang violence and drug trafficking on the rise, a worrying pattern has been highlighted by the new report by Chilean think tank AthenaLab.
The report outlines a series of dangers that the country is facing, stemming from copper theft and illegal fishing to cybercrime and weapons trafficking.
Events
[04-06 July 2022] 4th General Conference on Organised Crime
Crossing territorial and disciplinary (b)orders: empirical, analytical and policy perspectives on organised crime
24-hour conference on Global Organised Crime #OC24 2022 - CALL FOR APPLICATION - [13-14 October 2022] Submit your papers/panels by 30th June 2020 marked the start of a global pandemic and the world’s first 24-hour virtual conference on global organised crime, #OC24. Since then, two editions of OC24 took place, bringing together scholars and practitioners from all over the world at a scale and in a way that a physical conference cannot.
With five innovative session formats, the two editions of #OC24 in 2020 and 2021 attracted more than 5,000 participants worldwide.
Presentation of the Global Organised Crime Index [online, 14th June 2022]
The results of the first edition of the Global Organised Crime Index, paint a worrying picture of the reach, scale and impact of organised crime in 2020.
[Monday, 06th June 2022, h 18:30 BST] Transforming the war on drugs
Both online and in-person at the Blavatnik School of Government (Oxford, UK)
Over 50 years since the term 'War on Drugs' was coined after then President of the United States Richard Nixon's speech, has the time come to reassess the merits of conventional anti-drug policies for dealing with the global movement and sale of narcotics? Drawing on global examples from the Golden Crescent (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran), the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, Laos), Latin America, Russia, and West Africa, Transforming the War on Drugs, edited by Dr Annette Idler and Juan Carlos Garzón Vergara (Oxford University Press 2021), reconsiders the impact of this global struggle upon local contexts, in areas such as human rights, development and public health.
Books, podcasts & more
Observatory of illicit economies in South-Eastern Europe
Every issue focuses on a hotspot of organised crime in the region. This time, it is Brcko in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime (podcast)
From drug trafficking to human smuggling and from cybercrime to illegal mining.
The Deep Dive podcast takes an in-depth look at transnational organized crime investigations from the Global Initiative Against Transnational organized crime, drawing on the range of expertise from the GI Network of over 500 experts
Check out the last episodes of Killing the power of the pen: Violence against journalists in Mexico (parts 1 and 2).
A deep dive into the Global Organized Crime Index with leading experts looking at some of the biggest organized crime threats around the world.
The Index is a podcast based around the Global Organized Crime Index, an online tool that ranks levels of criminality and resilience in 193 countries.
From drug trafficking and mafia-style crimes to criminal justice and security – In this series, we’ll take a deep dive into the Global Organized Crime Index with leading experts and look at some of the biggest organized crime threats facing countries and regions around the world.
Check out the last two episodes on Italy - p.1 and p.2 on Criminality and Resilience.
Criminal markets and networks in Cyberspace (journal article, open access)
An introduction to the special issue of Trends in Organized Crime on ‘criminal markets and networks in cyberspace’. All the contributions to this special issue, even if from different standpoints and focus, help us understand how cyberspace is (re)shaping offences and offenders.
Lethal Negotiations. Political dialogue between gangs and authorities in El Salvador
This policy note provides a brief background on gangs in El Salvador and the attempts of Salvadoran authorities to negotiate with them to reduce violence in the streets. It analyses a March 2022 gang-led homicide spree with a particular focus on the government's response, arguing how it has harmed citizens’ lives, turning fundamental human rights into bargaining chips between licit and illicit actors.