This year’s Stockholm Criminoloy Symposium includes sessions on Organized and economic crime. A Call for Papers is open, all abstracts must be submitted before May 4th 2007, which is the deadline for thematic panels or regular panel presentations.
The popular image of Japanese gangsters – tattoos and missing fingers – is pretty hackneyed. But when it comes to business practice, yakuza gangs are positive trendsetters. Figures released by the police this week show that Japan’s mobsters, whose members patrol the country’s ubiquitous red-light districts, have a far more flexible labour force than conventional … JAPAN: GANGSTERS MUSCLE IN ON PART-TIME PRACTICES
OTTAWA — The alleged kingpin of a complex drug-running network that spanned from Vancouver to Toronto to Montreal lived in a modern, two-storey home in suburban Ottawa — the kind of place where you would expect to be greeted by a hockey dad. But instead of a minivan, he drove a flashy black sports car. … OTTAWA DRUG RING ‘VERY WELL ORGANIZED,’ POLICE SAY
SAN ANTONIO — The organized crime and transnational reach of gangs is limited, and “zero tolerance” policies serve only to spread out young people without solving the problem, according to a new study in Spanish-language newspaper Rumbo. A soon-to-be released report by 14 investigators in seven countries, “Transnational Gangs in Central America, Mexico and the United … NEW STUDY ON GANGS CONTRADICTS ZERO TOLERANCE POLICIES
The Police Presidium blames a spike in murders in 2006 on increased organized crime — but the division in charge of investigating the underworld denies the connection. The Czech homicide rate jumped 24 percent in 2006. A total of 231 murders were reported, according to presidium statistics released Jan. 31, up from 186 in 2005. … CHECH REPUBLIC: ORGANIZED CRIME BLAMED FOR MURDERS
Six people were found shot dead in a Chinese restaurant in the town of Sittensen in the early hours of Monday, but a two-year-old girl managed to survive. A seventh victim died on Tuesday in the hospital, dashing the police’s hopes of finding out more from him about the crime. All of the victims were … “IT’S EASY TO ENTER THE ILLEGAL MARKET IN GERMANY”
The EU International Crime Survey (EU ICS) is a programme to look a householders’ experience with crime, policing, crime prevention and feelings of safety in a large number of countries. The 2005 report, which was presented at a press conference at the Residence Palace in Brussels on 5 February 2007 can be downloaded here (pdf).
A story on gift cards as ‘virtual currency for bad actors’ ran in December 2006. The story was apparently based on a recent organized-crime threat assessment for Canada and the United States that identified gift cards and prepaid debit cards as one of the tools in the financial-crime kit of organised crime. The assessment was compiled by … GIFT CARDS NEW CURRENCY OF CRIME?
