Mob TV shows, movies put New York on center stage

When it comes to Mob movies and television shows, New York is in the spotlight again. Two television series focused…


Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar spent seven years on Forbes list of world’s richest

In the summer of 1989, the world’s most wanted drug lord had narrowly averted assassination, challenged extradition treaties, dared the…



Organized crime roundup: Sex trafficking in Venezuela, ‘waste crimes’ in England, political corruption in Central America and more

In the South American nation of Venezuela, in both good times and bad, the trafficking of misled teenage girls into…


Chinese Triads launder billions through Vancouver, buying luxury real estate, cars

The laundering scheme is so infamous that investigators call it the “Vancouver model.” The Triads, China’s organized crime syndicate, created…


Top 5 women of organized crime

Men have dominated the history of organized crime as bosses, capos, soldiers and associates. They traditionally relegated women to servile…


European Union: Organized crime deemed ‘highest’ security risk, greater than terrorism

Many of Europe’s top police officers were in the Netherlands last week attending a high-level conference focused on doing a…


Fifty years ago this spring, Mario Puzo changed the way we view organized crime

Mario Puzo needed money. His first two novels, The Dark Arena (1955) and The Fortunate Pilgrim (1965), received good reviews…


Chinese manufacturers, Mexican cartels are primary sources of deadly opioids

Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids smuggled from China and Mexico, heroin from Mexican drug cartels and the misuse of prescription…


Drug kingpins in media spotlight

Jailed after a manhunt, the drug kingpin known globally as El Chapo expressed genuine surprise several years ago when interrogators…