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Inside the FBI highlights news, cases, and people from around the Bureau—in audio form. For more information, visit fbi.gov.
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Narrator: Since its earliest days, the FBI has been working to combat organized crime.
From chasing John Dillinger and investigating bootlegging to helping send Al Capone to Alcatraz, the Bureau’s efforts to unravel organized crime efforts have become a centerpiece of our history as a law enforcement organization.
But these efforts aren’t just the stuff of history books.
Today, the Bureau and our partners continue to track and investigate transnational organized crime activity across the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
On part one of our podcast’s deep dive into organized crime, we’ll define transnational organized crime (also known as TOC) and explain its current ecosystem.
This is Inside the FBI.
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Joseph: Transnational organized crime refers to cross-border groups that conduct a whole host of illicit activities to gain income or revenue in a myriad of different types of illicit activities, but it's mostly discernable groups that are across several borders or jurisdictions that conduct illicit activity.
Narrator: That’s Joseph, a unit chief from the FBI’s Transnational Crime Section.
Joseph: The notion of transnational organized crime is kind of this gradual globalization of everything. The borders don't mean as much in this digital age, and, so, groups have found that that helps them leverage their illicit activities in a way of concealing themselves in regions around the world, but still victimizing people in the United States and other parts of the world.
Narrator: And when it comes to discussions of the current organized crime landscape, Joseph says, words matter.
Joseph: A cartel almost certainly is in illegal smuggling and narcotics. A mob or a mafia may diversify into other types of crimes.
Transnational organized crime can be interchangeable with mob or mafia from time to time, but, generally, the references to "mob" have been stuck with certain groups—most notably the Italian mafia in the United States, La Cosa Nostra, [and] the Russian mob or mafias.
But this day and age, it's cartel or transnational criminal organization, or transnational organized crime or trafficking organization.
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When the FBI envisions the transnational organized crime ecosystem, it essentially splits the globe in half. This results in two distinct areas of responsibility: TOC-East, which covers the Eastern Hemisphere, and TOC-West, which covers the Western Hemisphere.
TOC-West includes the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.
Claudia: We are not just dealing with drug trafficking or illegal activity happening in the United States. A lot of what we deal with in the TOC-West has international connections. There are no borders.
Narrator: That’s Claudia, a supervisory special agent with the FBI’s Transnational Organized Crime Western Hemisphere Unit.
Transnational criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere aren’t just moving drugs, Claudia says. They are also engaging in crimes like fraud and human trafficking.
TOC hotspots within the Western Hemisphere include Mexico (and its border with the United States) and Colombia.
Within Mexico, different transnational organized crime groups operate in different regions, though these groups’ territories, leadership, and structures are ever-changing. Regardless, Claudia says, everyone has the same goals and objectives:
Claudia: Financial gain, control and power.
Narrator: This hunger is exemplified by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (or CJNG, for short).
Claudia: One thing that sticks out to me with this particular cartel is you can go on online and see a variety of different videos that CJNG is constantly putting on the Internet. If you look at them, they look like a military. They have so much power and control in Mexico that they may operate like independently as a military entity.
Narrator: Other prominent transnational organized crime groups that operate within the country include the Sinaloa Cartel and Gulf Cartel.
And if we shift our focus south to Colombia, we’ll reach the territory of another transnational organized crime group of note within the TOC-West AOR: The National Liberation Army, known in Spanish as el Ejército de Liberación Nacional—or ELN for short.
This guerrilla group—which is also a designated foreign terrorist organization—controls specific parts of Colombia, and engages in narcoterrorism and other criminal activities.
Narrator: You can listen to our episode about FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive Wilver Villegas Palomino to learn more about the ELN’s history and illegal activities.
Notably, all three of the aforementioned groups—the CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel, and the Gulf Cartel—have also been known to engage in timeshare fraud, a scam that cons part-time property owners into shelling out hefty sums of cash.
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Narrator: Now, let’s give the globe a spin and take a look at transnational organized crime in the Eastern Hemisphere.
Joseph: The Eastern Hemisphere has a very broad grouping of actors in it, as you would imagine. It covers the rest of the world, so with that comes a whole host of different subgroups of organized crime.
They don't do the same type of activities as you may see more towards on the west side. It's very heavy-duty narcotics centric with smuggling and some other diversification. On the east, it ranges from cyber-enabled crimes to frauds, narcotics, as well.
But it takes on a whole host of other new and creative schemes that keep up with the times. It becomes digital, and complex schemes to defraud people in ways that we will try to catch up with and counter that with our own investigations.
They're quite creative and, as time goes, new groups come to the top of the organized crime threshold.
Narrator: Within Italy, Joseph says, La Cosa Nostra—or the Sicilian mafia...
Joseph: ...would be seen as a very localized, lesser threat, but they're still a threat, nonetheless. They've learned not to be so violent and to be a little bit more on the white-collar fraud schemes.
But a group called Ndrangheta is actually a more transnational Italian organized crime group that has taken advantage of our focus on La Cosa Nostra to conduct its criminal activity throughout the world without being focused-on as much. They actually dictate more of the drug trafficking to Europe than any other group in the world.
Narrator: Nearby, he says, Eastern and Western Balkan transnational organized crime groups also operate, and Albanian organized crime threatens our European and British partners. On top of that, Joseph says, Romanian organized crime groups...
Joseph: ...actually have a large contingent in Mexico and the United States, and they're very active in complex, cyber-enabled fraud schemes, credit-card fraud, and other financial crimes that defraud a lot of people.
What they've been able to do is kind of leverage the small pockets in the United States, in small areas where you're not looking for these type of crimes to happen, where they can victimize people that are just innocent victims to that.
Narrator: More broadly speaking, Balkan organized crime groups also engage in passport fraud, access device fraud, identify theft, health care fraud, real estate fraud, insurance fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, human smuggling, prostitution, and extortion.
Narrator: Eurasian transnational organized crime groups, meanwhile, are politically and financially motivated. These groups are influenced by, associated with, or originate from the former Soviet Union or Central Europe. These groups often engage in health care fraud, securities and investment fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, extortion, auto theft, interstate transportation of stolen property, robbery, attempted murder, and murder.
Their activity also threatens to destabilize the emerging political institutions and economies of the former Soviet Union, where nuclear weapons remain deployed. The potential national security implications of this destabilization cannot be ignored.
Narrator: This brings us to Russia.
Joseph: Russian organized crime is and will always be a constant threat to us. What makes the Russian organized crime threat even more complicated is their partnership with the Russian government to advance state objectives for monetary reasons. So, where you have may have counterintelligence threats, you may have Russian organized crime.
Narrator: In the Middle East, Joseph said, Israeli transnational crime groups are the most notable. These groups, he said, have been linked...
Joseph: ...with Hezbollah and its money laundering capabilities, but they are also a significant presence or significant threat around the world.
Narrator: Then, shifting gears to Africa, he says...
Joseph: ... African organized crime is dominated by Nigerian organized crime. There's been a lot of focus on defrauding elder groups, romance scams.
When you get those letters saying the IRS needs you to pay the taxes on a payout, it's usually one of these groups.
Some of those groups don't rise to the level of a mafia or mob, like with Nigerian organized crime groups, they were known or borne out of these confraternities, which were kind of ad-hoc groupings that kept the brotherhood going.
Narrator: Moving over to Asia, Joseph said that Southeast Asian transnational organized crime groups have a strong American presence. Chinese TOC groups also pose a significant threat, he said.
Joseph: On the Asian organized crime front, you often hear the term “triads” or other groups that have been in the United States for a significant amount of time. They often have these very interesting names that permeate through the organized crime world.
Narrator: He added that the Japanese Yakuza, much like the Sicilian mafia, have become more of a domesticated presence within their home country.
Joseph: Obviously, they represent a significant threat in Japan, but as much as we've tried to make sure that did not raise its head here in the United States, we haven't found them to be as significant a player as the Chinese organized crime groups.
Joseph: We'll always find a new and emerging group that pops up every two or three years. It is a wide variety of different subgroups. And oftentimes, when we're successful in disrupting and dismantling some subgroups, other groups find that an opportunity to grow and build.
And, as we’ve found in the most recent years, we're finding partnership between Eastern- and Western-Hemisphere criminal organizations to advance their objectives, working in South America to get the dope from the cartels and distribute to Europe.
Same thing with North America. We're finding a whole different set of subgroups that will partner with the Western and Eastern Hemisphere to leverage those access points in different parts of the world. So that's the ecosystem.
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Narrator: Most TOC groups on the FBI’s radar are based outside of the United States, but either victimize U.S. persons or conduct illegal activity on U.S. soil.
But, Joseph notes, the model of the motorcycle gang has been exported overseas.
Both the U.S.-grown Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and the Australian-born Comanchero Motorcycle Club have exported their criminal efforts beyond their home borders, establishing international chapters.
Joseph: When I meet with a lot of European partners in Australia and Canada, they often talk about the motorcycle gangs that do a lot of the dirty work for other groups. They've created their own presence and ability to be a good resource for other groups.
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Narrator: Visit fbi.gov/organizedcrime to learn more about how the TOC threat manifests in different parts of the world. And be sure to listen to part two of our deep dive into organized crime, where we’ll look at:
How the FBI first got involved in organized crime investigations;
Why and how the FBI investigates this type of illegal activity;
What a “win” looks like in the fight against transnational organized crime; and
Why tips from the public are crucial to our efforts to stamp out TOC activity and protect the American people from this threat.
This has been another production of Inside the FBI. You can follow us on your favorite podcast player, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. You can also subscribe to email alerts about new episodes at fbi.gov/podcasts.
On behalf of the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs, thanks for tuning in.
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