Misplaced Pages

#416583

163-638: The Wolfpack Alliance is a Canadian organized crime group. The Canadian journalist Peter Edwards and the Mexican journalist Luis Horacio Nájera wrote that the Wolfpack Alliance were "...a loosely allied and multi-ethnic group of mostly Millennial -aged gangsters who operated across the country". The police described the Wolfpack as not a single group, but rather a consortium that united several organized crime groups together. The Wolfpack Alliance

326-428: A Canadian mixed martial arts fighter and gangster, Steven Skinner, in a drug smuggling ring. On the morning of May 11, 2014, the dismembered body of Lavoie was discovered on a bridge along La Vereda Pan de Azucar (Sugar Bread Footpath) in the countryside outside of Sabaneta . The killers of Lavoie had chopped him into four pieces while he was still alive. The four pieces of Lavoie were placed in plastic bags and left on

489-598: A United Nations gang leader, Thomas Gisby, was almost killed in a bombing of his mobile home in Whistler. Gisby fled to Mexico after the murder attempt. On 28 April 2012, Gisby was murdered at a Starbucks In Nuevo Vallarta at about 9 am. The killers of Gisby used a .44 Magnum handgun, a rare weapon in Mexico, where the standard weapons used in murders are AK-47 assault rifles, 9 mm handguns or .38 pistols. A Wolfpack member who called himself Sossa texted Alkhalil at 10:16 am

652-631: A chair at the Commisso brothers. On 16 August 2016, John Ignagni of the Commisso 'ndria was murdered in Toronto. Ignagni was a friend of the Commissos, was a member of the Vagabonds outbiker gang, and had been a member of the Wolfpack until the summer of 2016, when he fell out after not paying a drug debt. Like other Wolfpack leaders, Leventis often used WhatsApp and Telegram to communicate, part of

815-520: A competitive advantage for some groups; however, it is inaccurate to adopt this as the only determinant of classification in organized crime. This categorization includes the Sicilian Mafia , 'Ndrangheta , ethnic Chinese criminal groups , Japanese yakuza (or Boryokudan ), Colombian drug trafficking groups , Nigerian organized crime groups, Corsican mafia , Korean criminal groups and Jamaican posses . From this perspective, organized crime

978-466: A contract on the lives of Caputo and the other Wolfpack leaders for losing $ 5 million dollars worth of cocaine in 2012, an incident that has not been forgiven or forgotten. As Caputo is serving a life sentence for his role in Raposo's murder, on 18 August 2019, his younger brother Paolo Caputo, who had no known Mafia associations beyond his relationship with his brother, was murdered. The police believed that

1141-579: A dark place, or ugly warehouse, and they sit and discuss business? Those times are pretty much over now."" On 16 October 2010, Gurmit Singh Dhak , the co-boss of the Dhak-Duhre gang was murdered. Dhak was shot in the face in his vehicle at the parking lot of the Metrotown Mall in Burnaby . Kim Bolan , the crime correspondent of The Vancouver Sun newspaper, wrote in 2018: "Dhak’s execution

1304-432: A degree of organizational rationality. Members saw themselves as organized criminals; gangs were formal-rational organizations, Strong organizational structures, well defined roles and rules that guided members' behavior. Also a specified and regular means of income (i.e., drugs). Padilla (1992) agreed with the two above. However some have found these to be loose rather than well-defined and lacking persistent focus, there

1467-403: A few families and business oligarchs that may be deemed or may devolve into organized crime groups in practice. By their very nature, kleptocracies , mafia states , narco-states or narcokleptocracies , and states with high levels of clientelism and political corruption are either heavily involved with organized crime or tend to foster organized crime within their own governments. In

1630-513: A financial crime, counterfeiting also involves manufacturing or distributing goods under assumed names. Counterfeiters benefit because consumers believe they are buying goods from companies that they trust, when in reality they are buying low quality counterfeit goods. In 2007, the OECD reported the scope of counterfeit products to include food, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, electrical components, tobacco and even household cleaning products in addition to

1793-484: A given network), while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions (such as retrieval of stored confidential data, corruption of information, or interception of transmissions). Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer system's data or performance. Applying the Internet model of organized crime, the proliferation of computer viruses and other malicious software promotes

SECTION 10

#1732779980417

1956-408: A greater propensity for imitation. Gangs and traditional criminal organizations cannot be universally linked (Decker, 1998), however there are clear benefits to both the adult and youth organization through their association. In terms of structure, no single crime group is archetypal, though in most cases there are well-defined patterns of vertical integration (where criminal groups attempt to control

2119-625: A guest in Alkhalil's condo. Edwards and Nájera wrote that Amero and Alkhalil "...tightened up their own connections with Mexican cocaine suppliers" during their time in Montreal. A key member of the Wolfpack proved to be Shane Kenneth "Wheels" Maloney of the West End Gang. Alkhalil in texts to Nero described Maloney as providing the chemists, who tested the purity of cocaine that was being brought into Montreal. The West End Gang controls

2282-543: A local phenomenon". Edwards and Nájera wrote that the leaders of the Montreal Mafia dealt directly with the "Five Families" of New York, while the Canadian Hells Angels whose headquarters are in Montreal were Canada's most powerful criminal syndicate, with chapters or puppet gangs in every province. Both Amero and Alkhalil lived in Montreal not so much because of their interest in seizing control of

2445-425: A lot of time between here and Ontario and Quebec". Peter Edwards, the crime correspondent of The Toronto Star , described the Wolfpack leaders as: "“They grew up as kids craving attention, who wanted to be rock stars, but didn’t really have any skills. They displayed an overwhelming sense of entitlement. Through their drug associations, they became more interesting to girls who are out of their league." Edwards stated

2608-520: A nation-state to penetrate another nation's computers or networks with the intention of causing civil damage or disruption. Moreover, it acts as the "fifth domain of warfare," and William J. Lynn , U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense , states that "as a doctrinal matter, the Pentagon has formally recognized cyberspace as a new domain in warfare . . . [which] has become just as critical to military operations as land, sea, air, and space." Cyber espionage

2771-554: A particular territory, facility, or enterprise." Some reasons youth join gangs include to feel accepted, attain status, and increase their self-esteem. A sense of unity brings together many of the youth gangs that lack the family aspect at home. "Zones of transition" are deteriorating neighborhoods with shifting populations. In such areas, conflict between groups, fighting, "turf wars", and theft promote solidarity and cohesion. Cohen (1955): working class teenagers joined gangs due to frustration of inability to achieve status and goals of

2934-447: A pattern of maltreatment on their own children years later. Klein (1971) like Spergel studied the effects on members of social workers' interventions. More interventions actually lead to greater gang participation and solidarity and bonds between members. Downes and Rock (1988) on Parker's analysis: strain theory applies, labeling theory (from experience with police and courts), control theory (involvement in trouble from early childhood and

3097-562: A person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity. Official numbers of individuals in sexual slavery worldwide vary. In 2001 International Organization for Migration estimated 400,000, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated 700,000 and UNICEF estimated 1.75 million. The most common destinations for victims of human trafficking are Thailand, Japan, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Turkey and

3260-670: A politically motivated group. Notable groups include the Medellín Cartel , Corleonesi Mafia , various Mexican Cartels , and Jamaican Posse . Organized crime groups generate large amounts of money by activities such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling, extortion, theft, and financial crime. These illegally sourced assets are of little use to them unless they can disguise it and convert it into funds that are available for investment into legitimate enterprise. The methods they use for converting its 'dirty' money into 'clean' assets encourages corruption. Organized crime groups need to hide

3423-726: A range of business and labor racketeering activities, such as skimming casinos, insider trading, setting up monopolies in industries such as garbage collecting, construction and cement pouring, bid rigging, getting "no-show" and "no-work" jobs, political corruption and bullying. The commission of violent crime may form part of a criminal organization's 'tools' used to achieve criminogenic goals (for example, its threatening, authoritative, coercive, terror-inducing, or rebellious role), due to psycho-social factors (cultural conflict, aggression, rebellion against authority, access to illicit substances, counter-cultural dynamic), or may, in and of itself, be crime rationally chosen by individual criminals and

SECTION 20

#1732779980417

3586-696: A result MS-13 is known to commit acts of violence against members of the Minutemen, to prevent them from interfering with their illegal immigration activities. Throughout the world there are various anti-gang vigilante groups, who profess to be fighting against gang influence, but share characteristics and acts similarly to gangs, including Sombra Negra , Friends Stand United , People Against Gangsterism and Drugs , and OG Imba . Gangs that are involved in drug trafficking often commit violent acts to stop or force out independent dealers—drug dealers with no gang ties—to keep them from taking customers. In America, there

3749-605: A result, marine biologists say that the local fishery is recovering. In Mexico a vigilante group called Grupos de autodefensa comunitaria was formed to counter the illegal loggers , the La Familia Michoacana Cartel and a drug cartel/ cult known as the Knights Templar Cartel ; as they grew, they were being joined by former cartel members and as they got bigger they began to sell drugs in order to buy weapons. The Knights Templar Cartel

3912-595: A salt form that is white. The former is mainly produced in Afghanistan and some south-west countries while the latter had a history of being produced in only south-east Asia, but has since moved to also being produced in Afghanistan. There is some suspicion white Heroin is also being produced in Iran and Pakistan, but it is not confirmed. This area of Heroin production is referred to as the Golden Crescent. Heroin

4075-408: A sense of detachment between the perpetrator (whether that be the criminal organization or another individual) and the victim; this may help to explain vast increases in cyber-crime such as these for the purpose of ideological crime or terrorism. In mid July 2010, security experts discovered a malicious software program that had infiltrated factory computers and had spread to plants around the world. It

4238-702: A shipment of cocaine via the Port of Vancouver, with 25% of the profits to go to Torabi. In the spring of 2012, a love triangle led to a murder. Caputo and Raposo, who were supposed best friends, were both having an affair with the same women who worked as a waitress in a Toronto restaurant, whom Edwards and Nájera noted "...was not to be confused with either the mother of Raposo's son or Caputo's moneyed girlfriend". Caputo used Nero as his instrument for disposing of his romantic rival Raposo. Caputo in his texts to Nero expressed much hatred of Raposo, as he made numerous disparaging remarks about him from April 2012 onward and promoted

4401-605: A source of heroin." With respect to organized crime and accelerating synthetic drug production in East and Southeast Asia, especially the Golden Triangle , Sam Gor , also known as The Company, is the most prominent international crime syndicate based in Asia-Pacific . It is made up of members of five different triads. Sam Gor is understood to be headed by Chinese-Canadian Tse Chi Lop . The Cantonese Chinese syndicate

4564-490: A sticky, it’s easily defeated." The Sinaloa Cartel had long had doubts about the competence of the Wolfpack, especially Nero, and decided after his arrest to move into Canada themselves. On 24 May 2012, Wiwchar flew to Toronto and began to hunt Raposo, using the information provided by Caputo to learn about the Bloor West Village neighborhood that Raposo lived in, as Wiwchar needed to know where to find Raposo and

4727-643: A study, they estimated that in 2009, money laundering equated to about 2.7% of global GDP being laundered; this is equal to about 1.6 trillion US dollars. The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), an intergovernmental body set up to combat money laundering, has stated that "A sustained effort between 1996 and 2000 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to produce such estimates failed." However, anti-money laundering efforts that seize money laundered assets in 2001 amounted to $ 386 million. The rapid growth of money laundering

4890-585: A tendency towards a democratisation of Canadian organized crime, as younger, more technologically savvy criminals used messaging services to communicate with their leaders. Leventis was active in Mexico, where he had been imprisonesd for six months in 2009 on charges of narcotics trafficking. On 30 January 2017, Leventis was shot on George Street in Toronto and was able to make his way to his condo, where he bled to death. On 29 June 2018, Cosimo "Coco" Commisso, not to be confused with his cousin Cosimo "The Quail" Commisso,

5053-423: Is a tendency to distinguish "traditional" organized crime such as gambling , loan sharking , drug-trafficking , prostitution , and fraud from certain other forms of crime that also usually involve organized or group criminal acts, such as white-collar crime , financial crimes , political crimes , war crimes , state crimes, and treason . This distinction is not always apparent and academics continue to debate

Wolfpack Alliance - Misplaced Pages Continue

5216-496: Is also not uncommon for drug farms to also host livestock , both to have a legal source of revenue to help disguise the dirty money and so that the livestock can provide a source of organic fertilizer (such as manure ) for the drug crops. There are multiple instances where traffickers set up some of their drug farms, safe houses and drug labs in remote wilderness areas. Once produced, the fully processed narcotics are then transported to more populated areas to be sold. Oftentimes

5379-671: Is an animal welfare organization called Rescue Ink, in which outlaw biker gang members volunteer to rescue animals in need and combat against people who commit animal cruelty, such as breaking up cockfighting rings, stopping the killing of stray cats , breaking up dog fighting rings, and rescuing pets from abusive owners. In the American prison system, prison gangs are often known to physically harm and even kill inmates who have committed such crimes as child murder , serial killing , pedophilia , hate crimes , domestic violence , and rape , and inmates who have committed crimes against

5542-416: Is argued that rational choice is not represented in this. The choice to commit a certain act, or associate with other organized crime groups, may be seen as much more of an entrepreneurial decision - contributing to the continuation of a criminal enterprise, by maximizing those aspects that protect or support their own individual gain. In this context, the role of risk is also easily understandable, however it

5705-419: Is commonly used interchangeably with "youth gang," referring to neighborhood or street-based youth groups that meet "gang" criteria. Miller (1992) defines a street gang as "a self-formed association of peers, united by mutual interests, with identifiable leadership and internal organization, who act collectively or as individuals to achieve specific purposes, including the conduct of illegal activity and control of

5868-583: Is considered "the first attack on critical industrial infrastructure that sits at the foundation of modern economies," notes the New York Times. Corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation (i.e., a business entity having a separate legal personality from the natural persons that manage its activities), or by individuals that may be identified with a corporation or other business entity (see vicarious liability and corporate liability ). Corporate crimes are motivated by either

6031-481: Is currently debating whether such activities as commercial espionage or theft of intellectual property are criminal activities or actual "breaches of national security." Furthermore, military activities that use computers and satellites for coordination are at risk of equipment disruption. Orders and communications can be intercepted or replaced. Power, water, fuel, communications, and transportation infrastructure all may be vulnerable to sabotage . According to Clarke,

6194-407: Is debatable whether the underlying motivation should be seen as true entrepreneurship or entrepreneurship as a product of some social disadvantage. The criminal organization, much in the same way as one would assess pleasure and pain, weighs such factors as legal, social and economic risk to determine potential profit and loss from certain criminal activities. This decision-making process rises from

6357-557: Is defined by the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime as "...the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a state party of which the person is not a national". This practice has increased over the past few decades and today now accounts for a significant portion of illegal immigration in countries around

6520-404: Is dependent on the types of crime the organization is involved in (as well as their organizational structure or cultural tradition) aggressive acts range on a spectrum from low-grade physical assaults to major trauma assaults . Bodily harm and grievous bodily harm, within the context of organized crime, must be understood as indicators of intense social and cultural conflict, motivations contrary to

6683-431: Is due to: Money laundering is a three-stage process: Means of money laundering: The policy aim in this area is to make the financial markets transparent, and minimize the circulation of criminal money and its cost upon legitimate markets. Counterfeiting money is another financial crime. The counterfeiting of money includes illegally producing money that is then used to pay for anything desired. In addition to being

Wolfpack Alliance - Misplaced Pages Continue

6846-573: Is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US dollars annually. A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a kleptocracy , literally meaning "rule by thieves". There are three major regions that center around drug trafficking , known as the Golden Triangle (Burma, Laos, Thailand), Golden Crescent (Afghanistan) and Central and South America. There are suggestions that due to the continuing decline in opium production in South East Asia, traffickers may begin to look to Afghanistan as

7009-608: Is extremely easy for members of the Sinaloa Cartel to obtain Canadian passports both legally and illegally. Edwards and Nájera wrote: "The Wolfpack helped to usher the cartels into Canada and both profited and suffered for their greed and ambition. Through their actions, a dark corner was rounded and there could be no turning back". In January 2014, Riarch was arrested in the Philippines on charges of smuggling drugs into

7172-533: Is no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition of terrorism . Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (e.g., neutral military personnel or civilians ), and are committed by non-government agencies. Some definitions also include acts of unlawful violence and war, especially crimes against humanity ( see

7335-566: Is not a modern phenomenon - the construction of 17th and 18th century crime gangs fulfill all the present day criteria of criminal organizations (in opposition to the Alien Conspiracy Theory). These roamed the rural borderlands of central Europe embarking on many of the same illegal activities associated with today's crime organizations, with the exception of money laundering. When the French revolution created strong nation states,

7498-414: Is not restricted to these activities. The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. For instance, certain political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some cases, government officials have broad or poorly defined powers, which make it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal actions. Worldwide, bribery alone

7661-519: Is not the only drug being used in these areas. The European market has shown signs of growing use in opioids on top of the long-term heroin use. Drug traffickers produce drugs in drug laboratories and drug farms. A drug lab can range in size from small workshops to the size of small towns (such as Tranquilandia ). A drug farm is a place where drug crops are grown before being made into illegal narcotics. A drug farm can range in size from smallholdings to large plantations. In addition to drug crops, it

7824-607: Is now a free man. On August 29, 2022, Amero was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, in connection with the slayings of Duhre and Dhak. As of 2023, the organization is still recognized by law enforcement as being actively involved in organized crime. Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia acknowledged in June 2023 that "Wolfpack has had significant controlling influence over

7987-399: Is primarily for prostituting women and children into sex industries . Sexual slavery encompasses most, if not all, forms of forced prostitution. The terms " forced prostitution " or "enforced prostitution" appear in international and humanitarian conventions but have been insufficiently understood and inconsistently applied. "Forced prostitution" generally refers to conditions of control over

8150-562: Is primarily involved in drug trafficking, earning at least $ 8 billion per year. Sam Gor is alleged to control 40% of the Asia-Pacific methamphetamine market, while also trafficking heroin and ketamine . The organization is active in a variety of countries, including Myanmar, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China and Taiwan. Sam Gor previously produced meth in Southern China and is now believed to manufacture mainly in

8313-433: Is the practice of obtaining confidential, sensitive, proprietary or classified information from individuals, competitors, groups, or governments using illegal exploitation methods on internet, networks, software or computers. There is also a clear military, political, or economic motivation. Unsecured information may be intercepted and modified, making espionage possible internationally. The recently established Cyber Command

SECTION 50

#1732779980417

8476-404: Is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright , infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights , such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works . Whilst almost universally considered under civil procedure , the impact and intent of organized criminal operations in this area of crime has been the subject of much debate. Article 61 of

8639-513: Is to prevent heavy levels of community policing , that could be harmful to their illicit businesses; additionally the vigilante acts could help the gangs to ingratiate themselves in their communities . In the US during the roaring twenties, the anti-catholic and anti-semitic Ku Klux Klan was known to be a staunch enforcer of prohibition, as a result Italian , Irish , Polish and Jewish gangsters would at times have violent confrontations against

8802-699: Is vast, including but not limited to pharmacies, import-export companies , check-cashing stores , tattoo parlors, zoos, online dating sites, liquor stores, motorcycle shops, banks, hotels, ranches and plantations, electronic stores, beauty salons, real estate companies , daycares, framing stores , taxicab companies, phone companies, shopping malls, jewelry stores, modeling agencies, dry cleaners, pawn shops, pool halls , clothing stores, freight companies , charity foundations , youth centers, recording studios, sporting goods stores, furniture stores, gyms, insurance companies, security companies , law firms , and private military companies . Labor racketeering, as defined by

8965-605: The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires that signatory countries establish criminal procedures and penalties in cases of willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a commercial scale. More recently copyright holders have demanded that states provide criminal sanctions for all types of copyright infringement. Organized criminal groups capitalize on consumer complicity, advancements in security and anonymity technology, emerging markets and new methods of product transmission, and

9128-539: The Alkhalil family ; Johnny Raposo of Toronto ; Martino "Lil Guy" Caputo of Niagara-on-the-Lake ; Shane Maloney of Montreal 's West End Gang ; and Nick Nero , a drug smuggler from Niagara Falls . The oldest of the Alkhalil brothers, Nabil Alkhalil, fled Canada in 2010, and settled in Ciudad López Mateos while continuing to be active in organised crime. Nabil Alkhalil served as the liaison with

9291-505: The Downtown Eastside drug trade for several years" and that street-level drug traffickers operating in the neighborhood are "aligned" with the Wolfpack Alliance. Organized crime Other organizations—including states, churches, militaries , police forces , and corporations—may sometimes use organized-crime methods to conduct their activities, but their powers derive from their status as formal social institutions. There

9454-605: The Golden Triangle , specifically Shan State , Myanmar , responsible for much of the massive surge of crystal meth in recent years. The group is understood to be headed by Tse Chi Lop , a Chinese-Canadian gangster born in Guangzhou , China. Tse is a former member of the Hong Kong-based crime group, the Big Circle Gang . In 1988, Tse immigrated to Canada. In 1998, Tse was convicted of transporting heroin into

9617-542: The Independent Soldiers . The first public evidence of the existence of the group was that Bacon was often seen with Amero on the latter's speedboat, Steroids & Silicone . The Wolfpack worked as distributors of cocaine from the Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico, whose leader was Joaquín Guzmán , better known by his moniker El Chapo ("the shorty"). The Wolfpack soon took in other members, most notably

9780-602: The Nuremberg Trials ), Allied authorities deeming the German Nazi Party , its paramilitary and police organizations, and numerous associations subsidiary to the Nazi Party "criminal organizations". The use of similar tactics by criminal organizations for protection rackets or to enforce a code of silence is usually not labeled terrorism though these same actions may be labeled terrorism when done by

9943-504: The Rizzuto family of Montreal. The police suspected that Nero did not intend to abide by his parole conditions, as he violated his bail conditions. The police started an investigation of Nero dubbed Project Ink. In February 2012, the police seized 110 kilograms of cocaine worth $ 30 million dollars from a warehouse in St. Catharines, which the police knew belonged to Nero. Nero had become one of

SECTION 60

#1732779980417

10106-620: The Search Bloc , which would eventually lead to the dismantling of the Medellín Cartel and the death of Pablo Escobar. Because of the high levels of corruption, the Oficina de Envigado would do things to help the police and vice versa, to the point where the police and the cartel would sometimes do operations together against other criminals; additionally the leaders of La Oficina would often act as judges to mediate disputes between

10269-577: The Sinaloa , Jalisco New Generation , Juárez , Gulf , Los Zetas , and Beltrán-Leyva cartels as the six Mexican TCO with the greatest influence in drug trafficking to the United States. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 has a target to combat all forms of organized crime as part of the 2030 Agenda . In some countries, football hooliganism has been linked to organized crime. Various models have been proposed to describe

10432-1170: The black market can avoid, or at least receive early warnings about, investigation and prosecution. Activities of organized crime include loansharking of money at very high interest rates, blackmailing , assassination , backyard breeding , bombings , bookmaking and illegal gambling , confidence tricks , forging early release prison documents, copyright infringement , counterfeiting of intellectual property, metal theft , fencing , kidnapping , sex trafficking , smuggling , drug trafficking , arms trafficking , impersonating armored truck drivers, oil smuggling, antiquities smuggling , organ trafficking , contract killing , identity document forgery , money laundering , bribery , seduction , electoral fraud , insurance fraud , point shaving , price fixing , cargo theft via fictions pickup, illegal taxicab operation , illegal dumping of toxic waste, illegal trading of nuclear materials, military equipment smuggling, nuclear weapons smuggling, passport fraud , providing illegal immigration and cheap labor, people smuggling, trading in endangered species, and trafficking in human beings . Organized crime groups also do

10595-509: The elderly , animals , the disabled , the poor and the less fortunate. In many minority communities and poor neighborhoods, residents often distrust law enforcement, as a result the gang syndicates often take over to "police" their neighborhoods by committing acts against people who had committed crimes such as bullying , muggings, home invasions , hate crimes, stalking , sexual assault , domestic violence and child molestation , as well as mediating disputes between neighbors. The ways that

10758-552: The hit man has been generally consistent throughout the history of organized crime, whether that be due to the efficiency or expediency of hiring a professional assassin or the need to distance oneself from the commission of murderous acts (making it harder to prove criminal culpability). This may include the assassination of notable figures (public, private or criminal), once again dependent on authority, retribution or competition. Revenge killings, armed robberies, violent disputes over controlled territories and offenses against members of

10921-739: The American Jewish community to help defend against the Nazi bund, even going as far as attacking and killing Nazi sympathizers during bund meetings. Vigilante groups such as the Black Panther Party , White Panther Party , and Young Lords have been accused of committing crimes in order to fund their political activities. While protection racketeering is often seen as nothing more than extortion, criminal syndicates that participate in protection rackets have at times provided genuine protection against other criminals for their clients,

11084-503: The Dhak-Duhre group against the Wolfpack. On 16 January 2012, a United Nations gang member, Salih "Sal" Abdulaziz Sahbaz of Surrey, was murdered in Mexico. His corpse was not looted and he had some $ 20,000 U.S. dollars in his wallet. On 17 January 2012, Sandip "Dippy" Duhre, the co-boss of the Dhak-Duhre group, was shot dead while leaving a Vancouver hotel in a revenge attack for the Delta Grand Hotel incident. On 18 January 2012,

11247-582: The KKK. On one occasion FBI informant and mobster Gregory Scarpa kidnapped and tortured a local Klansmen into revealing the bodies of Civil rights workers who had been killed by the KKK. During World War II, America had a growing number of Nazi supporters that formed the German American Bund , which was known to be threatening to local Jewish people, as a result Jewish mobsters (such as Meyer Lansky , Bugsy Siegel and Jack Ruby ) were often hired by

11410-645: The Medellín Cartel's war against the Colombian government, both the Norte del Valle Cartel and Cali Cartel formed and operated a vigilante group called Los Pepes (which also comprised members of the Colombian government, police and former members of the Medellín Cartel) to bring about the downfall of Pablo Escobar; they did so by bombing the properties of the Medellín Cartel and kidnapping, torturing and killing Escobar's associates as well as working alongside

11573-521: The Philippines from Mexico. On September 9, 2014, Nero was convicted of drug trafficking, gangsterism and living off the proceeds of crime. Mohamed Reza Amin Torabi, the former Mr. Canada bodybuilder and Wolfpack drug smuggler made a plea bargain with the Crown in 2015, where in exchange for a guilty plea, he was sentenced to 7 years in prison. Despite the way that Sinaloa Cartel had pushed the Wolfpack aside,

11736-540: The Port of Montreal, which enabled drug smuggling on a massive scale. Maloney was known as "Wheels", due to being confined to a wheelchair, as he is a paraplegic owing to a vehicle incident, but he was considered one of the most important Wolfpack leaders. In 2012, Maloney was charged with smuggling on behalf of both the West End Gang and the Wolfpack, and was convicted in 2017. The Wolfpack Alliance were reported to have smuggled in about 400 kilograms of cocaine per month into Montreal. The United Nations gang aligned itself with

11899-477: The Rogers Center, and abused the referees for supposedly favoring the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers team so violently that he was expelled from the building. Deo's abuse of the referees led to several YouTube videos being made about him as an example of an obnoxious Toronto Raptors fan. On 7 June 2016, Deo was murdered in Toronto by two killers disguised as construction workers. Deo had parked his vehicle in

12062-613: The Sicilian Sidewalk Café dressed as a construction worker while wearing a dust mask and a wig. As the ardent football fan Raposo intensely followed the Ireland vs. Italy Euro Cup football match being aired live on the café's television, Wiwchar walked up to him and shot him four times in the head and once in the neck from behind. The same day, Alkhalil texted Wiwchar: "Time we put u [you] in sniper school I think. this seems too easy for u". Wiwchar texted back: "LOL! I had

12225-593: The Sicilian Sidewalk Café, which was Raposo's favorite coffee shop, saying he should pass this information along to Alkhalil's hitman. At the same time, Caputo had attended the baptism of Raposo's son by his common-law wife Monika, and told him numerous times "I love you, bro!". Nero requested that Caputo send pictures of Raposo's son from the baptism to the hitman. On 21 May 2012, Alkhalil offered his favorite hitman, Dean Michael Wiwchar , $ 100,000 in cash for killing Raposo. Wiwchar who never met Raposo and did not know nor cared why Alkhalil wanted Raposo dead, promptly accepted

12388-539: The Sinaloa Cartel had Paolo Caputo killed, as a surrogate for killing his brother. Since 29 June 2021, Amero and Alkhalil were on trial in Vancouver for the 2012 murders of the rival gangsters Sandip Duhre and Suhhveer Dhak, with the Crown presenting the thesis that Alkhalil and Amero hired Wiwchar to kill Duhre. On 21 July 2022, Alkhalil escaped from the North Fraser Pretrial Center jail, and

12551-682: The Sinaloa Cartel to establish a drug distribution network in Canada, which allowed them to ultimately by-pass the Wolfpack, as the Sinaloa cartel took over the networks that the Wolfpack had established. By early 2014, the Sinaloa Cartel had cut out the middlemen in the form of the Wolfpack and started to distribute cocaine themselves in Canada, rending the Wolfpack irrelevant. The Sinaloa Cartel came to prefer operating in Canada, owing to its weak justice system with regard to financial crimes, which made Canada an ideal place for money laundering. In addition, it

12714-534: The Sinaloa Cartel. Rabih "Robby" Alkhalil, the youngest of the Alkhalil brothers, lived in Montreal, where he owned an expensive penthouse condominium at 555 René Lévesque Boulevard West, with a view of the St. Lawrence river that made his condo one of the most expensive in Old Montreal . Caputo who officially worked as a property developer in the " Golden Horseshoe " area, served as the Rizzuto family's agent for

12877-517: The United States Department of Labor, is the infiltrating, exploiting, and controlling of employee benefit plan, union, employer entity, or workforce that is carried out through illegal, violent, or fraudulent means for profit or personal benefit. Labor racketeering has developed since the 1930s, affecting national and international construction, mining, energy production and transportation sectors immensely. Activity has focused on

13040-455: The United States and served nine years behind bars. Tse has been compared in prominence to Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Pablo Escobar . The U.S. supply of heroin comes mainly from foreign sources which include Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle , Southwest Asia, and Latin America. Heroin comes in two forms. The first is its chemical base form which presents itself as brown and the second is

13203-532: The United States has been Cosa Nostra ( Italian-American Mafia ), but other transnational criminal organizations have also risen in prominence in recent decades. A 2012 article in a U.S. Department of Justice journal stated that: "Since the end of the Cold War, organized crime groups from Russia, China, Italy, Nigeria, and Japan have increased their international presence and worldwide networks or have become involved in more transnational criminal activities. Most of

13366-410: The United States provided by Hannigan, et al., marked an increase of 35% between 2002 and 2010. A distinctive gang culture underpins many, but not all, organized groups; this may develop through recruiting strategies, social learning processes in the corrective system experienced by youth, family or peer involvement in crime, and the coercive actions of criminal authority figures. The term "street gang"

13529-437: The United States, according to a report by UNODC . People smuggling is defined as "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries laws, either clandestinely or through deception, such as the use of fraudulent documents". The term is understood as and often used interchangeably with migrant smuggling, which

13692-543: The United States, the Organized Crime Control Act (1970) defines organized crime as "[t]he unlawful activities of [...] a highly organized, disciplined association [...]". Criminal activity as a structured process is referred to as racketeering . In the UK, police estimate that organized crime involves up to 38,000 people operating in 6,000 various groups. Historically, the largest organized crime force in

13855-460: The Wolfpack and stayed in touch with them via encrypted text messages on his cellphone. The hit-team placed GPS tracking devices on bottoms of vehicles belonging to the Wolfpack as a way to track them down. On 14 August 2011, Jonathan Bacon was murdered via gunfire outside the Delta Grand Hotel in Kelowna . At about 2:45 pm on 14 August 2011, a white Porsche Cayenne carrying six people was leaving

14018-583: The Wolfpack, who had an obsession with attracting attention to themselves. The Wolfpack became involved in a gang war in Toronto in 2016-2018 with the Siderno Group . One of the mid-ranking Wolfpack leaders, Tassos Leventis, moved from Montreal to Toronto, where in June 2016 he very publicly challenged and insulted the Commisso brothers, who lead the Commisso 'ndrina in a Toronto restaurant. The incident ended with an angry Leventis picking up and throwing

14181-432: The alley known locally as Cowbell Lane at the corner of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, and seemed to be waiting for someone. Two hitmen dressed as construction workers walked down Cowbell Lane and shot Deo 14 times. Deo's murder made newspaper headlines in his native India, with The Times of India running a frontpage story entitled "A gangster and a NBA fan". Authors Edwards and Nájera described Deo's murder as typical of

14344-495: The basis of a wire worn by the informer. Psiharis fled to his native Greece . On 20 November 2012, the burned corpse of Psiharis was found in the Greek countryside. Psiharis had been tortured by his killers and his face was burned off with acid, before he was killed with a bullet through his head. The murder of Psiharis remains unsolved. Lavoie escaped to Colombia on a forged Bahamian passport. In Colombia, Lavoie joined forces with

14507-399: The best escape route after killing him. Raposo was aware that Alkhalil and Amero had become inexplicably distant towards him, and told his common-law wife Monika that was planning to visit Montreal soon to see the Wolfpack leaders, to resolve whatever the issues there might be. On 18 June 2012, Wiwchar shot Raposo at the Sicilian Sidewalk Café on Toronto 's College Street . Wiwchar walked into

14670-557: The biggest and richest drug market in North America. Edwards and Nájera wrote that Montreal was the "epicenter" of Canadian organized crime, as whatever faction that dominates Montreal dominates the national organized crime scene, as the organized crime scene in Vancouver was "fractured". Toronto was dominated by 7 'Ndrangheta families who had a "limited" range outside of the Toronto area, and the Mafia families of Hamilton were "largely

14833-479: The bodies in trash or landfills, feeding the bodies to animals (such as pigs or rats ), destruction by industrial process (such as machinery, chemical bath, molten metal or a junked car), injection into the legitimate body disposal system (such as morgues, funeral homes, cemeteries, crematoriums, funeral pyres or cadaver donations) or covert killings at health care facilities, disguising as animal flesh (such as food waste or restaurant food), creating false evidence of

14996-595: The bodies of their victims on display as a form of psychological warfare against their enemies. Criminal syndicates often commit acts of vigilantism by enforcing laws, investigating certain criminal acts and punishing those who violate such rules. People who are often targeted by organized criminals tend to be individualistic criminals, people who committed crimes that are considered particularly heinous by society, people who committed wrongdoings against members or associates, rivals or terrorist groups. One reason why criminal groups might commit vigilantism in their neighborhoods

15159-425: The bridge as a warning. Lavoie's murder remains unsolved. It is believed that both Psiharis and Lavoie were killed to punish them for recruiting a police informer into the Wolfpack. The extreme sadism shown by the killers of Psiharis and Lavoie is typical of the Sinaloa Cartel's killers, and the police believe that both murders may have very well been the work of the Sinaloa Cartel. The Wolfpack were used by Guzmán and

15322-585: The circumstances of death and letting investigators dispose of the body, possibly obscuring identity, abandonment in a remote area where the body can degrade significantly, while exposure to elements (such as rain, wind, heat, etc.) as well as animal activity (such as consumption by scavengers ) can contaminate the crime scene or destroy evidence before being discovered, if ever, such as a wilderness area (such as national parks or nature reserves) or an abandoned area (such as an abandoned building, well or mine). However, there are also many instances of gangsters putting

15485-836: The civilian realm is also at risk, noting that the security breaches have already gone beyond stolen credit card numbers, and that potential targets can also include the electric power grid, trains, or the stock market. The term "computer virus" may be used as an overarching phrase to include all types of true viruses, malware , including computer worms , Trojan horses , most rootkits , spyware , dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software (though all are technically unique), and proves to be quite financially lucrative for criminal organizations, offering greater opportunities for fraud and extortion whilst increasing security, secrecy and anonymity. Worms may be utilized by organized crime groups to exploit security vulnerabilities (duplicating itself automatically across other computers

15648-424: The consistent nature of these provides a stable financial basis for other areas of organized crime. Cyberwarfare refers to politically motivated hacking to conduct sabotage and espionage . It is a form of information warfare sometimes seen as analogous to conventional warfare although this analogy is controversial for both its accuracy and its political motivation. It has been defined as activities by

15811-487: The context of organized crime, both may serve as means through which other criminal activity may be successfully perpetrated or as the primary goal themselves. Email fraud , advance-fee fraud , romance scams , employment scams , and other phishing scams are the most common and most widely used forms of identity theft, though with the advent of social networking fake websites, accounts and other fraudulent or deceitful activity has become commonplace. Copyright infringement

15974-439: The continuation of their operations. Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name. Victims of identity theft (those whose identity has been assumed by the identity thief) can suffer adverse consequences if held accountable for

16137-862: The criminal gangs moved to other poorly controlled regions like the Balkans and Southern Italy, where the seeds were sown for the Sicilian Mafia - the linchpin of organized crime in the New World. While most of the conceptual frameworks used to model organized crime emphasize the role of actors or activities , computational approaches built on the foundations of data science and artificial intelligence are focusing on deriving new insights on organized crime from big data . For example, novel machine learning models have been applied to study and detect urban crime and online prostitution networks. Big data has also been used to develop online tools predicting

16300-508: The drug market in Montreal, but rather because they wanted to use Montreal as a stepping stone to enter the New York drug market. The two men in charge who answered to Amero and Alkhail, were Frédéric Lavoie and Timoleaon Psiharis. Psharis and Lavoie bribed truck drivers who were employed by bonded trucking companies to smuggle cocaine. The Wolfpack in Montreal smuggled about 400 kilograms of cocaine per month. On 8 August 2012, Alkhalil's condo

16463-604: The entrepreneurial efforts of the group's members, their motivations and the environments in which they work. Opportunism is also a key factor – the organized criminal or criminal group is likely to frequently reorder the criminal associations they maintain, the types of crimes they perpetrate, and how they function in the public arena (recruitment, reputation, etc.) in order to ensure efficiency, capitalization and protection of their interests. Culture and ethnicity provide an environment where trust and communication between criminals can be efficient and secure. This may ultimately lead to

16626-489: The eventual decision that the costs outweigh the benefits) and conflict theories. No ethnic group is more disposed to gang involvement than another, rather it is the status of being marginalized, alienated or rejected that makes some groups more vulnerable to gang formation, and this would also be accounted for in the effect of social exclusion , especially in terms of recruitment and retention. These may also be defined by age (typically youth) or peer group influences, and

16789-523: The former crime correspondent of La Reforma newspaper of Ciudad Juárez stated about the Wolfpack: "Technology, the internet, changes a lot of dynamics of power, relationships, contacts and businesses, both legal and illegal…the internet became a platform where they don’t necessarily need to be physically together always. Do you remember in the old days or in the movies where the Mafiosos got together in

16952-422: The gangs would punish such individuals could range from forced apologies, being threatened, being forced to return stolen objects, vandalizing property, arson, being forced to move , bombings , being assaulted or battered , kidnappings, false imprisonment , torture or being murdered. Some criminal syndicates have been known to hold their own "trials" for members of theirs who had been accused of wrongdoing;

17115-493: The general rigidity of their internal structures. They focus more on how the operations works, succeeds, sustains itself or avoids retribution, they are generally typified by: However, this model of operation has some flaws: While bureaucratic operations emphasize business processes and strongly authoritarian hierarchies, these are based on enforcing power relationships rather than an overlying aim of protectionism, sustainability or growth. An estimate on youth street gangs in

17278-400: The government. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery , extortion , cronyism , nepotism , patronage , graft , and embezzlement . While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking , money laundering , and human trafficking , it

17441-500: The greater Toronto area. The Wolfpack leaders used encrypted texts on the Pretty Good Privacy system to communicate, and wrote frankly about plans to commit murders. Caputo had no criminal record and was one of Toronto's most successful businessmen, who owned and operated the well regarded Savourie restaurant from 1996 to 2004. Sergeant Brenda Winpenny of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit – BC (CFSEU-BC) told

17604-417: The group expanded via the internet, saying: "They're bonded by the internet, not by geography. Some are in Vancouver, some are in Montreal, some are in Toronto and it doesn’t really matter – they can move around. You could say, ‘that group is from Woodbridge, those groups from Simcoe Street and Oshawa. With the Wolfpack, there isn’t a place, there’s just a shared feeling or need for the internet." Luis Nájera,

17767-430: The group still retained a vestigial existence on the margins of Canadian organized crime. An Independent Soldier and Wolfpack member, Sukhvir Singh Deo, moved from Surrey to Toronto. In March 2014, Deo was arrested on charges of smuggling cocaine, but was released after he posted bail. After his release, Deo went into hiding. On 23 May 2016, Deo made the international news when he attended a Toronto Raptors basketball game at

17930-408: The groups they form. Assaults are used for coercive measures, to "rough up" debtors, competition or recruits, in the commission of robberies , in connection to other property offenses, and as an expression of counter-cultural authority; violence is normalized within criminal organizations (in direct opposition to mainstream society) and the locations they control. Whilst the intensity of violence

18093-566: The hospital. On 14 January 2013, Manjinder "Manny" Singh Hairan, one of the gunmen who had killed Jonathan Bacon in 2011, was shot dead in Surrey. On 28 January 2013, Jaskaran Singh Sandhu of the Dhak-Duhre group, was murdered in Surrey. In February, Amritpal "Paul" Saran of the Dhak-Duhre group was murdered in Surrey. On 24 April 2013, Craig Widdifield was murdered outside of a gym at the Morgan Crossing shopping mall in Surrey. Widdifield

18256-499: The importation of cheap or unfree labor , involvement with union and public officials ( political corruption ), and counterfeiting . Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality , is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with

18419-432: The individuals desire or the corporations desire to increase profits. The cost of corporate crimes to United States taxpayers is about $ 500 billion. Note that some forms of corporate corruption may not actually be criminal if they are not specifically illegal under a given system of laws. For example, some jurisdictions allow insider trading . The different businesses that organized crime figures have been known to operate

18582-474: The insurgent groups were trying to steal land, kidnap family members, and extort money from the drug barons. As a result the drug lords of the Medellín Cartel formed a paramilitary vigilante group known as Muerte a Secuestradores ("Death to Kidnappers") to defend the cartel against the FARC and M-19 , even kidnapping and torturing the leader of M-19 before leaving him tied up in front of a police station. During

18745-406: The journalist Rattan Mall in 2017: “We’ve publicly confirmed in the past that the Wolfpack has a presence not only across Canada but internationally. They have had a presence in other provinces, like Ontario, for at least a couple years... and several gang members who have ties to the Wolfpack, like Hells Angel Larry Amero, have been back east for several years – albeit Larry’s in jail but he has spent

18908-446: The leaders of the group, as it is the normal custom in the Canadian underworld for leaders of the gang to be placed in the center of a group photograph. More trouble for the Wolfpack occurred on August 11, 2012 when a Montreal Wolfpack drug courier Ricardo Ruffolo was murdered when answering his door. On September 26, 2012, Lavoie called a meeting in a downtown Montreal bar with Mihale Leventis and another man who remains unidentified, who

19071-431: The legal economy. Launderers will also co-mingle illegal money with revenue made from businesses in order to further mask their illicit funds. Accurate figures for the amounts of criminal proceeds laundered are almost impossible to calculate, rough estimates have been made, but only give a sense of the scale of the problem and not quite how great the problem truly is. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime conducted

19234-737: The likelihood of criminals to participate in tax evasion. As most organized crime is perpetrated in the liminal state between legitimate and illegitimate markets, these economic factors must adjusted to ensure the optimal amount of taxation without promoting the practice of tax evasion. As with any other crime, technological advancements have made the commission of tax evasion easier, faster and more globalized. The ability for organized criminals to operate fraudulent financial accounts, utilize illicit offshore bank accounts, access tax havens or tax shelters , and operating goods smuggling syndicates to evade importation taxes help ensure financial sustainability, security from law enforcement, general anonymity and

19397-406: The matter. For example, in failed states that can no longer perform basic functions such as education, security, or governance (usually due to fractious violence or to extreme poverty), organized crime, governance, and war sometimes complement each other. The term " oligarchy " has been used to describe democratic countries whose political, social, and economic institutions come under the control of

19560-490: The middle class; Cloward and Ohlin (1960): blocked opportunity, but unequal distribution of opportunities lead to creating different types of gangs (that is, some focused on robbery and property theft, some on fighting and conflict and some were retreatists focusing on drug taking); Spergel (1966) was one of the first criminologists to focus on evidence-based practice rather than intuition into gang life and culture. Participation in gang-related events during adolescence perpetuate

19723-544: The money's illegal origin. This allows for the expansion of OC groups, as the 'laundry' or 'wash cycle' operates to cover the money trail and convert proceeds of crime into usable assets. Money laundering is bad for international and domestic trade, banking reputations and for effective governments and rule of law. This is due to the methods used to hide the proceeds of crime. These methods include, but are not limited to: buying easily transported values, transfer pricing, and using "underground banks," as well as infiltrating firms in

19886-610: The most important cocaine smugglers in Canada, bringing in an average of 400 kilograms of cocaine per week into the Niagara Peninsula via boats and trucks. In one of his texts, Nero wrote to the car dealer-turned-drug dealer Alfonso "Al" Inclima, on 2 May 2012, that the Air Canada airline was deeply corrupt and it was possible for the Wolfpack to smuggle a shipment of cocaine worth $ 750,000 Canadian dollars via Air Canada per week into Toronto. When Inclima indicated that it

20049-435: The murder of Gurmit Singh Dhak. A member of the Dhak-Duhre group, Manjot Singh Dhillon, took to posting images of dead wolves on his Facebook profile starting in early January 2013, as a public way of indicating he was planning to strike at the Wolfpack. At about 9:30 pm on 13 January 2013, Dhillon was found almost dead by the side of Colebrook Road in Surrey, with several bullet wounds. He died later that night of his wounds at

20212-424: The next 25 years. As the guilty verdicts were announced, Wiwchar "smirked" in the courtroom, as he seemed to take a perverse pride in being found guilty of first-degree murder. Nero looked stunned. Alkhalil showed no emotion. Caputo kept shaking his head and looking at his family. Nero was attacked in prison by another prisoner, who tried to kill him with a home-made knife. The attempt failed, but one of Nero's eyeballs

20375-470: The offer. Wiwchar texted Alkhalil back on the same afternoon: "Ice cream boy [Raposo] is getting it". On 23 May 2012, Nero was arrested at the St. Catharines half-way house without incident, as the supposed "tough guy" Nero offered no resistance. The same day that Nero was arrested, his fiancée Tawnya Del Ben Fletcher was arrested in Niagara-on-the-Lake and charged with narcotic possession for

20538-533: The parking lot of the Delta Grand Hotel, when a group of four masked gunmen carrying AK-47 assault rifles opened fire. The gunmen fired at least 30 shots into the Cayenne, killing Bacon, wounding Amero, and leaving a 21-year waitress, Leah Hadden-Watts, a quadriplegic, as she took a bullet straight through her neck, severing her spinal cord. After the Kelowna incident, Amero relocated to Montreal, where he lived as

20701-606: The permanence or consistency of their criminal activity. These groups also form their own symbolic identity or public representation which are recognizable by the community at large (include colors, symbols, patches, flags and tattoos). Research has focused on whether the gangs have formal structures, clear hierarchies and leadership in comparison with adult groups, and whether they are rational in pursuit of their goals, though positions on structures, hierarchies and defined roles are conflicting. Some studied street gangs involved in drug dealing - finding that their structure and behavior had

20864-406: The perpetrator's actions, as can organizations and individuals who are defrauded by the identity thief, and to that extent are also victims. Internet fraud refers to the actual use of Internet services to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, to conduct fraudulent transactions, or to transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or to others connected with the scheme. In

21027-515: The public must also be considered when looking at the dynamic between different criminal organizations and their (at times) conflicting needs. After killing their victims, the gangsters often try to destroy evidence by getting rid of the victims remains in such a way as to prevent, hinder, or delay the discovery of the body, to prevent identification of the body, or to prevent autopsy. The different ways that organized criminals have been known to dispose of dead bodies include but are not limited to hiding

21190-499: The punishments that the accused member would face if "found guilty" would vary depending on the offense. In addition to what is considered traditional organized crime involving direct crimes of fraud swindles, scams, racketeering and other acts motivated for the accumulation of monetary gain, there is also non-traditional organized crime which is engaged in for political or ideological gain or acceptance. Such crime groups are often labelled terrorist groups or narcoterrorists . There

21353-514: The purpose of trafficking; conspiracy to import narcotics; conspiracy to traffic in narcotics; conspiracy to possess narcotics for the purpose of trafficking; and counselling to commit obstruction of justice. As Nero's parole conditions had forbidden him to own a cellphone, he left his cellphone at Fletcher's condo. At the time of her arrest, she owned two condos, one in Niagara-on-the-Lake and another condo in Yorkville; two luxury sports automobiles;

21516-494: The reason for this is because the criminal organization would want the business of their clients to do better so that the gang can demand even more protection money, additionally if the gang has enough knowledge of the local fencers , they may even be able to track down and retrieve any objects that were stolen from the business owner, to further help their clients the gang may also force out, disrupt, vandalize, steal from or shutdown competing businesses for their clients. In Colombia

21679-559: The rest of the world's population in history. Most are debt slaves , largely in South Asia , who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders , sometimes even for generations. It is the fastest growing criminal industry and is predicted to eventually outgrow drug trafficking . Gurmit Singh Dhak Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

21842-1356: The risk for an individual to be a victim of online sex trade or getting drawn into online sex work. In addition, data from Twitter and Google Trends have been used to study the public perceptions of organized crime. Organized crime groups provide a range of illegal services and goods. Organized crime often victimizes businesses through the use of extortion or theft and fraud activities like hijacking cargo trucks and ships, robbing goods, committing bankruptcy fraud (also known as "bust-out"), insurance fraud or stock fraud (insider trading). Organized crime groups also victimize individuals by car theft (either for dismantling at "chop shops" or for export), art theft , Metal theft , bank robbery , burglary, jewelry and gems theft and heists, shoplifting , computer hacking , credit card fraud, economic espionage , embezzlement , identity theft , and securities fraud (" pump and dump " scam). Some organized crime groups defraud national, state, or local governments by bid rigging public projects, counterfeiting money, smuggling or manufacturing untaxed alcohol ( rum-running ) or cigarettes ( buttlegging ), and providing immigrant workers to avoid taxes. Organized crime groups seek out corrupt public officials in executive, law enforcement, and judicial roles so that their criminal rackets and activities on

22005-530: The same day from Mexico to claim credit for Gisby's murder, and exaggerated the details such as claiming to have used 50 calibre gun. Naicker was shot dead outside of a Starbucks café in Port Moody on 25 June 2012. On 19 November 2012, Suhhveer "Sukh" Dhak and his bodyguard Thomas Mantel were murdered. Between 2010-2013, there were 20 murders in the Lower Mainland, related to the gang war started by

22168-415: The security of the public, and other psycho-social factors. Murder has evolved from the honor and vengeance killings of the yakuza or Sicilian mafia which placed large physical and symbolic importance on the act of murder, its purposes and consequences, to a much less discriminate form of expressing power, enforcing criminal authority, achieving retribution or eliminating competition. The role of

22331-403: The structure of criminal organizations. Patron–client networks are defined by fluid interactions. They produce crime groups that operate as smaller units within the overall network, and as such tend towards valuing significant others, familiarity of social and economic environments, or tradition. These networks are usually composed of: Bureaucratic/corporate organized crime groups are defined by

22494-482: The supply and demand), as is the case in arms, sex and drug trafficking. The entrepreneurial model looks at either the individual criminal or a smaller group of organized criminals, that capitalize off the more fluid 'group-association' of contemporary organized crime. This model conforms to social learning theory or differential association in that there are clear associations and interaction between criminals where knowledge may be shared, or values enforced, however, it

22657-433: The surrounding terrain and local wildlife might serve to deter or impede either investigative authorities or rival gangs if the location of the clandestine compound were revealed. While usually thought of as an urban issue, drug trafficking is also known to be a problem in both suburban and rural areas as well. Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a major cause of contemporary sexual slavery and

22820-465: The theft of the cocaine, which the Wolfpack had received on consignment, and threatened to send up killers from Mexico to torture and murder all of the Wolfpack for their incompetence in losing $ 5 million dollars worth of cocaine. Caputo fled Canada to Germany, where he was arrested in Cologne on 16 February 2013 while attempting to go to Poland with a forged Italian passport. Alkhalil fled to Greece, and

22983-446: The thesis that Raposo was an informer. Raposo, Nero, Alkhalil and Caputo were planning to bring in a shipment of cocaine from Mexico via Chicago that was worth $ 5 million dollars, with the profits to be split equally four ways. The last three decided to kill Raposo to take his share of the profits for themselves. To assist with the planned murder, on 18 May 2012 Caputo texted to Nero pictures of Raposo together with his address and that of

23146-704: The traditional ’Ndrangheta family of Cosimo "The Quail" Commisso of Siderno, Italy." Lindsey Houghton of CFSEU-BC stated: "We’ve seen and heard the name Wolfpack over the last year [2016]. We’ve heard their name come up in places like Kamloops and Surrey. So they are still very active and groups like the Red Scorpions and Independent Soldiers – these groups are still active and prominent in that world.” On 11 May 2017, Wiwchar, Caputo, Alkhalil and Nero were all found guilty of first-degree murder in Toronto in connection with Raposo's murder in 2012. The accused were all sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for

23309-409: The traffickers stationed in these remote criminal settlements, sustain themselves with a combination of survival skills and with food, supplies and workers being brought to them by associates. The reason that traffickers have been known to establish such remote compounds is so that the surrounding area can help to provide varying degrees of natural cover. Additionally the traffickers may also hope, that

23472-542: The usual films, music, literature, games and other electrical appliances, software and fashion. A number of qualitative changes in the trade of counterfeit products: The economic effects of organized crime have been approached from a number of both theoretical and empirical positions, however the nature of such activity allows for misrepresentation. The level of taxation taken by a nation-state, rates of unemployment, mean household incomes and level of satisfaction with government and other economic factors all contribute to

23635-411: The various different drug gangs throughout Colombia, which according to some helped prevented a lot of disputes from turning violent. On Somalia coastline many people rely on fishing for economic survival, because of this Somali pirates are often known to attack foreign vessels who partake in illegal fishing and overfishing in their waters and vessels that illegally dump waste into their waters. As

23798-413: The whole construction uniform on mullet helment [helmet] dusk mask orange side road shirt and rocker shades lol I sat down and orderd a corona". Caputo visited Raposo's widow Monika on the evening of that day to express his sympathy, while claiming that he was full of sorrow over the murder of his "best friend" Raposo. On 21 June 2012, Wiwchar was arrested in Toronto. When told by a police constable that he

23961-453: The world's major international organized crime groups are present in the United States." The US Drug Enforcement Administration 's 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment classified Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) as the "greatest criminal drug threat to the United States," citing their dominance "over large regions in Mexico used for the cultivation, production, importation, and transportation of illicit drugs" and identifying

24124-418: The world. People smuggling generally takes place with the consent of the person or persons being smuggled, and common reasons for individuals seeking to be smuggled include employment and economic opportunity, personal or familial betterment, and escape from persecution or conflict. The number of slaves today remains as high as 12 million to 27 million. This is probably the smallest proportion of slaves to

24287-576: Was arrested in Athens on 23 February 2013 while living on a forged French passport. Both Caputo and Alkhalil were returned to Canada following extradition requests to face charges of first-degree murder in connection with Raposo's slaying. On November 1, 2012, the Sûreté du Québec and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal as part of Project Loquace arrested 103 members of the Wolfpack in Montreal on

24450-450: Was double the profits from selling cocaine in Toronto, which made Nero very keen on his British expansion plans. Nero also wanted to smuggle cocaine into Shanghai and asked Inclima to find some corrupt aircrews flying to Shanghai who were willing to work for him. Nero was also texting his friend, Mohammed Reza Amin Torabi of Vancouver, a bodybuilder who twice won the Mr. Canada, about bringing in

24613-586: Was eventually defeated and dissolved by the vigilantes' actions but they ended up forming their own cartel called Los Viagras , which has links with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel . The Minuteman Project is a far-right paramilitary organization that seeks to prevent illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border ; however, doing so is detrimental to gangs like Mara Salvatrucha , who make money through people smuggling , and as

24776-402: Was found on another sticky pad note placed next to his laptop computer. The columnist Christie Blatchford noted: "Among the things they [the police] saw and photographed was a sticky note with Nero’s email and password, which later let them bypass the data encryption program called PGP. The initials stand for Pretty Good Privacy; alas, when the user thoughtfully provides his secret password on

24939-611: Was founded in 2010 in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia by the Hells Angels member Larry Amero as a "side project". Hells Angels are allowed to create "side projects", as long as the other members of the relevant chapter are aware of the project and allowed to participate if they so desire. The other leaders of the Wolfpack Alliance were Jonathan Bacon of the Red Scorpions and Randy Naicker and James Riach of

25102-536: Was murdered in Woodbridge, along with his mistress Chantelle Almedia, who had the misfortune of being in his car when the killer struck. Peter Edwards, the crime correspondent of The Toronto Star , stated in 2017: "On one side are the aggressive young computer-friendly newcomers from B.C. and Quebec allied to a gang called The Wolfpack Alliance. On the other side are the old guard — the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] arm of

25265-436: Was not a member of the Wolfpack, but killed only for being a friend of Amero. The Montreal wing of the Wolfpack operated a smuggling ring, bringing cocaine via secret compartments in trucks into and from the United States. Montreal is regarded as the most important city in the Canadian underworld, as it is a major port city with ocean access, well connected via highways to other cities, and is only 332 miles from New York City ,

25428-499: Was possible to smuggle cocaine into Argentina, Nero exploded in rage at him, texting him: "Bro!!! U [you] are suppose to resolve things and get answers and confirm dates. I'm more confused now!!!!!" Later the same day, Nero texted Inclima : "Do they have british airways[?] We get 4000 pds [pounds] in uk [United Kingdom] per". The profit from selling cocaine in the United Kingdom was $ 64,000 U.S. dollars per kilogram, which

25591-647: Was raided by the Sûreté du Québec and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal with warrants for the arrest of both Alkhalil and Amero, who had both already fled. Found inside of Alkhalil's condo was a group photograph of the Wolfpack leaders taken in front of Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The fact that Amero, Alkhalil, and Shane "Wheels" Maloney of the West End Gang were in the center, indicated that they were

25754-547: Was relatively low cohesion, few shared goals and little organizational structure. Shared norms, value and loyalties were low, structures "chaotic", little role differentiation or clear distribution of labor. Similarly, the use of violence does not conform to the principles behind protection rackets, political intimidation and drug trafficking activities employed by those adult groups. In many cases gang members graduate from youth gangs to highly developed OC groups, with some already in contact with such syndicates and through this we see

25917-535: Was ripped out from the socket, leaving him blind in one eye. It is believed that the murder attempt was to punish him for leaving his email address and passport to the Pretty Good Privacy network, out in plain view in Fletcher's condo. On February 28, 2018, Riarch was convicted in the Philippines of drug trafficking, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Sinaloa Cartel is believed to have placed

26080-403: Was the flashpoint for a near decade-long war that has raged across the province and left many dead and wounded in its wake. Few of those behind the violence have been held to account." Suhhveer "Sukh" Dhak, the younger brother of Gurmit, believed that the Wolfpack Alliance were the ones responsible for his brother's murder, and vowed to avenge him. Dhak had hired a team of four hitmen to hunt down

26243-440: Was under arrest for first-degree murder, Wiwchar asked "Which one?". Alkhalil was thrown into panic by Wiwchar's arrest, and texted Amero the same day "Zelda [Wiwchar] first degree murder I wonder if I fucked". Amero texted back: "If he rat yup". The cocaine shipment worth $ 5 million dollars arrived in a Toronto junkyard, but was stolen by an unknown person before Caputo and Alkhalil received it. The Sinaloa Cartel were furious with

26406-525: Was wearing a $ 750,000 engagement ring; and had $ 1 million dollars in cash in the Yorkville condo. Nero could not remember his email address and passport to the Pretty Good Privacy network, so he wrote his email address "Cervezafrya@encryptroid.com" and his password "sharp0" on a yellow sticky note, which was found by the police right next to his cell phone on the kitchen countertop in Fletcher's Niagara-on-the-Lake condo, following his arrest on 23 May 2012. Nero also wrote down his password and email address, which

26569-415: Was working as a police informer. The meeting discussed plans to import cocaine from Mexico and Peru. The most troublesome member of the Wolfpack to the other members of the group proved to be Nicola "Nick" Nero of Niagara Falls , who was described by a high school classmate as "dumb as a bag of hair". After his release on parole, Nero became closely associated with Martino Caputo of Toronto, who worked for

#416583