Most Quietly Deadly Gangs Causing Huge Havoc Worldwide.

The golden age of organized crime may seem like a thing of the past in this era of surveillance. Law enforcement officers have technology and profiling capabilities now that they never had in the past. But make no mistake: Gangs are alive and thriving. They’ve simply evolved with the times. And we’re not just talking about low-level street gangs, either. Complicated, cunning, and cryptic multinational gangs still control the underworld in our modern age.

While some manage to outmaneuver the law, others receive tacit support from governments. A few have become so deeply entrenched in society that they function as de facto governments. Today, we’ll shine a spotlight on ten of the most influential and formidable gangs. These groups have amassed significant wealth, boast large memberships, and operate on a global scale. Their power and influence are undeniable in the criminal underworld—and beyond.

In my opinion, I think the most powerful criminal organization in the world is the various Italian organized crime groups known as the Italian Mafia. These include Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, Camorra, Sacra Corona Unita, La Stidda, Mafia Capitale, Basilischi and more.

First of all, from all of the research I have done, the Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, Camorra, and Sacra Corona Unita make a combined $170-$180 billion per year. That is more than any other criminal organization that I have heard of. This would make them the 19th highest earning “company” in the world when compared to legitimate corporations. Remember, those are the 4 most powerful of the Italian groups, that figure does not include the other various groups. Money means power, they are able to buy vast amounts of weapons, vehicles, and whatever else they need for their operations. Not to mention, they can also buy many politicians and law enforcers.

Martyn V. Halm (Combat Pragmatist) cited a 2014 article in Fortune which is factually incorrect, their “estimates” are way off when it comes to the annual revenue of these organizations. In the article, it claims the ‘Ndrangheta makes $4.5 billion/year, this is not the case, as they make $72 billion/year according to various European and American law enforcement agencies.

They are one of the largest criminal organizations in the world. Combined, they have around 300,000 members and associates spread across various countries. There is strength in numbers is a statement which is often true.

They are very widespread, they operate in many places such as North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Russia, and Australia. This gives them the advantage of having a global reach and being able to call on support/flee to anywhere in the world. This global support gives on-the-run mobsters places to hide, ability to call for help, and better business opportunities, as ethnically-similar crime groups often do business with each other because

b) They often share a similar history

Alliances, Italian organized crime groups (OCGs) have been known to cooperate with each other on many occasions. Sure, many other criminal groups work together as well, but Italians seem to have the best relationship with each other and seem to have the most peace among themselves as opposed to other ethnic criminal groups. Sure, they fight, they are criminals, but they seem to fight the least among each other. This re-enforces the past two points I made, and is a huge advantage for them.

Money-making versatility, this also goes for other criminal organizations such as the Bratva (Russian Mafia) but being involved in a dozens of different criminal operations allows them to fall back on something if one operation goes awry. It also gives them an opportunity to increase and spread their power and influence in a given area. Such as Cosa Nostra controlling labor unions to control entire ports, and sometimes even entire industries.

Legitimate businesses. Again, other OCGs own legitimate businesses too, but Italian OCGs seem to be most heavily involved in legit businesses in comparison to other groups. As I mentioned above, they are involved in unions, they own construction companies, various restaurants, they own real estate (‘Ndrangheta owns almost entire neighborhoods in Germany and Brussels as a form of investment.)

To recap:

1.Italian OCGs make the most money.

2. Italian OCGs are larger in numbers.

3. They are one of the most, if not the most widespread.

4. Great internal relationships.

5. Money-making versatility.

6. Involvement in legitimate enterprises.

Time for some counterarguments (I am going to name a powerful global OCG that others may have mentioned but I will explain why I believe they are not as powerful as the Italian OCGs globally)

Russian Mafia (Bratva): You could say that they traffic nuclear weapons, but this is simply a different money-making opportunity. They are not going to actually use them, as this would bring down heat from every law enforcement agency within 2000 miles of them. You could say they have submarines, but Italian groups have submarines bringing drugs from Colombia and Mexico as well. Italian OCGs (Camorra in this case) also find sunken WWII ships and retrieve weapons and bombs from them.

Read the Whole Article