Illegal cigarette smuggling will be eradicated by February 2012, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said last week during a visit to the Black Sea port city of Varna.

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov is an “Armani-Clad tough guy” who has not done enough to take on organized crime, according to a 2005 diplomatic cable just released by Wiki-Leaks.  The cable was written when Borisov was a Chief Secretary of the Interior Ministry.

In one of Germany’s largest fraud cases to date, six business executives from Germany Britain and France went on trial in Frankfurt on Monday for alleged tax fraud linked to carbon emissions trading. The fraud scheme cost tax authorities more than €230 million ($318 million).

Viktor Bout, a Russian national accused of conspiring to sell weapons to a terrorist organization, money laundering and sanctions busting, will face a pre-trial hearing Wednesday in a New York City federal court.

Mexican authorities arrested Oscar Osvaldo Garcia Montoya, the alleged leader of a drug gang in Mexico City on Thursday. Since Garcia’s arrest, he confessed to ordering or carrying out more than 600 murders

American authorities are investigating agricultural manufacturer John Deere & Co. for allegedly bribing officials in Russia and Central Asia, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Russia has charged two prison officials with the 2009 death of Russian lawyer and whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, Vladimir Markin, the official spokesman for the committee investigating the case, announced Friday. Magnitsky was a lawyer who accused Russian police and tax authorities of a scheme to defraud the government of over $230 million.  He died at the age of 37 after spending almost a year in prison awaiting trial.

Renowned criminal court Judge Patricia Acioli, 47, was gunned down late Thursday outside of her home in Rio de Janeiro. Judge Acioli was known for her tough stance on organized crime, and for convicting many cartel and militia members and corrupt police officers.

Former assistant director of the New South Wales (NSW) Crime Commission, Mark Standen, 54, was convicted for corruption Thursday by the state’s Supreme Court.

Brazilian federal police arrested 33 Tourism Ministry officials Tuesday on suspicion of corruption, and are seeking the arrests of five more suspects. Among those arrested was the Deputy Tourism Minister, Frederico Costa, the second highest ranking official in the ministry.