By Anthea McCarthy

Over the past decade Mexican drug cartels’ power and the violent struggles between them have increased exponentially. Previously Mexico, and in particular the border regions with the US, were the key battle grounds for control of distribution routes. However, today Mexican drug cartels are now looking abroad in an attempt to extend their operations. This expansion has seen several cartels moving into lucrative international markets in Europe and the Asia Pacific.

It is in this context that Australia has now become a target of several Mexican cartels. They have already established linkages in the Asia Pacific and are further attempting to strengthen and expand these — with a particular focus on penetrating the Australian market. These developments show how Mexican drug cartels operate as ‘dark-networks’, successfully creating a global system that seeks to capture new markets, and further extend their control and dominance of the flow of illicit drugs around the world.

For Australia, the emergence of Mexican drug cartels in local markets presents not only criminal but strategic challenges. The size of these operations, their resources and ‘dark-network’ structure makes them a difficult opponent. Their presence threatens to not only increase the supply of illicit drugs in Australia, but encourage turf wars, increase the amount of guns in the country, tax border security resources and threaten the stability and good governance of South Pacific transit spots.

This represents the end of Australia’s ‘tyranny of distance’, which previously acted as a buffer and protected Australia from the interests of remote criminal groups such as the Mexican cartels.

Canberra: Australian National University, Strategic & Defence Studies Centre ANU College of Asia & the Pacific , 2016. 12p.

By Colleen W. Cook

This report provides an overview of: Mexican cartels and their operations, including the nature of cartel ties to gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha; Mexican cartel drug production in the United States; and the presence of Mexican cartel cells in the United States. Mexican cartels allegedly have used their vast financial resources to corrupt Mexican public officials who either turn a blind eye to cartel activities or work directly for them. Since 2005, the Mexican government has made numerous efforts to purge corrupt police. In December 2006, President Felipe Calderón launched operations against the cartels in 9 of Mexico's 32 states. He has pledged to use extradition as a tool against drug traffickers, and sent 73 criminals to the United States as of August 2007, including the alleged head of the Gulf Cartel. This report also examines potential policy approaches to the problem of drug trafficking and violence. Current U.S. and Mexican policy emphasizes interdiction and eradication. Supporters of this policy maintain that these efforts have reduced the supply of drugs in the United States. Critics maintain that Administration officials have refused to release data showing that cocaine prices are falling, suggesting that the drug supply is growing, not shrinking. These critics suggest that more emphasis should be placed on demand reduction in the United States, including drug prevention education and treatment. The Mexican government urges the United States to increase its efforts to reduce U.S. demand for drugs, stating that it cannot succeed in its efforts against the cartels so long as cartels stand to earn billions of dollars annually from the U.S. illicit drug market. Critics of current policy, including the Mexican government, are also calling for increased efforts to combat arms trafficking from the United States to Mexico.

Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2008. 21p.

By Alex Zemek

• Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) / Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) represent a clear and present danger to stability in Mexico and Central America and have wide-spread secondary and tertiary impacts on the United States. • Illegal immigration, which has skyrocketed under the Biden Administration, contributes to the growth and power of these dangerous TCOs/DTOs. • As Communist China is an integral part of the cartels’ drug supply chain, the current paradigm weakens the U.S. and strengthens this adversary. • These cartels are violent and dangerous groups that exploit, both financially and sexually, the children, women, and men who seek to enter the United States, and as such anything that supports and empowers the cartels is inhumane. • In addition to the perils faced by illegal immigrants themselves, permitting illegal immigration has ramifications that threaten the safety, health, and welfare of all Americans. • Confronting these organized crime networks begins with maintaining border integrity and reducing the demand by American citizens for drugs, particularly addictive narcotics. Additionally, the U.S. should support efforts to thwart cartels’ illicit activities and those materially supporting them, and should seek more accountability from the Mexico, and other foreign governments, in combating transnational criminals.

Arlington, VA : American First Policy Institute, 2022. 21p.

By John Coyne

Whether in Mexico, the US or Australia, the image of the transnational serious and organised crime (OC) threat from ‘Mexican cartels’ used to construct policy doesn’t appear to engage with the reality that there’s no homogeneous Mexican cartel, cartels or OC group.

This report argues that, for Australia and Asia, the menace of Mexican OC is no longer looming on the horizon; it has already arrived.

However, the nature of the Mexican OC problem in Australia and Asia is not likely to be the same as that found in either the US or Mexico. To respond effectively to this rising threat, Australian policymakers need to approach the issue with a more informed perspective that engages with the complex nature of the various groups that collectively form what’s broadly considered to be Mexican OC.

Furthermore, the policy response to Mexican OC will need to more agile than the measures contained in Australia’s current National Organised Crime Response

Canberra: Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 2017. 28p.

By Lauren Greenwood and Kevin Fashola

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), synthetic opioids—primarily illicit fentanyl—remain the largest cause of overdose deaths in the United States. 1 The CDC estimates that in the United States, there were more than 93,000 drug overdose deaths in 2020, of which an estimated 69,710 were opioid overdoses. This is a more than 30 percent increase from the 50,963 opioid overdoses in 2019. *2 Stay-home orders, disruption of normal routines, economic hardships, and other stressors related to the novel coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic contributed to the rise in abuse of illicit opioids in the United States in 2020,3 despite the increased price of street fentanyl.

Washington, DC: U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, 2021. 15p.

By Laura Y. Calderón

Mexico had the most violent year in its history in 2019, reporting 29,406 intentional homicide cases, resulting in 34,588 individual victims.1 However, violence remains a highly focalized phenomenon in Mexico, with 23% of all intentional homicide cases concentrated in five municipalities and three major clusters of violence with homicide rates over 100 per 100,000 inhabitants. Following the national trend, the state of Guanajuato also had its most violent year in 2019, with one of its largest cities featured in the country’s top five most violent municipalities. This paper will analyze the surge in violence in Guanajuato in 2019, comparing the number of intentional homicide cases with the increasing problem of fuel theft in the state, and describing some of the state and federal government measures to address both issues.

San Diego: Justice in Mexico, University of San Diego, 2020. 28p.

By Karina Garcia

This paper provides first-hand data regarding the perpetrators’ perspectives about their engagement in practices of drug trafficking-related violence in Mexico such as murder, kidnapping and torture. Drawing on the life stories of thirty-three former participants in the Mexican drug trade—often self-described as “narcos”— collected in the North of Mexico between October 2014 and January 2015, this paper shows how violent practices serve different purposes, which indicates the need for different strategies to tackle them.

San Diego: Justice in Mexico, University of San Diego, 2019. 37p.

By Jorge Cabat

Since the beginning of his administration, President Felipe Calderon launched a war against drug trafficking using the Army and the Federal Police. This strategy has had serious unintended consequences in terms of the level of violence. By August 2010, the government acknowledged that there were 28,000 drug-related deaths since December 2006. This violence has provoked hard criticisms of the Calderon Administration and some analysts have suggested that the decision to attack the drug cartels was motivated by political reasons in order to obtain legitimacy after a very close and polemic Presidential election in 2006. However, since the end of the Fox Administration there are parts of the Mexican territory controlled by drug traffickers, which no State can allow. The paper argues that even if the anti-drug strategy of Calderon has been very costly in terms of violence, there was no other alternative, as the other options were not viable at the beginning of the Calderon administration. From this point of view it is an inevitable war. The weak results achieved to date are due to the fact that the Mexican government does not possess the institutional and human resources to carry out this war. This explains the emphasis of the Mexican government on institutional building. However, this is a long-term solution. In the short term, everything suggests that the high levels of drug-related violence are going to continue.

México, D.F. : CIDE: 2010. 24p.

By Ko-lin Chin and Sheldon X. Zhang

n a country long associated with the trade in opiates, the Chinese government has for decades applied extreme measures to curtail the spread of illicit drugs, only to find that the problem has worsened. Burma is blamed as the major producer of illicit drugs and conduit for the entry of drugs into China. Which organizations are behind the heroin trade? What problems and prospects of drug control in the so-called “Golden Triangle” drug-trafficking region are faced by Chinese and Southeast Asian authorities?

In The Chinese Heroin Trade, noted criminologists Ko-Lin Chin and Sheldon Zhangexamine the social organization of the trafficking of heroin from the Golden Triangle to China and the wholesale and retail distribution of the drug in China. Based on face-to-face interviews with hundreds of incarcerated drug traffickers, street-level drug dealers, users, and authorities, paired with extensive fieldwork in the border areas of Burma and China and several major urban centers in China and Southeast Asia, this volume reveals how the drug trade has evolved in the Golden Triangle since the late 1980s. Chin and Zhang also explore the marked characteristics of heroin traffickers; the relationship between drug use and sales in China; and how China compares to other international drug markets. The Chinese Heroin Trade is a fascinating, nuanced account of the world of high-risk drug trafficking in a tightly-controlled society.

New York; London: New York University Press, 320p.

Edited by Bruce M. Bagley and Jonathan D. Rosen

In 1971, Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs. Despite foreign policy efforts and attempts to combat supply lines, the United States has been for decades, and remains today, the largest single consumer market for illicit drugs on the planet.

This volume argues that the war on drugs has been ineffective at best and, at worst, has been highly detrimental to many countries. Leading experts in the fields of public health, political science, and national security analyze how U.S. policies have affected the internal dynamics of Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Central America, and the Caribbean islands. Together, they present a comprehensive overview of the major trends in drug trafficking and organized crime in the early twenty-first century.

In addition, the editors and contributors identify emerging issues and propose several policy options to address them. This accessible and expansive volume provides a framework for understanding the limits and liabilities in the U.S.-championed war on drugs throughout the Americas.

Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2015. 464p.

By Marcelo Bergman

This book describes the main patterns and trends of drug trafficking in Latin America and analyzes its political, economic and social effects on several countries over the last twenty years. Its aim is to provide readers an introductory yet elaborate text on the illegal drug problem in the region. It first seeks to define and measure the problem, and then discusses some of the implications that the growth of production, trafficking, and consumption of illegal drugs had in the economies, in the social fabrics, and in the domestic and international policies of Latin American countries.

This book analyzes the illegal drugs problem from a Latin American perspective. Although there is a large literature and research on drug use and trade in the USA, Canada, Europe and the Far East, little is understood on the impact of narcotics in countries that have supplied a large share of the drugs used worldwide. This work explores how routes into Europe and the USA are developed, why the so-called drug cartels exist in the region, what level of profits illegal drugs generate, how such gains are distributed among producers, traffickers, and dealers and how much they make, why violence spread in certain places but not in others, and which alternative policies were taken to address the growing challenges posed by illegal drugs.

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  With a strong empirical foundation based on the best available data, Illegal Drugs, Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America explains how rackets in the region built highly profitable enterprises transshipping and smuggling drugs northbound and why the large circulation of drugs also produced the emergence of vibrant domestic markets, which doubled the number of drug users in the region the last 10 years. It presents the best available information for 18 countries, and the final two chapters analyze in depth two rather different case studies: Mexico and Argentina.

Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2018. 166p.

By Jakob Demant and Silje A. Bakken

Use of the internet has changed drug dealing over the past decade. While there is a growing understanding of the role of darknet drug markets, little is known about how drug dealing works on public online services such as social media. This study reports findings from a Nordic comparative study of social media drug dealing, which represents the first in-depth study of increasing levels of digitally mediated drug dealing outside cryptomarkets.

Lisbon, Portugal: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)m 2019. 22p.

By Nicolas Christin

Online anonymous marketplaces are a relatively recent technological development that enables sellers and buyers to transact online with far stronger anonymity guarantees than on traditional electronic commerce platforms. This has led certain individuals to engage in transactions of illicit or illegal goods.

This report presents an analysis of the online anonymous marketplace data collected by Soska and Christin [13] over late 2011–early 2015. In this report, we focus on drug supply coming from the European Union. Keeping in mind the limitations inherent to such data collection, we found that, for the period and the marketplaces considered.

Lisbon, Portugal: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, 2017. 25p.

By United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

The versatility of synthetic drugs and flexibility of their manufacture is driving a constant evolution of the illicit synthetic drug market. The dynamic nature of the market continues to present a significant challenge globally, requiring a multifaceted, comprehensive approach to address the problem. In November 2021, UNODC launched the Synthetic Drug Strategy as a framework to support countries in developing evidence and science-based responses to address this ongoing challenge. The strategy includes four spheres of action, namely, multilateralism and international cooperation, early warning on emerging synthetic drug threats, promoting science-informed health responses, and strengthening counter-narcotic interventions. East and Southeast Asia, which is home to one of the largest methamphetamine markets in the world, is a key region for implementation of the strategy. Amidst the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent developments, organised crime groups in the region have shown their adaptability and ingenuity to capitalise on the situation and expand their operations.

Vienna: UNODC, Global SMART Programme , 2022. 36p.

By Thomas J. Holt and Olga Smirnova

As consumers and businesses have come to rely on computers and the Internet to buy and sell, manage finances, and retain customer information, opportunities for financial data theft and fraud have skyrocketed. Recent evidence suggests that cybercriminals often buy and sell stolen credit card, bank and online account data through online discussion forums.

A Michigan State University study examined how cybercriminals use international Web forums as advertising spaces for buying and trading stolen financial information, especially credit cards. Researchers analyzed almost 2,000 discussion threads from 13 easily accessible Web forums, 10 of which use Russian as their primary language and three of which use English. The study found that cybercriminals often group information from tens to hundreds of bank and credit card accounts into “dumps” that they then sell for an average of $100. Dumps were the most common product sold (44.7 percent), followed by CVV (card verification value code) data from credit cards (34.9 percent), and various forms of electronic data, such as eBay and PayPal account information (1.4 percent).

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  Most of the data came from continental European nations, but much also came from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. The more data available from a country, the lower the price. Bank account data from the European Union, for example, sold for about $4, whereas data from the U.S. sold for about $5.

  The forums are particularly collaborative and social in nature, unlike traditional crime networks, such as the Italian Mafia or Yakuza. Participation costs little, and cybercriminals of various skill levels can find the products and services they want through a range of sellers.

  The lack of hierarchy suggests that law enforcement attempts to target individuals would cause little disruption to the overall network. Instead, the study proposes that one of the most effective mechanisms to disrupt the sale of stolen data may be law enforcement investigation into the payment systems the criminals use, such as WebMoney and Liberty Reserve.Description text goes here

East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, 2014. 156p.

By Kevin Poulsen

Former hacker Kevin Poulsen has, over the past decade, built a reputation as one of the top investigative reporters on the cybercrime beat. In Kingpin, he pours his unmatched access and expertise into book form for the first time, delivering a gripping cat-and-mouse narrative—and an unprecedented view into the twenty-first century’s signature form of organized crime. The word spread through the hacking underground like some unstoppable new virus: Someone—some brilliant, audacious crook—had just staged a hostile takeover of an online criminal network that siphoned billions of dollars from the US economy. The FBI rushed to launch an ambitious undercover operation aimed at tracking down this new kingpin; other agencies around the world deployed dozens of moles and double agents. Together, the cybercops lured numerous unsuspecting hackers into their clutches. . . . Yet at every turn, their main quarry displayed an uncanny ability to sniff out their snitches and see through their plots. The culprit they sought was the most unlikely of criminals: a brilliant programmer with a hippie ethic and a supervillain’s double identity. As prominent “white-hat” hacker Max “Vision” Butler, he was a celebrity throughout the programming world, even serving as a consultant to the FBI. But as the black-hat “Iceman,” he found in the world of data theft an irresistible opportunity to test his outsized abilities. He infiltrated thousands of computers around the country, sucking down millions of credit card numbers at will. He effortlessly hacked his fellow hackers, stealing their ill-gotten gains from under their noses.

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  . Together with a smooth-talking con artist, he ran a massive real-world crime ring. And for years, he did it all with seeming impunity, even as countless rivals ran afoul of police. Yet as he watched the fraudsters around him squabble, their ranks riddled with infiltrators, their methods inefficient, he began to see in their dysfunction the ultimate challenge: He would stage his coup and fix what was broken, run things as they should be run—even if it meant painting a bull’s-eye on his forehead. Through the story of this criminal’s remarkable rise, and of law enforcement’s quest to track him down, Kingpin lays bare the workings of a silent crime wave still affecting millions of Americans. In these pages, we are ushered into vast online-fraud supermarkets stocked with credit card numbers, counterfeit checks, hacked bank accounts, dead drops, and fake passports. We learn the workings of the numerous hacks—browser exploits, phishing attacks, Trojan horses, and much more—these fraudsters use to ply their trade, and trace the complex routes by which they turn stolen data into millions of dollars. And thanks to Poulsen’s remarkable access to both cops and criminals, we step inside the quiet, desperate arms race that law enforcement continues to fight with these scammers today. Ultimately, Kingpin is a journey into an underworld of startling scope and power, one in which ordinary American teenagers work hand in hand with murderous Russian mobsters and where a simple Wi-Fi connection can unleash a torrent of gold worth millions.Description text goes here

New York: Crown Publishing, 211. 288p.

By Nir Kshetri

This book is about the global cybercrime industry, which according to some estimates, is a US$1 trillion industry and is growing rapidly. It examines economic and institutional processes in the cybercrime industry, provides insights into the entrepreneurial aspect of firms engaged in cyber-criminal activities, takes a close look at cybercrime business models, explains the global variation in the pattern of cybercrimes and seeks to understand threats and countermeasures taken by key actors in this industry. This book’s distinguishing features include the newness, importance, controversiality and complexity of the topic; cross-disciplinary focus, orientation and scope; theory-based but practical and accessible to the wider audience; and illustration of various qualitative and quantitative aspects of the global cybercrime industry.

Cham: Springer, 2010. 252p.

Edited by Emilio C. Viano

This timely book provides contributions on international, comparative crime phenomena: gangs, trafficking, fear of crime, and crime prevention. It highlights contributions originally prepared for the XVII World Congress of Criminology and for the 2015 Cybercrime Conference in Oñati, Spain which have been selected, reviewed, and adapted for inclusion in this volume.

The work features international contributors sharing the latest research and approaches from a variety of global regions. The first part examines the impact of gangs on criminal activities and violence. The second part explores illegal trafficking of people, drugs, and other illicit goods as a global phenomenon, aided by the ease of international travel, funds transfer, and communication. Finally, international approaches to crime detection prevention are presented. The work provides case studies and fieldwork that will be relevant across a variety of disciplines and a rich resource for future research.

This work is relevant for researchers in criminology and criminal justice, as well as related fields such as international and comparative law, public policy, and public health.

Cham: Springer, 2017. 378p.

Edited by Babak Akhgar and Ben Brewster

This book comprises an authoritative and accessible edited collection of chapters of substantial practical and operational value. For the very first time, it provides security practitioners with a trusted reference and resource designed to guide them through the complexities and operational challenges associated with the management of contemporary and emerging cybercrime and cyberterrorism (CC/CT) issues.

Benefiting from the input of three major European Commission funded projects the book's content is enriched with case studies, explanations of strategic responses and contextual information providing the theoretical underpinning required for the clear interpretation and application of cyber law, policy and practice, this unique volume helps to consolidate the increasing role and responsibility of society as a whole, including law enforcement agencies (LEAs), the private sector and academia, to tackle CC/CT.

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  This new contribution to CC/CT knowledge follows a multi-disciplinary philosophy supported by leading experts across academia, private industry and government agencies. This volume goes well beyond the guidance of LEAs, academia and private sector policy documents and doctrine manuals by considering CC/CT challenges in a wider practical and operational context. It juxtaposes practical experience and, where appropriate, policy guidance, with academic commentaries to reflect upon and illustrate the complexity of cyber ecosystem ensuring that all security practitioners are better informed and prepared to carry out their CC/CT responsibilities to protect the citizens they serve.Description text goes here

Cham: Springer, 2016. 323p.

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Edited by Thomas J. Holt and Adam M. Bossler

This Major Reference Work synthesizes the global knowledge on cybercrime from the leading international criminologists and scholars across the social sciences. The constant evolution of technology and our relationship to devices and their misuse creates a complex challenge requiring interdisciplinary knowledge and exploration. This work addresses this need by bringing disparate areas of social science research on cybercrime together. It covers the foundations, history and theoretical aspects of cybercrime, followed by four key sections on the main types of cybercrime: cyber-trespass, cyber-deception/theft, cyber-porn and obscenity, and cyber-violence, including policy responses to cybercrime. This work will not only demonstrate the current knowledge of cybercrime but also its limitations and directions for future study.

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. 1467p.