Increased terrorism and organized crime across Europe – that’s the rosy picture painted in this Forbes feature last week.
Europe’s criminal landscape can be divided into four parts. The politically unstable southeast or Balkans, is a key transit route for drug trafficking and illegal immigrants. The southwest or Iberian region is a hub for drugs transported from Latin America and North Africa, according to Europol.
The northeast, or Scandinavian countries, is something of a “final destination” market for the smuggling of drugs and highly taxed goods like cigarettes. And the northwest, mainly the U.K., has serious problems with illegal immigration and is a destination for drug trafficking.
The EU has a long way to go to solve its organized crime problem, which is exacerbated by corruption in a number of Eastern European nations. Countries like Slovenia may have made Herculean efforts to clean up their corruption before joining the EU in 2004, but now lawmakers there are seeking to close down their commission for the prevention of corruption. Now that Slovenia is a part of the EU, such pursuits are seen as expensive and unnecessary. Fortunately, the law enforcement authorities of the new European Union member states and their established peers are generally cooperating.
Forbes breaks down the problems by country: Turkey is the murder champion of Europe, with 3,852 homicides reported to police in 2006 (England and Wales were second with 755), while Liechtenstein is the easiest place to set up a front company for money laundering.
Romanians arrest 24 in €400,000 Internet fraud
Romanian police last week arrested 24 people for allegedly using the Internet and computers to bilk their victims of nearly half a million euros, reported Romania’s Mediafax.
The suspects allegedly staged fake internet auctions and used forged credit cards, according to Romanian prosecutors specialized in organized crime and terrorism.
Romanian authorities made the arrests in the capital Bucharest and Ramnicu Valcea, Sibiu, Alexandria, Dragasani and Hunedoara, following an operation plan established together with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), official sources said.
The group’s alleged leader, Romeo Chita, was apprehended at the house of democrat liberal lawmaker Dumitru Puzdrea. Puzdrea said he was unaware of a crime group operating at one of his apartments.
Florida, UK join forces against organized crime
Florida’s police and the UK’s new mob hunters pledged last week to cooperate and exchange information to fight international organized crime. Why Florida? It’s a way to sweeten business deals, as the memorandum of understanding was signed as part of Florida governor Charlie Crist’s trade and business development mission to the UK, France, Russia and Spain to encourage investment in Florida.
Aside from that, it does make sense. Miami partnered with the UK’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) last year, as the city is known as a nexus of money laundering in the U.S., as well as being home to the second-largest number of foreign banks there. SOCA director David Armand – smart man – noted at the time, “The way to combat organized crime is to eliminate money from the equation.”
In other UK investigations news, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), beleaguered though it has been by a dropped corruption case involving Britain’s largest arms exporter and a price-fixing case against five drug companies that was thrown out of court, has come up with a novel way to get bad guys: Get them to admit what they’ve done, and then give them a get-out-of-jail-free card.
It’s part of an overhaul of the SFO spearheaded by new director Richard Alderman, reported the Times of London. Alderman took over in April. Aside from the plea bargain deals for companies, Alderman plans to make prosecutions quicker and more efficient and to increase the number from today’s 65 per year to 100 per year.
Italy mob arrests signal end to Naples rubbish crisis
Or so says Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Police on Friday seized several Mafia-controlled landfill sites around the city of Naples and charged 17 suspects with such crimes as criminal association with the Mafia, environmental damage and trafficking in illegal waste.
AFP had the story:
The long-running issue was blamed on a lack of local incinerators, and landfill sites controlled by the local branch of the Mafia, the Camorra, some of which were used for illegal dumping of toxic waste.
Three of the sites seized by police Friday had been opened illegally and the other five contained unauthorized waste from hospitals and industry in the north and central parts of Italy, a police spokesman for the Caserta region said. The eight landfills were managed by the Casalesi, the most powerful clan in the Camorra.
Naples and the surrounding region have been placed under a state of emergency for the past 14 years as the problem of untreated waste grew -- earning the city a prosecution in May this year by the European Commission.
Not all of Naples is yet brushed and scrubbed, reported the wires. Outlying areas are still plagued by some 2,000 tons of trash that Berlusconi says will be picked up by the end of the month.
As if garbage wasn’t glamorous enough, several alleged Camorra members were arrested in New Jersey last week for selling knock-off clothing and electronics on street corners and flea markets. Among the items police found in raids were iPod labels, weapons, and a hat and wig. Head detective Joseph Macellaro called the hat and wig “suspicious.”
Meanwhile, Italian police last week busted an Italian-Chinese crime ring for selling fakes in Rome’s version of Chinatown. Seven men were arrested.
Bosnia TI branch shuts temporarily
Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) has shut its offices in Bosnia after facing what it called “unwarranted and damaging” attacks from the government and fearing for the safety of its staff.
Milorad Dodik, the prime minister of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska – the Serb-dominated half that makes up post-war Bosnia with the Muslim-Croat Federation – has accused TI employees of racketeering and organized crime.
Dodik and TI have been butting heads for months, since Dodik was the subject of a TI report criticzing privatization deals in his part of Bosnia. The report suggested that Bosnian Serb politicians have links to organized crime. (More background and detail on the privatizations, report and its fallout can be found here.)
“It is one of the few times in Transparency International’s history that a national chapter has been intimidated to the point of having to suspend operations. We are deeply concerned and saddened, and stand in solidarity with our colleagues in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Transparency International managing director Cobus de Swardt said in a statement issued in Berlin.
Macedonian politician arrested on corruption charges
A senior Macedonian opposition figure was released on bail late last week after being arrested and charged with corruption over the building of a shopping center in a town outside the capital Skopje.
The AP reports:
Deputy leader Zoran Zaev and four aides were arrested Thursday on suspicion of embezzling €7.8 million (US$12.4 million) in public funds during the construction of a shopping mall in the southern town of Strumica. His Social Democratic party walked out of parliament in protest, calling the detention a political move by Macedonia's conservative government. Several hundred protesters also marched to the court building.
Zaev was also charged with abuse of authority, as he also happens to be the mayor of Strumica. No date has been set for his trial.
Forbes: Europe’s crime capitals
Published: 22 July 2008
By Beth
