Organized Crime And Corruption In Latin America

Organized crime in America comes in many structures, yet it was the Mafia that developed with the most elevated profile and aided in various demonstrations of Congress to enable law authorities to deal with the threat. In the meantime, a significant part of the early history of organized crime is generally indistinguishable from political corruption. In the first half of the twentieth century, the law had regularly been known to choose not to see to illegal activity in light of personal involvement, the risk of striking back, or political weight. In spite of the fact that organized crime long originates before Prohibition, it was the illegal production and distribution of alcohol that made endless offenders extremely wealthy and started the

This research establish weak governance as an enabler for the emergence of security threats in Latin America related to transnational organized crime. Lack of effective action of the administration to provide basic services and proper conditions for the population resulted in alternate ways to get them, with the consequent undermining of the institutions and norms.

Corruption will unfortunately continue to be a reality for many communities throughout the region as we transition into the 21st century. The Iguala mass kidnapping was a brutal example of what authorities are willing to do to suppress potential political adversaries (Vice News 2014). If we look to the past, an obvious link can be made to Peru's age of terror, where thousands we killed or disappeared because they were seen as a political threat (Dawson 2011). While Iguala kidnapping was just as terrifying, what is different now is the presence of technology. The advent and proliferation of cell phones and the World Wide Web during the last decade of the 20th century and into the 21st has given the average civilian the power to reach out into

The Mexican Mafia, or “La Eme”, as they refer to themselves, is one of the most powerful and influential organized crime gangs in the United States. The organization has risen through the decades of mass gang wars and violence to become the power it is today. Their control is limitless and they have ventured far beyond the expectations of what was thought that gangs were capable of. They have infiltrated governments and manipulated politics. They have taken over neighborhoods and attempted to ethnically cleanse them. Innocent people have become caught up in the affairs of La Eme throughout its history and many have faced violence and death at their hands. This paper is a continual of the case analysis of the Mexican Mafia and will attempt to provide explanations for some of the crimes committed by this organization. Researching gangs and organized crime is important because of their large influence and control over many aspects of daily life. The significance of attempting to provide causations of their crimes can better provide the criminal justice system a clearer understanding of problems that lead to gang members committing crimes on behalf of the organization. A clearer understanding of problems can help the system to provide solutions to combat situations that inhibit crimes.

Transparency International, a think-tank based in Berlin, Germany, “Ranks countries/territories based on how corrupt a country’s public sector is perceived to be. [They create] a composite index, drawing on corruption-related data from expert and business surveys carried out by a variety of independent and reputable institutions.” On a scale of one to one hundred, one being the most corrupt and 100 being very clean, Haiti received a score of 17/100, making it the 158th most corrupt country out of the 168 surveyed by Transparency International. As one of the most corrupt countries in the world, it will be difficult for Haiti to attract foreign investment, curb political violence, and create sustainable institutions without implementing stringent anti-corruption measures. Likely, any anti-corruption initiatives will have to be implemented by an outside body with governing authority such as MINUSTAH to be

The United States of America is no stranger to corruption and extortion. Gang violence, the mafia, murder for pay and the marijuana industry in un-legalized states are a few examples of organized crime that happen in current day America. There are many different forms and types of organized crime today but where did they arise from? The rise and growth of organized crime in America can be attributed to government intervention in the social lives of the people, the Great Depression, and the jurisdictional limitations set on the authorities at local, state, and federal levels.

Although the term money laundering is relatively new, the concept goes back to around 67 AD. It is thought that the pirates smuggled and hid gold throughout the oceans. The pirates’ targets were European commercial vessels and were accomplished with the help of the British, French, and Dutch governments. This form of gold laundering went through the 16th and 18th centuries, until England offered pardons. These pardons allowed the pirates to keep their earnings, if they return to England and leave their pirate-like lifestyles (IMF). Similarly, on the other side of the world, Chinese merchants were too wealthy and needed to hide their profits. Commercial trading was prohibited, so this forced the bureaucrats to keep their funds safe through threats

The modernization of America's beloved Constitution is responsible for, not only the division of our society, but has lit a path to national downfall. Peaceful resistance to "unjustified" laws is nothing more than a cover up for a person's inability to accept his or her role in our country. America is suffering, and those same protestors that vow to be trying to "fix" the corruption, are the corruption. Not only has this issue degraded our national image, but it has shown that a little adversity can be our Achilles' heel.

During the 20th century Latin America went through a change after the U.S made the clam to directly defend Latin America. This caused a sudden trade switch from the Europe nation to the U.S. With this trade switch we start to see a big gap between the lower and upper class. With this gap the poor gets poorer and the rich become Carlos Slim. Carlos Slim was the world’s richest person form 2010-2013 and is a perfect example of how the upper class becomes billionaires. The wealth Disparity can also be seen in areas like Sao Paulo, Brazil with their slums. With this wage gap, crime started to flourish in Latin amerce along with corruption. Some of the best examples of crime and corruption are the Colombian drug cartels with their widespread murder and bribery tactics.

According to James Painter in his BBC News article “Latin America faces year of change”, Latin America suffers from social violence, kidnapping, drug trafficking, child pornography, lack of women’s rights, and little accountability over the region’s law makers and authorities which can lead to government corruption (para. 12). Government corruption can be defined as political power used by government leaders for private gain and to maintain their power as a government official. Most of the times these corrupt politicians in Latin America say they are accomplishing apprehension of criminals to the best of their abilities when, in reality, they commit the same multitude of crimes. Politicians are able to maintain their power as a result of

In conclusion, organized crime and street gangs are unfavourable to society, although organize crime is more detrimental to society and the economy. Organized crime is one of the main reasons why taxes keep rising. The cost for law enforcement and the judicial system is an expensive cost for the government, they have no choice to raise taxes for the law-abiding citizens. As street gangs, are more violent and more aggressive, this group only affects certain citizens, but not the entirety of society. Street gangs have minor involvement towards the economy, as organized crime influences the economy in a tremendous manner. As criminals become more intelligent their strategies and tactics continue to be successful. With the popularity of technology,

Money laundering to transnational organized crime operations because if their cash was not able to merge with legal business then the offenders would easily be discovered and their income would not be legitimate (Albanese, 2011). This process allows criminal proceeds to be disguises from their original origin(Albanese,2011). Transnational organized crime at times can go unnoticed and even unsolved because money laundering is not just a trade but an irreplaceable mechanism of every other illicit trade and when these activities experience a surge, it pushes more into the laundering cycle(Naim,2005).

Counterfeiting, Drug Trafficking, Extortion, Fake Pharmaceuticals, Human Trafficking and Weapon Smuggling are all furtive actions that are inextricably linked to that of Money Laundering. When money is obtained from these illicit actions, individuals must find a way for the money to be “cleaned” or “laundered” so as not to raise suspicion. Individuals usually turn to projects such as Real Estate, Investment in precious metals, creation of fake companies and even Gambling to avoid authorities’ suspicion.

It would be convenient to start this research paper by stating that corruption is a challenge mainly for businesses in developing countries and that it is unrelated to the current affliction of the economy in the United States. It would also be convenient to claim corruption has declined in America as a result of awareness raising campaigns and the numerous anti-corruption laws. But none of those aforementioned statements would be true. Corruption is not the exception, but rather the rule in today’s business practices. In 2004, Daniel Kaufmann, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution and former director at the World Bank, calculated an index of "legally corrupt" manifestations which is defined as the extent of undue influence

Corruption is a complex political, social, and economic anomaly that negatively affects developing and developed countries. It weakens democratic institutions, holds economic development, widening the rich-poor gap and certainly leads to governmental instability. The World Bank definition of corruption states that “…the abuse of public office for private gain”.