This study illustrates the changing nature of organized crime at both national and international levels. Organized crime groups have changed in that they have entered the realm of high technology. In response this change, the use of new or modified analytical tools is suggested to enhance law enforcement efforts. This study highlights the problems of, and offers particular solutions for information analysis in its use in the fight against organized crime. Ultimately, it is argued that combined crime and intelligence analysis can be an effective and efficient method for the detection and prevention of modern organized crime.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This thesis argues that the building of the democratic institutions in new democracies was and still is a painstaking task. It shows that the new institutions are fragile and at times unable to cope with powerful organized criminal syndicates, rampant corruption, illegalism, elite bureaucratic cartels, and weak judicial systems still in the process of post communist reconstruction. This thesis proceeds from the premise that organized crime constitutes a threat to democracy, in particular a serious threat to new democracies and subsequently to the national security of the country. The first section defines organized crime as phenomena corroding the democratic institutions. It deals in particular with the fragility of the new democratic institutions focusing mainly on the organized crime activities that threaten the national security. It tackles problems of corruption in government and law enforcing agencies. Secondly, it considers issues of merging of crime and legal business and their impact on the institutions and society at large. Thirdly and most importantly it focuses on the fact that organized crime merges with the State machinery, thus undermining the very existence of democratic institutions. Fourthly, it looks into some forms of criminal activities such as drug business, weapons trade, money laundering, and white-slave trade. Finally it provides some policy recommendations for tackling the organized crime in Albania. / MP, Parliament of the Republic of Albania

In this thesis, I attempt to apply the network perspective to the study of corruption. First, I deal with current state of theory and research on corruption, which I find to be ignoring relations and interactions among offenders themselves. Then I review literature in the field of covert and criminal networks. The theoretical part of this thesis ends with brief descriptions of two major cases of political corruption in the Czech Republic - so called Nagy case and Rath case. In the methodological part, I introduce basic concepts of social network analysis as well as methods for positional analysis, especially the blockmodelling. In my research, I deal with exploratory analysis of both the aforementioned networks. Using proxy data, I analyse cohesion, centralization, centrality measures and cliques in these networks. Then I use conventional blockmodeling to search for roles and positions within these networks. My results suggest that both networks are dense and centralized with overlapping cliques contrary to other covert networks possibly accounting for their eventual disruption and failure. Positional analysis using varius methods such as CONCOR or different types of cluster analysis reveals a structure resembling the core-periphery model, which is supported by measuring coreness and finding a good...

O crescente fluxo de bens e de pessoas iniciado nos anos de 1980 e expandido ao longo dos anos de 1990 gerou a utópica ideia de que as fronteiras do Estado-Nação e as questões de soberania nacional acabariam por desaparecer. Este contexto e os acontecimentos crescentes envolvendo atores não estatais no cenário internacional criaram uma visão imaginária onde o Estado era tão fraco que seria incapaz de enfrentar organizações criminosas ou terroristas transnacionais. No entanto, como este estudo vai apresentar, não só o Estado está longe de estar fraco, de facto, tem vindo a utilizar essas organizações para expandir seu poder, manter sua soberania e conduzir operações clandestinas contra nações rivais. Para tanto foi usada extensa bibliografia baseada em documentos e livros, documentos vazados, entrevistas com pessoas relacionadas ao tema ao redor do mundo além de observação pessoal de campo. Demonstrando que o uso de atores irregulares, especialmente o Crime Organizado, é apenas mais um passo na evolução da guerra e uma importante ferramenta de procuração na geopolítica internacional. / The increasing process flow of goods and people started in the 1980s and expanded over the years of 1990 generated the utopic idea that the Nation-State borders and national sovereignty issues would eventually disappear. This context and the growing events surrounding non-state actors in the international scenario created an imaginary view where the State was so weak that would be incapable to face transnational criminal or terrorist organizations. However, as this study will present, not only the State is far from being a weak in fact it has been using such organizations to expand its power, maintain its sovereignty and conduct clandestine operation against rival nations, for that it was covered an extensive bibliography based on papers and books, leaked documents, interviews with people related to the area across the world and field observation. It demonstrated that the use of irregular actors, especially Organized Crime, is just another step in the evolution of warfare and an important proxy tool in international geopolitics.

O presente estudo trata acerca do Tráfico de Seres Humanos. Analisando a realidade por trás desse mercado ilícito através de seu desenvolvimento histórico, sua evolução passada até os dias de hoje; sua territorialidade e geografia, demonstrando que o tema é um problema de territorialização, com fluxos e fontes bem definidas; seu mercado e economia, para entender seu processo operacional. Objetivo será então o aprofundamento do tema para entender seu funcionamento geral e a desmistificação de problemáticas que giram em torno do assunto. / The study focuses on Trafficking in Human Beings. Looking at the reality behind this illicit market through its historical development, the evolution until today; its territoriality and geography, demonstrating that theme is a territorial problem, with well-defined streams and sources; its market and economy, to understand the operational process. Then the main goal will be to deepen the theme to understanding the general functioning and the demystification of issues that revolve around the subject.

[pt] Este trabalho analisa o funcionamento, as ambigüidades e as implicações políticas dos discursos mais correntes contemporâneos sobre o tráfico internacional de pessoas. Neste sentido, são escolhidos três exemplos de interpretação da questão: o tráfico como problema de crime organizado; o tráfico como problema moral; e o tráfico como problema de migração. Baseando-se em conceitos de Michel Foucault, o enfoque do trabalho está na inter-relação entre o estabelecimento de regimes de verdade por meio de discursos, e a produtividade destes, ou seja, dependendo da definição da questão, distintas formas de solucionar o assunto são reivindicadas. O trabalho adverte que os discursos analisados, embora se apresentem em nome da proteção das vítimas do tráfico, na verdade, são utilizados para justificar a instalação de mecanismos de controle no sentido foucaultiano. Assim, a pesquisa visa a desconstruir estes discursos para, deste modo, problematizar as práticas políticas atuais que se baseiam prevalentemente neles, e para possibilitar uma compreensão mais diferenciada do assunto complexo de tráfico humano. / [en] The present thesis analyses the working, the ambiguity and the political implications of contemporary discourses about trafficking in persons. Three examples were chosen to illustrate the most common interpretation of the issue: trafficking as a problem of organized crime, as a moral concern and as a question of migration. Based on concepts of Michel Foucault, the main focus of the investigation is the interplay between the establishment of regimes of truth by the discourses and their productivity. Depending on the definition of the issue there are different ways that claim to resolve the question. The work challenges the common understanding of strategies against trafficking developed in the name of protection of the victim and furthermore elaborates that these discourses are used to install mechanisms of control in Foucault´s sense. Thus, the investigation aims at deconstructing these discourses in order to highlight the problems of current anti-trafficking policies and therefore enables a more differentiated understanding of the complex topic of human trafficking.

Na década de 1980 o sistema brasileiro de segurança pública experienciou mudanças, no contexto da transição democrática. Foi nesse momento que se buscou efetivar, em São Paulo, a agenda política conhecida como Políticas de Humanização dos Presídios. Trataremos aqui de uma dessas experiências: um canal de comunicação e de representação de presos no sistema penitenciário paulista chamado Comissões de Solidariedade. Analisaremos como tais Comissões foram deslegitimadas publicamente por meio de uma denúncia: a existência de um grupo criminoso, organizado por presos no interior da Penitenciária do Estado, e que teria se infiltrado nas Comissões de Solidariedade. O grupo foi anunciado como Serpentes Negras. Desta forma, pretende-se descrever a tentativa de efetivação dessas políticas e como a disputa de interesses afetou os rumos das reformas, se refletindo nas praticas internas às prisões; busca-se também recuperar os efeitos produzidos pela denúncia e, com isso, o debate público em torno das políticas de segurança e dos Direitos Humanos no período, bem como a formação e a circulação de um novo discurso sobre o crime organizado em São Paulo, cuja atualidade não pode ser desprezada. / In the 1980s the Brazilian public security system experienced changes in the context of democratic transition. It was at this moment that the political agenda known as \"Humanization Policies of Prisons\" was sought to be implemented in São Paulo. We will deal with one of these experiences: a channel of communication and representation of prisoners in the prison system of São Paulo called Commissions for Solidarity. We will analyze how these Commissions were publicly delegitimized by means of a complaint: the existence of a criminal group, organized by prisoners inside the State Penitentiary, and which would have infiltrated the Solidarity Commissions. The group was announced as Black Serpents. In this way, the intention is to describe the attempt to put these policies into effect and how the dispute of interests affected the direction of the reforms, being reflected in the internal practices of the prisons; It also seeks to recover the effects produced by the denunciation and thus the public debate on security and human rights policies in the period, as well as the formation and circulation of a new discourse on organized crime in São Paulo, whose actuality can not be overlooked.

O crescente fluxo de bens e de pessoas iniciado nos anos de 1980 e expandido ao longo dos anos de 1990 gerou a utópica ideia de que as fronteiras do Estado-Nação e as questões de soberania nacional acabariam por desaparecer. Este contexto e os acontecimentos crescentes envolvendo atores não estatais no cenário internacional criaram uma visão imaginária onde o Estado era tão fraco que seria incapaz de enfrentar organizações criminosas ou terroristas transnacionais. No entanto, como este estudo vai apresentar, não só o Estado está longe de estar fraco, de facto, tem vindo a utilizar essas organizações para expandir seu poder, manter sua soberania e conduzir operações clandestinas contra nações rivais. Para tanto foi usada extensa bibliografia baseada em documentos e livros, documentos vazados, entrevistas com pessoas relacionadas ao tema ao redor do mundo além de observação pessoal de campo. Demonstrando que o uso de atores irregulares, especialmente o Crime Organizado, é apenas mais um passo na evolução da guerra e uma importante ferramenta de procuração na geopolítica internacional. / The increasing process flow of goods and people started in the 1980s and expanded over the years of 1990 generated the utopic idea that the Nation-State borders and national sovereignty issues would eventually disappear. This context and the growing events surrounding non-state actors in the international scenario created an imaginary view where the State was so weak that would be incapable to face transnational criminal or terrorist organizations. However, as this study will present, not only the State is far from being a weak in fact it has been using such organizations to expand its power, maintain its sovereignty and conduct clandestine operation against rival nations, for that it was covered an extensive bibliography based on papers and books, leaked documents, interviews with people related to the area across the world and field observation. It demonstrated that the use of irregular actors, especially Organized Crime, is just another step in the evolution of warfare and an important proxy tool in international geopolitics.

Na década de 1980 o sistema brasileiro de segurança pública experienciou mudanças, no contexto da transição democrática. Foi nesse momento que se buscou efetivar, em São Paulo, a agenda política conhecida como Políticas de Humanização dos Presídios. Trataremos aqui de uma dessas experiências: um canal de comunicação e de representação de presos no sistema penitenciário paulista chamado Comissões de Solidariedade. Analisaremos como tais Comissões foram deslegitimadas publicamente por meio de uma denúncia: a existência de um grupo criminoso, organizado por presos no interior da Penitenciária do Estado, e que teria se infiltrado nas Comissões de Solidariedade. O grupo foi anunciado como Serpentes Negras. Desta forma, pretende-se descrever a tentativa de efetivação dessas políticas e como a disputa de interesses afetou os rumos das reformas, se refletindo nas praticas internas às prisões; busca-se também recuperar os efeitos produzidos pela denúncia e, com isso, o debate público em torno das políticas de segurança e dos Direitos Humanos no período, bem como a formação e a circulação de um novo discurso sobre o crime organizado em São Paulo, cuja atualidade não pode ser desprezada. / In the 1980s the Brazilian public security system experienced changes in the context of democratic transition. It was at this moment that the political agenda known as \"Humanization Policies of Prisons\" was sought to be implemented in São Paulo. We will deal with one of these experiences: a channel of communication and representation of prisoners in the prison system of São Paulo called Commissions for Solidarity. We will analyze how these Commissions were publicly delegitimized by means of a complaint: the existence of a criminal group, organized by prisoners inside the State Penitentiary, and which would have infiltrated the Solidarity Commissions. The group was announced as Black Serpents. In this way, the intention is to describe the attempt to put these policies into effect and how the dispute of interests affected the direction of the reforms, being reflected in the internal practices of the prisons; It also seeks to recover the effects produced by the denunciation and thus the public debate on security and human rights policies in the period, as well as the formation and circulation of a new discourse on organized crime in São Paulo, whose actuality can not be overlooked.

Depuis les attentats du World Trade Center, il ne se passe pas une journée sans que les médias relatent les exploits des différentes bandes organisées existant dans le Monde. Souffrant d’une absence de définition large en raison de leur diversité, la notion de bandes organisées suscite une étude sérieuse. En effet, reposant sur une adhésion sélective, constante et définitive, résumée par la formule « blood in, blood out », le non-respect des règles établies par la bande est sanctionné par la mort. Exerçant sa domination dans la rue, le gang n’hésite pas à user de la violence et exerce leurs activités criminelles tout en s’armant pour se faire respecter. Ce phénomène, si dangereux et très présent au début en Amérique du Nord, tend à s’étendre très rapidement dans d’autres pays pour ensuite atteindre un caractère mondial. Afin de lutter contre ces bandes, les États les plus touchés ont été amenés à réagir en mettant en place de nouvelles méthodes de lutte et en s’organisant au niveau multilatéral. Se divisant en deux parties, cette thèse montre, dans une première partie, comment la présence de bandes organisées est devenue un problème social et dans une seconde partie, les réactions étatiques dans la lutte contre les bandes organisées. / Since the attempts of the World Trade Center, it does not happen one day that the media tell the exploits of the various organized strips existing in the World. Suffering from an absence of wide definition because of their variety, the notion of gangs arouses a serious study. Indeed, resting on a selective, constant and definitive membership, summarized by the formula "blood in, blood out", the disregard of rules workbenches by the strip is punished by the death. Exercising its domination in the street, the gang does not hesitate to use the violence and exercises their criminal activities while arming itself to be respected. This phenomenon, so dangerous and very present at the beginning in North America, tends to extend very quickly in the other countries to affect then a world character. To fight against these strips, the most affected States were brought to react by setting up new methods of fight and by getting organized at the multilateral level. Dividing into two parts, this thesis shows, in a first part, how the presence of gangs became a social problem and in a second part, state reactions in the fight against the organized strips.