The Albanian Mafia is active in Albania, the United States, and the European Union (EU) countries, participating in a diverse range of criminal enterprises including drug and arms trafficking. More recently, criminals with stronger ties to big business and the government have displaced the Vory from some of their traditional niches, although the Vory are still strong in gambling and the retail trade. By the mid-1990s it was believed that "Don" Semion Mogilevich had become the "boss of all bosses" of most Russian Mafia syndicates in the world, described by the British government as "one of the most dangerous men in the world". At first, the Vory v Zakone played a key role in arbitrating the gang wars that erupted in the 1990s. Former KGB agents and veterans of the Afghan and First and Second Chechen Wars, now unemployed but with experience that could prove useful in crime, joined the increasing crime wave. Īs the Soviet Union headed for collapse many former government workers turned to crime, while others moved overseas. Crude markets emerged, the most notorious being the Rizhsky market where prostitution rings were run next to the Rizhsky Railway Station in Moscow. In 1988 the Soviet Union legalized private enterprise but did not provide regulations to ensure the security of market economy. During World War II some prisoners made a deal with the government to join the armed forces in return for a reduced sentence, but upon their return to prison they were attacked and killed by inmates who remained loyal to the rules of the thieves. One such rule was that cooperation with the authorities of any kind was forbidden. In the Soviet period Vory v Zakone emerged, a class of criminals that had to abide by certain rules in the prison system. Organized crime has existed in Russia since the days of Imperial Russia in the form of banditry and thievery. Other similarly large and powerful Italian criminal organizations, often composed of smaller gangs or “clans” generally operating under a shared criminal subculture or code, include the Camorra in Naples and Campania and the Ndrangheta in Calabria. Primogeniture was abolished, land could no longer be seized to settle debts, and one fifth of the land was to become private property of the peasants. After 1812, the feudal barons steadily sold off or rented their lands to private citizens. Under feudalism, the nobility owned most of the land and enforced law and order through their private armies. The origins lie in the upheaval of Sicily's transition out of feudalism in 1812 and its later annexation by mainland Italy in 1860. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share common organizational structure and code of conduct. Notably, the Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. There are several organized crime groups in Italy. Sketch of the 1901 maxi trial of suspected mafiosi in Palermo. An organization that coordinates gangs in different countries involved in the international trade in drugs or prostitutes may not be considered a "gang". A small street gang that engages in sporadic low-level crime would not be seen as "organized". The term " organized crime" is associated with gangs and gangsters, but is not synonymous. Large and well structured gangs such as the Mafia, drug cartels, Triads or even outlaw motorcycle gangs can undertake complex transactions that would be far beyond the capability of one individual, and can provide services such as dispute arbitration and contract enforcement that parallel those of a legitimate government. For example, each of the Five Families founded in the early 20th century, outlasted its founders and have survived into the 21st century. However, a gang may also be a larger group with a formal organization that survives the death of its leader. Ī gang may be a relatively small group of people who cooperate in criminal acts, as with the Jesse James gang, which ended with the leader's death in 1882. For example, the common view that illegal drug distribution in the United States is largely controlled by gangs has been questioned. There is agreement that the members of a gang have a sense of common identity and belonging and this is typically reinforced through shared activities and through visual identifications such as special clothing, tattoos or rings. Much has been written on the subject of gangs, although there is no clear consensus about what constitutes a gang or what situations lead to gang formation and evolution. In modern usage, the term " gang" is generally used for a criminal organization and the term "gangster" invariably describes a criminal. Yakuza, or Japanese mafia, are not allowed to show their tattoos in public except during the Sanja Matsuri festival.
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