The Hidden World of Criminal Infiltration in Legitimate Business
This series uncovers the unseen world of crime, revealing its hidden presence within everyday businesses. We challenge traditional beliefs and research, aiming to expose the full extent of criminal infiltration in legal sectors. Join us, and see the intersections of crime and business in a fresh light.
When we think of organized crime, images of mafia-like syndicates often come to mind. Yet, the truth is, the world of crime is not always so organized or visible. Today, we delve into a rarely discussed topic: the infiltration of these hidden hands of crime into the businesses you and I use every day.
Researchers Savona and Berlusconi provide a basic framework: crime groups exist, they carry out actions, use specific techniques to get into businesses, and then participate in business decisions. Sounds straightforward, right? The tricky part comes when we try to define what a "criminal organization" is.
However, even with these challenges, researchers have been making progress in understanding how criminals manage to sneak into legal businesses. The issue is that most of this research has been focused mainly on well-known, mafia-like crime groups.
But here's the thing - we can't just focus on the mafias. To fully understand this issue, we need to look at all sorts of crime entities, from big organizations to smaller, loosely tied networks.
Many studies, despite understanding the need to look beyond the mafia, still fall into the trap of focusing too much on these large crime groups. This is what we see even in Italy, where the mafia's deep ties with legal businesses have made it a hotbed for studies in this area.
The need of the hour is to investigate all forms of criminal infiltration, not just those involving big, structured crime groups. Recognizing that criminals don't always work in structured groups is critical.
Even Savona, Riccardi, and Berlusconi, known for their focus on crime organizations, agree that many times individual actions are wrongly assumed to be part of a group strategy. Often, these are personal initiatives rather than group decisions.
In line with researcher Ruggiero's call for a fresh perspective, this series will propose a wider definition of criminal infiltration that includes all forms of crime. Looking at a wider range of criminal actors and activities can give us a better understanding of the issue at hand.
In this series, we'll point out the gaps in our current understanding, and argue for a balanced approach that looks at the actors, their actions, and not just the organizations they may or may not be a part of.
So, join us on this journey into the hidden side of crime and business, and prepare to see this issue from a new perspective. Stay tuned!
Researchers Savona and Berlusconi provide a basic framework: crime groups exist, they carry out actions, use specific techniques to get into businesses, and then participate in business decisions. Sounds straightforward, right? The tricky part comes when we try to define what a "criminal organization" is.
However, even with these challenges, researchers have been making progress in understanding how criminals manage to sneak into legal businesses. The issue is that most of this research has been focused mainly on well-known, mafia-like crime groups.
But here's the thing - we can't just focus on the mafias. To fully understand this issue, we need to look at all sorts of crime entities, from big organizations to smaller, loosely tied networks.
Many studies, despite understanding the need to look beyond the mafia, still fall into the trap of focusing too much on these large crime groups. This is what we see even in Italy, where the mafia's deep ties with legal businesses have made it a hotbed for studies in this area.
The need of the hour is to investigate all forms of criminal infiltration, not just those involving big, structured crime groups. Recognizing that criminals don't always work in structured groups is critical.
Even Savona, Riccardi, and Berlusconi, known for their focus on crime organizations, agree that many times individual actions are wrongly assumed to be part of a group strategy. Often, these are personal initiatives rather than group decisions.
In line with researcher Ruggiero's call for a fresh perspective, this series will propose a wider definition of criminal infiltration that includes all forms of crime. Looking at a wider range of criminal actors and activities can give us a better understanding of the issue at hand.
In this series, we'll point out the gaps in our current understanding, and argue for a balanced approach that looks at the actors, their actions, and not just the organizations they may or may not be a part of.
So, join us on this journey into the hidden side of crime and business, and prepare to see this issue from a new perspective. Stay tuned!
Giovanni Nicolazzo
Criminology Ph.D. Student
My research interests include financial crime, corruption, sanction evasion, all mixed with computational social science.