By Steven Dudley and Matthew Taylor

There are three major types of criminal networks in the Americas, and each requires the United States government to take a substantially different approach towards mitigating their power and effect . State-embedded networks are embedded in elected bodies, law enforcement, judicial entities, regulatory agencies, and other parts of the government. They use state power to enrich themselves and their partners via corrupt and criminal schemes and to systematically undermine the rule of law and regulatory powers, so as to protect their activities and ensure impunity. These networks are the most difficult for the United States government to address because they are, by definition, the US government’s counterparts. They may also play a double game, employing their resources towards battling some criminal activities, which may correspond with US interests, even while they shelter and build out their own criminal portfolios. Battling state-embedded networks requires empowering international and local bodies, as well as supporting civil society organizations and media. Social-constituency networks draw from a constituency, built on shared circumstances, heritage, and/or political beliefs, and create criminal networks that advance the interests of the constituency. They may provide protection from rival criminal groups and a predatory state, while also providing tools for social and economic advancement. They draw from various criminal economies, but their power base is decidedly social and political in nature. Entrepreneurial networks are designed like a commercial enterprise with multiple layers and a loose structure, which allow them to maximize profit and minimize risk. They mostly provide goods and services, but they are sometimes predatory and often employ violence. While the core of these networks is often one or more tight-knit families – which provide them many built-in advantages in terms of trust, recruitment, and conflict resolution – these networks are governed by profit motives, and they derive their power from economic capital.

Washington, DC: InSight Crime and American University’s Center for Latin American & Latino Studies, 2022. 155p.

By InSight Crime

Drug traffickers today realize that their best protection is not a private army but anonymity. This is the story of “Memo Fantasma” or “Will the Ghost,” who started life in the Medellín Cartel, funded the bloody rise of a paramilitary army, and today lives the high life in Madrid. He has helped move hundreds of tons of cocaine yet has no arrest warrants, and nobody is looking for him.

Washington, DC: InSight Crime, 2020. 50p.

By Eric Przyswa

The combat against counterfeiting started during the 1980s and, at that time, was limited to sectors where it was frequently the consumer who asked for the product, and was even party to the purchase. Above all, it is only since the start of the 2000s that the situation expanded substantially particularly with the liberalisation of the World Trade Organization, technological developments, containerisation and the significance of China as the world's factory. On the other hand, it was only later that counterfeiting seemed to affect the pharmaceutical sector, at least from the industrial point of view. Studies and reports have covered the involvement of organised crime in 'traditional' counterfeiting, particularly in creative industries (luxury goods, audiovisual). Nevertheless, even if there are more and more discussions on the topics of 'counterfeit medicines' and 'organised crime', very few researchers have analysed the relationship between the two phenomena. Consequently, it appeared that such a report should be written and a dual objective was decided: - To take as objective and as rigorous a view as possible on the reality of the "counterfeiting - criminal organisations" combination in the area of medicines. - From a criminology and strategic standpoint, to give some consideration to what could be done to guide current actions. What about the reality of this phenomenon? How can criminal organisations be characterised in our area of study? Are these organisations transnational? Is the Internet a genuine Eldorado for criminal organisations dealing in medicines? The questions relating to our problems proved to be varied and complex. One of the interests in this research is to offer new food for thought on a potentially real, but still opaque threat for which an interpretation can only be made through a documented, pragmatic and also imaginative approach. In the first part, the framework of our new conceptual study will be explained. It is important to define the counterfeiting and falsification of medicines in a clear field of analysis, presenting the specific features of the Internet in particular. In the second part, we will analyse the reality of the relationship between counterfeit medicines and criminal organisations both in the physical world and on the Internet. Theoretical considerations will also supplement our own thoughts. Thirdly, we will go into detail on the criminological issues raised by our problems. Finally, we will analyse to what extent knowledge of the phenomenon can be improved and therefore eliminated with new forms of expertise.

IRCAM, 2013. 130p.

By Lavinia Piemontese

This paper proposes a new approach for quantifying the economic cost of hidden economies. I specifically apply the method to the case of mafia racketeering in Northern Italy, and in so doing, provide the first explicit estimate of the economic cost of mafia spread in this area. I show both theoretically and empirically that acts of extortion imposed on certain firms are linked to resource misallocation. I quantify the share of output that the mafia extorts from firms, which ranges between 0.5 and 5 percent of firm-level output for the taxed firms. I then consider what these estimates imply and find that between 2000 and 2012, the Northern Italian economy suffered an aggregate loss of approximately 2.5 billion Euros. Quite remarkably, only one-fourth of this cost consists of the aggregate transfer to the mafia. The remaining three-fourths corresponds to the contraction of production due to misallocation.

Lyon, France: University of Lyon, 2021. 56p.

By Jo Hastie

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has been researching the threat that online wildlife trade poses to endangered species since 2004. During that time, our research in over 25 countries around the globe has revealed the vast scale of trade in wildlife and their parts and products on the world’s largest marketplace, the Internet - a market that is open for business 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Whilst legal trade exists in respect of many species of wildlife, online platforms can provide easy opportunities for criminal activities. Trade over the Internet is often largely unregulated and anonymous, often with little to no monitoring or enforcement action being taken against wildlife cybercriminals. In addition, cyber-related criminal investigations are complicated by jurisdictional issues, with perpetrators in different geographical locations and laws differing from country to country. This poses a serious threat to the survival of some of the world’s most iconic species and the welfare of individual animals. This report outlines the results of new IFAW research in seven different countries in Africa, exploring the availability of wild animals and their products in an area of the world with a rapid growth in access to the Internet.

Washington, DC: International fund for Animal Welfare - IFAW, 2017. 32p.

By Amy Woolloff, Sone Nkoke, Louisa Musing, Magdalena S. Svensson

A TRAFFIC survey of seventy-two online platforms found a staggering 1,267 CITES*-listed species for sale in Central African countries and Nigeria between March 2018 and January 2021. In delivering these findings to the governments of the countries involved, TRAFFIC seeks to bolster national legislation to regulate these online sales when these do not comply with CITES regulations, which might be jeopardising populations of already threatened species. Threatened African species are facing an increasing peril from an unregulated and illegal cyber-enabled wildlife trade in Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Gabon, and Nigeria. These countries have a higher rate of growth in internet users than the global average, so it is likely that the volumes of online trade in CITES-listed species will increase as internet penetration rates continue to rise.

Cambridge, UK: TRAFFIC, 2022. 54p.

By Julie Ayling

This article contributes to the growing literature on organised crime prevention by examining the approaches of two countries, Australia and the Netherlands. In many respects these countries are similar. They also have many organised crime problems in common. But their responses to those problems have been quite distinct. The Dutch administrative approach has been hailed as both unique and successful, while the Australian approach, primarily a reactive criminal law-based response, has encountered a storm of criticism. The article compares the two approaches and addresses the questions of whether and what Australia should learn from the Dutch approach.

Canberra: RegNet School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University; European University Institute Dept of Law, 2013. 54p.

By Julie Ayling

Demand reduction has now been recognised as crucial to prevention of wildlife crime, but ideas for effectively decreasing demand are still in short supply. Two demand reduction strategies currently predominate, consumer education campaigns and legal prohibitions on consumption. But further strategies need to be found urgently, as Earth is losing wildlife at frightening rates. This paper argues for greater regulatory pluralism and a more systematic approach to addressing demand. The complex and multi-layered concept of demand is unpacked and current demand reduction activities by states and non-state actors are discussed. The paper identifies third parties (non-state non-offending actors) in prime positions to intervene to reduce demand and sets out diverse ways in which their capacities could be harnessed as part of a whole-of-society demand reduction response.

Canberra: RegNet School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University; European University Institute Dept of Law, 2015. 23p.

By Vanda Felbab-Brown

Southeast Asia, with its linkages into the larger Asian market that includes China, Indonesia, and India, is one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots as well as one of the world’s hotspots for the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife parts. Although demand markets for wildlife, including illegally traded wildlife are present throughout the world, China ranks as the world’s largest market for illegal trade in wildlife, and wildlife products, followed by the United States. Globally, the volume and diversity of traded and consumed species have increased to phenomenal and unprecedented levels, contributing to very intense species loss. In Southeast Asia alone, where the illegal trade in wildlife is estimated to be worth $8-10 billion per year, wildlife is harvested at many times the sustainable level, decimating ecosystems and driving species to extinction.

Washington, DC: Brookings Institute, 2011. 43p.

By Julie Ayling

The problem of illegal trading in wildlife is a long-standing one. Humans have always regarded other sentient and non-sentient species as resources and tradeable commodities, frequently resulting in negative effects for biodiversity. However, the illegal trade in wildlife is increasingly meeting with resistance from states and the international community in the form of law enforcement and regulatory initiatives. So why does it persist? What makes the criminal networks involved in it resilient? In this paper we consider the networks involved in the illegal trade in rhinoceros horn that is currently posing an existential threat to most rhino species. The paper considers possible sources of these networks’ resilience, both internal and external, and the implications for how the trade could be tackled.

Canberra: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Department of International Relations, Australian National University, 2012. 22p.

By Tanya Wyatt

Wildlife trafficking is a major black market, and is thought to be the second most profitable illicit market after drug trafficking. It has significant negative impacts on species, ecosystems, and biodiversity. After habitat loss, wildlife trafficking is the leading cause of extinction. It is also a threat to food industries and human health with its connection to disease transmission. The patterns of wildlife trafficking vary throughout the world and nations approach the prevention of it differently. The differences that exist raise the question as to why the levels differ between nations that appear to be similar. This is the case with the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, which are demographically similar with a significant shared cultural history. Yet New Zealand has high levels of wildlife trafficking, Australia low levels, and the UK somewhere in between. This research uses the trade database from the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to explore all the illegal trade incidents of these three countries reported to CITES from its creation in 1973. Combined with a review of the literature, the paper investigates the differences and similarities in the wildlife that is traded and the legislation that is implemented. It appears that more regulation in this instance may be connected to decreased levels of wildlife trafficking.

Canberra: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Department of International Relations, Australian National University, 2013. 25p.

By Matthew Marshall

This paper summarises, analyses, and assesses four working papers published by the Transnational Environmental Crime (TEC) Project and written by two employees of the Australian Government’s Department of the Environment (DoE) who served as Visiting Fellows to the TEC Project. This working paper also forms part of the TEC Project. It synthesises the data and concludes the overall contribution made by DoE, emphasising future areas of consideration. Part of this involves enunciating research findings in such a way that they can be better utilised by DoE to subsequently develop policy in the area of TEC regulation, which is also one of the aims of the TEC Project generally: that the course of academic research provide assistance in the development of government policy on the matter of TEC with subsequent operational benefits.

Canberra: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Department of International Relations, Australian National University, 2014. 24p.,

By Environmental Investigation Agency, UK

This is a tragic true story of high culture, peerless art forms, and a rich historical identity being warped by greed and obsession, which consumes its very foundations to extinction and sparks a violent crime wave across Asian forests. This report details the findings of EIA’s investigations into the Siamese rosewood trade in recent years, including in the year since the CITES listing. It reveals how crime, corruption, and ill-conceived government policies from Thailand to China, via Laos and Vietnam, are likely to result in the demise of Siamese rosewood in the coming years, unless significant and rapid reforms are made.

London: Environmental Investigation Agency, 2014. 28p.

By Global Witness

Honduras, a country rich in natural resources and cultural diversity, struggles against poverty and environmental degradation: it is the third poorest country in Latin America and the second poorest in Central America. Poverty is much more acute in a rural context, so forested areas largely coincide with the poorest ones1. The country is well suited to forestry practices, and 41.5% of its territory is currently covered with forests2. However, decades of agricultural colonisation and the expansion of cattle ranching have resulted in extensive deforestation and related environmental degradation, most notably the deterioration of water resources and soil erosion. In a country that is prone to hurricanes and flooding, environmental degradation worsens the impact of these natural disasters. Severe governance failure in the Honduran forest sector is threatening the country’s largest protected area, the UNESCO-accredited Man and the Biosphere Reserve of Río Plátano (hereafter the Río Plátano Biosphere), and the people living in and around it. Corruption at the highest level and a complete lack of accountability have led to environmental destruction and undermined the rights of local people and their efforts towards sustainable forestry. This report makes the case for greater national and international efforts to strengthen forest governance and the rule of law. It is based on Global Witness’ on-the ground research, interviews with key actors and a review of existing official documents and other sources of information. It aims to: (i) document, expose and analyse this case, (ii) identify lessons that can be learned in Honduras and elsewhere and (iii) present a series of recommendations for the various parties involved, in particular the Institute of Forest Conservation and Development (ICF), which is the new Honduran forest authority created by the Forest Law approved on 13 September 2007c.

Washington, DC: Global Witness, 2009. 40p.

By Jeffrey R. Vincent

Discrepancies in bilateral trade statistics for forest products have recently attracted attention as potential indicators of illegal trade practices. For example, if exporters understate quantities to evade export taxes or quotas, then one might expect reported exports to be less than reported imports. Discrepancies in trade statistics can exist for reasons that have nothing to do with illegal activities, however, such as measurement error and shipment lags. Any attempt to infer evidence of illegal activities from statistical discrepancies must control for these other explanations. The author estimates the discrepancies between reported imports and exports for bilateral flows of sawnwood traded by Romania and other European countries. The author also examines whether these discrepancies reflect illegal activities by the traders. The mean discrepancy for sawnwood exported by Romania during 1982-97 was significantly different from zero for coniferous sawnwood but not for nonconiferous sawnwood. Yet the sign of the discrepancy for coniferous sawnwood-reported exports tended to be greater than reported imports-implies that illegal trade activities were more likely occurring in Romania's trading partners than in Romania. An econometric analysis of bilateral trade statistics for Romania and other European countries finds evidence that measurement error, shipment lags, and intentional underreporting all play a role in explaining discrepancies for both types of sawnwood. The econometric model is not sufficiently reliable, however, for estimating the portion that was due solely to illegal activities or determining whether those activities occurred primarily in Romania or in its trading partners. Moreover, given that it is based on observed discrepancies in bilateral trade statistics, it fails to detect illegal trade activities that occur simultaneously in both importing and exporting countries. For these reasons, econometric methods appear unlikely to be of practical use in revealing illegal trade activities in the Romanian forest sector.

Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004. 43p.

By Arnoldo Contreras-Hermosilla

This paper looks at the evidence on the magnitude and impacts of forest illegal acts, examines the vulnerabilities of the forest sector, and proposes a strategy for combating forest crime. Forest crime prominently includes illegal logging but acts against the law also affect other sector operations such as forest products transport, industrial processing, and trade. Almost universally, criminal exploitation of forest products and commerce prevail as large amounts are unlawfully harvested, traded against regulations in domestic markets or smuggled across borders, often with the willing participation of corrupt forest service officials and border police. Illegal activities do not stop at the forest. They travel down the line to operations related to transportation, national and international trade of forest products. A particular form of illegal forest activity, corruption, has come to the forefront of the international debate on forests and is now being openly discussed in various fora because of the increasing awareness of the immense costs associated with it. In this paper, corrupt deeds are illegal actions that:(i) engage public officials; (ii) involve public property and power; (iii) are perpetrated for private gain; (iv) are intentional acts; and (v) are surreptitious. Illegal activities are main threat to global resources. A wide variety of illegal acts, including, among others, illegal logging, illegal trade, arson and unauthorized occupation of forestlands, take place in all kinds of forests, in developing and industrialized economies. Often illegal activities are associated with corruption, involving the willing participation of government officers, usually in complicity with parties of the private sector, in schemes to abuse public property. Illegal acts generate a number of undesirable economic impacts, harm the environment and the most vulnerable sectors of society. To conclude, the improvement of the policy and legislative framework and the proper enforcement of the law may be the most important issue in the future management of forest resources worldwide.

Washington, DC: World Bank, 2002. 61p.

By Duncan Brack and Gavin Hayman

This report presents a brief overview of the range of options for intergovernmental action to help combat illegal logging and trade in illegal timber and forest products. Actions by individual producer and consumer governments could be complemented by international collaboration. Many of the options listed could be phased; and are also not mutually exclusive.

London: Royal Institute of International Affairs , 2001. 28p.

By Krystof Obidzinski, Agus Andrianto, and Chandra Wijaya

Over the last few years, illegal logging has been at the center of policy debates about the current state and future prospects of Indonesia’s forestry sector. To a significant extent, the policy dialogues as well as public understanding of the illegal logging problem have been influenced by the timber establishment’s view that clandestine timber smuggling is responsible for illegal logging activities in the country. Echoing this sentiment, the Indonesian government has been at odds with neighboring countries Malaysia and Singapore over their perceived lack of cooperation in stemming the illegal flow of Indonesian timber across the border and thus helping to rein in illegal logging. At the same time, timber smuggling has become the focus of forest law enforcement operations in Indonesia. This paper scrutinizes the assumption that timber smuggling is at the core of the illegal logging problem in Indonesia. Taking the border zone between Indonesia and Malaysia on the island of Borneo (Kalimantan) as a sample unit of analysis and complementing it with data from other parts of Indonesia, the paper shows the intensity of timber smuggling was relatively high between 2000 and 2003, but has since declined by over 70%. Despite this decline, illegal logging in Indonesia still continues at a rate of approximately 40 million m3 per year. It seems clear that timber smuggling is not the primary driver of illegal logging in Indonesia. Instead, the core of the problem is the extraction of timber by Indonesian forest concession holders, plantation developers, road construction companies and other ventures that abuse company permits and violate prevailing forestry regulations.

Bogor, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research, 2006. 46p.

By Luca Tacconi. Krystof Obidzinski. and Ferdinandus Agung

Illegal logging is a cause for widespread concern. It has negative environmental impacts, results in the loss of forest products used by rural communities, creates conflicts, and causes significant losses of tax revenues that could be used for development activities. The Nature Conservancy and World Wide Fund for Nature developed the Alliance to Promote Certification and Combat Illegal Logging in Indonesia to respond to the concern about illegal logging. The Alliance is a three-year initiative that aims to: 1. Strengthen market signals to expand certification and combat illegal logging, 2. Increase supply of certified Indonesian wood products, 3. Demonstrate practical solutions to achieve certification and differentiate legal and illegal supplies, 4. Reduce financing and investment in companies engaged in destructive or illegal logging in Indonesia, 5. Share lessons learned from the project. The Alliance seeks to learn lessons from its ongoing work to inform and adapt its activities, as well as to inform other initiatives seeking to address similar problems. This report is part of this lessons learning process. This report assesses the situation in Indonesia, including a quantitative estimation of illegally produced logs, discusses the causes of illegal logging, and describes the national and international policy and trade context. Then, it considers the work undertaken by the Alliance to address illegal logging in Indonesia; it summarizes the strategy of the Alliance, describes its rationale, and assesses the assumptions underlying the rationale and the objectives. Finally, it summarizes the progress made by the Alliance towards achieving its goal, highlights the lessons that can be learnt from the work in progress, and provides recommendations for the Alliance.

Bogor, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). 2004. 88p.

By Duncan Brack, Kevin Gray and Gavin Hayman

This report examines the means by which the international trade in illegally logged timber and wood products can be controlled - in other words, how importing/consuming governments might establish and operate a system for denying market access to timber and wood products produced and exported illegally. This can be seen as a way of adding value to producer country enforcement actions, by establishing a system aiming to deny markets to the illegal products that are exported. Although the report does not deal with other options for controlling illegal logging, it should be borne in mind that in many producer countries, reform of domestic laws and regulations dealing with forest crimes and related activities will be an essential prerequisite for the successful implementation of the options listed below. In some circumstances it may be helpful to make disbursement of development assistance conditional on improvements in forest law and governance.

London: Chatham House, 2002. 73p.