Drug Trafficking Groups Research Articles

Women in organised crime groups: A social network approach

Organised crime groups are traditionally understood as being composed of men, with a rigid hierarchical structure and well-divided tasks. However, recent studies have been showing that criminal networks (horizontal structure) are increasingly common and even an alternative to the typical rigid structure in organized crime, which allows for a more flexible, dynamic, and adaptive criminal group. Moreover, women are progressively present in such groups, especially in drug trafficking groups, and, in some cases, play relevant roles inside those criminal organisations. In this study, criminal court files related to trafficking organised crime groups involving one hundred defendants were analysed by applying criminal network analyses techniques. The objective was to examine the participation and centrality of women in the functioning of the drug trafficking groups. The findings show that women have a significant presence within these networks, play important roles inside the criminal networks and enjoy of high centrality positions, being some of them decisive key players in the functioning of the group.

The concept of narco-terrorism and ıts historical development: A model of analysis on the drug-trafficking groups

This article analyzes ‘narco-terrorism’ and the related approaches focusing on the concept. Narco-terrorism emerged as a political discourse and transformed due to the practices. From the 1990s, the concept entered into academic literature and has become the focal point of numerous studies. Firstly, the study recognizes the periodical systematic violence the major drug cartels perpetrated as ‘real narco-terrorism’. Followingly, the paper introduces a model to classify the groups that have been identified as narco-terrorists. The study further analyzes the cases of FARC and Taliban by applying the suggested model to these two groups. Accordingly, the study argues that although it entirely portends the definition of narco-terrorism, classifying the FARC categorically as a narco-terrorist organization is problematic due to its recognition as a legitimate combatant organization by the Colombian state and the international society. On the other hand, the study concludes that the Taliban is a narco-terrorist organization since it is active at every stage of drug trafficking and is not considered a legitimate organization by the international society. The paper contributes to the literature by offering an exemplary analysis to be used on the ongoing problems and terrorism-related to drug trafficking both in Turkey and identical cases around the globe.

Drug trafficking in the Tarahumara region, northern Mexico: An analysis of racism and dispossession

• Drug trafficking in the Tarahumara region is a racialized phenomenon and is part of a continuum of colonial violence. • Traffickers enact a kind of mestizo sovereignty because of its coloniality in line with mestizaje, rather than in their ability to mimic the state. • The exercise of mestizo sovereignty by the trafficking groups, is transforming others sovereignty expression, Rarámuri autonomy among them. • Racial-masculine hegemonical models are driving forces for young people to join drug trafficking groups and to the erosion of Rarámuri autonomy. Drug trafficking in Mexico has been widely debated from economic and legal perspectives. Some studies conclude that corruption is to blame ( Garay & Albarán, 2012 , Grayson, 2010 , Valdés, 2013 ); yet others argue that criminal organizations are producing terror-based governance patterns grounded in their ambivalent relationship with the State ( Campbell, 2010 , Gibler, 2017 , Reyes, 2015 , Paley, 2014 , Paley, 2015 ). However, what role do mestizaje and gender play in shaping the dynamics of this phenomenon? This article is the product of the shared experiences between a member of the Rarámuri people and an indigenous rights lawyer involved in collective processes for the defense of indigenous territory in the Tarahumara Sierra. It explores the relationship between drug trafficking and the historical structures of racial-gender domination in the Mexican state. We argue that drug traffickers in the Tarahumara region, exercise a kind of sovereignty, that enacts racialization, colonialism, and contrasting power relations. Therefore, drug traffickers’ claims to sovereignty fall in line with the ideology of mestizaje, which is supported by their invocation of coloniality rather their ability to mimic the state. We also argue that, in the case of Rarámuri youth, western schooling and racial-masculine hegemonical models are driving forces in the decision to join the drug trafficking armed forces, and then to the erosion of Rarámuri tradition and autonomy. As such this article sheds new light on the little recognized relationship between colonialism, race, power, gender and drug trafficking in Mexico.

Hombres jóvenes del poniente de Ciudad Juárez: construyendo identidades en contextos de violencia

The purpose of the present study was to analyze the process of identity construction in six young men from the west of Ciudad Juárez, in northern Mexico. Qualitative research was carried out using participant observation and semi-structured interviewing as the main co-construction technique, focusing on everyday life and significant affective experiences in their life trajectories. Fieldwork was carried out between 2016 and 2017. The analysis of the data shows that violence, often fatal and predominantly represented by drug trafficking groups, is the main driver in participants’ affective and everyday lives. It was also found that young people respond to violence pragmatically by constructing identities that allow them to safeguard their integrity and remain part of the social context.

Narcomenudeo y control territorial en América Latina

El presente artículo analiza el fenómeno del control territorial llevado a cabo por parte de grupos criminales que se dedican al narcomenudeo en barrios de las ciudades latinoamericanas. Demuestra que las publicaciones sobre el tema asumen que existe una definición clara de “control territorial”, pero terminan por referirse a procesos sociales diferentes. Apoyándose en los conceptos de territorio, territorialidad y territorialización, el autor define los elementos que conforman las diferentes modalidades de control territorial que llevan a cabo las bandas del narcomenudeo. De esa manera, brinda una herramienta de análisis compuesta por diferentes indicadores: quiénes son los sujetos controlados por las bandas, cuál es la extensión, modalidad y objetivos del control territorial y de qué manera dichos grupos influencian la vida política, asociativa y otras esferas de la cotidianeidad de las comunidades en las cuales están situados.
 Abstract
 This article analyses the phenomena of territorial control that is carried on by small scale drug trafficking groups in Latin American cities. It shows that existing publications on this topic take for granted what “territorial control” is, but end up referring to different social processes. Leaning in the concepts of territory, territoriality and territorialization, the author defines which elements shape the different modalities of territorial control implemented by small scale drug trafficking groups. In this way, he provides an analytical tool composed by different indicators: who are the subjects controlled by drug gangs, what is the extension, modality and objectives of territorial control and how do these groups influence political and associative life as well as other spheres of everyday life of the communities in which they are located.

Sentidos y prácticas de paternidad: voces de hombres jóvenes en privación de libertad

The reflections presented here are part of a cartographic research on gender and sexuality in the Socio-educational System of Rio de Janeiro from 2015-2017. From individual interviews, group activities and courses with young people and professionals, this paper discusses the various meanings that the experience of paternity has for young fathers in deprivation of liberty, connecting them to the production of masculinities in the trajectories of the youngsters, circumscribed in codes of institutions such as drug trafficking groups and the Socioeducational System itself. Considering the context of social, racial, generational, and gender inequality, we explore how capitalist subjectivity shapes practices and power relations in what we might call ostentation-paternity.

Economía del narco: prohibicionismo, violencias sistémicas y capital criminal

Los principales grupos de narcotraficantes activos en México han configurado una economía criminal que ya no sólo se sostiene en la cadena de valor de la droga, sino que ahora se ha ramificado hacia delitos diversos, incluidos los que atentan contra la vida digna y por ende el desarrollo humano. Sus reacomodos organizacionales internos, el tipo de expansión hacia el exterior y el tinglado de actividades que realizan dichos grupos más allá de las fronteras mexicanas, llevan a considerarlos parte de Redes Transnacionales de Criminalidad. En la necesidad de comprender este vuelco que representa la evolución de la actividad del simple y llano tráfico de estupefacientes, es preciso dimensionar este componente de las RTC en el marco del modelo neoliberal mexicano, y abordar el papel de Estados Unidos como consumidor, pero también como propulsor de políticas prohibicionistas y punitivas.

Network Characteristics and Organizational Structure of Chinese Drug Trafficking Groups

Unlike previous studies of drug trafficking groups that focused on the characteristics of individual members, this study examined the demographic and socioeconomic composition of drug trafficking groups and the types of relationships binding criminal networks. Through an analysis of 144 drug trafficking groups adjudicated in the intermediate and high courts in several provinces of China, this study found a high level of homogeneity in demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status among the offenders who formed the Chinese drug trafficking networks. Results also showed that most Chinese drug trafficking groups were small and lacked a vertical role structure. The concentration of men was associated with a higher likelihood of having a hierarchical role structure in the trafficking group.

En

Transnational organized crime (TOC), such as drug trafficking, has been a sustained problem for society because of the visible impact on drug abuse that is evident in media coverage. However, research on the development of drug trafficking organizations through clandestine social networks has been limited. Consequently, this study applies Social Network Theory to significant aspects of drug trafficking—business economics and social networks inside drug trafficking groups. The analysis identifies similarities between the legal business and criminal organizations that can lead to favorable methods of criminal justice intervention.

Models of South-East Asian Organised Crime Drug Operations in Queensland

In 2002, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) issued a report entitled Results of a pilot survey of forty selected organized criminal groups in sixteen countries which established five models of organised crime. This paper reviews these and other common organised crime models and drug trafficking models, and applies them to cases of South East Asian drug trafficking in the Australian state of Queensland. The study tests the following hypotheses: (1) South-East Asian drug trafficking groups in Queensland will operate within a criminal network or core group; (2) Wholesale drug distributors in Queensland will not fit consistently under any particular UN organised crime model; and (3) Street dealers will have no organisational structure. The study concluded that drug trafficking or importation closely resembles a criminal network or core group structure. Wholesale dealers did not fit consistently into any UN organised crime model. Street dealers had no organisational structure as an organisational structure is typically found in mid- to high-level drug trafficking.

Illegal Armed Groups and Local Politics in Colombia

This paper studies the factors associated with the presence of guerrilla, paramilitary, and drug trafficking groups in the municipalities of Colombia. Statistical analysis shows three kinds of results. Some of these tend to corroborate explanations that are commonly accepted in Colombia, while others defy deeply rooted beliefs. As a result, some rather curious associations emerge. The availability of energy resources appears to be a crucial factor of attraction for guerrilla and paramilitary groups, but not for drug traffickers. The conflict also seems to affect both the municipalities' ability to impose taxes, as well as the latter's composition. Against conventional wisdom, drug traffickers appear to have the closest ties to the political sphere. This group shows the greatest capacity to influence civil society, has the most corrosive effect on elections, and exerts the greatest influence on the composition of municipal expenditures. A very popular explanation of violence in Colombia posits a strong and positive association between economic conditions, the so-called objective causes, and the armed conflict. The data does not support the arguments that poverty is responsible for it. In contrast, the data suggest that the age of the population, a purely demographic factor, is determinant. The effect of other social variables is more ambiguous. Curiously, the existence of communications infrastructure is the best indicator of the conflict's geography. The administrative disorganization in public expenditures also appears to be related to the influence of armed groups. However, on an almost anecdotal level, an office for municipal planning is positively associated with the influence of drug trafficking.

Corruption and Organized Crime in Mexico in the Post-PRI Transition

President Fox has made the improvement of public safety and reduction in corruption priorities of his government. Backed by an educated urban middle-class electorate, he faces fundamental challenges to the achievement of his goals. These include a legacy of institutionalized PRI (Institutionalized Revolutionary Party) corruption, limited respect for the rule of law, and the penetration of drug trafficking groups into the state structure. Mexico's long border with the United States has contributed to the rapid rise in organized crime and the use of Mexican territory by foreign crime groups. Mexico's past may preclude the transition to a more democratic and open society despite the best of presidential intentions and the desires of much of the Mexican population.