BizAims

The Italian mafia, the country's organised crime network and biggest enterprise, has not been affected by the global economic crisis, a report by an Italian business association said.

The mafia has a turnover of 130 billion euros (163 billion dollars) -- surpassing any other Italian enterprise in 2008 -- and a profit approaching 70 billion euros, said the report by Confesercenti, a group of 270,000 businesses specialising in the tourism and service sectors.

"Unlike other businesses, the mafia has been little affected by the international economic and financial crisis.

That fact makes the mafia "even more dangerous," said the association's president Marco Venturi.

He said the mafia could use the current weakness in other businesses and the uncertainty in the economy to boost its position.

Globalization hit organized crime over the last decade and now is integral to its most profitable business -- the international narcotics traffic. Once a regional problem involving a customer base of a few million, and barely a billion dollars in sales, the illegal drug industry is now a worldwide enterprise with tens of millions of hard core consumers spending hundreds of billions  on opiates, cocaine and amphetamines and marijuana, as well as other drugs.

The single largest marketplace for illegal drugs continues to be the United States. Although the market has decreased dramatically since its heyday in the mid-80's, close to thirteen million Americans still think nothing about occasionally buying a gram of cocaine, a few hits of ecstasy or a quarter ounce of weed to party with their friends on the weekends.

But state Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland, the elected leader of DNR, said in a letter to Taylor Shellfish Farms that the company could reduce the fine to about $444,000 if it can prove its owners and employees were unaware of the trespassing.

The $1.3 million fine would outstrip any previous penalty levied against shellfish growers by DNR, said Fran McNair, aquatic lands steward for the agency.

Ever since neighbors complained about the trespassing earlier this year, Taylor Shellfish has said it had no idea the land was state-owned.

On January 11 2008 on Amsterdam airport officials have arrested a man that pretending to be a priest tried to smuggle 8 pounds of cocaine hidden under his robe, saying he was carrying sand.

First he refused being body searched for “for religious reasons”.

He also refused to confess who he is and the destinations of the Bolivian marching powder.

The suspect, whose identity was being traced, initially refused to undergo a routine body check “for religious reasons,” spokesman Robert van Kapel said.

Unfortunately the contraband tobacco in Canada is in permanent growing. Illegal sales of tobacco contribute to a clandestine economy worth hundreds of millions of dollars and are a significant source of money for organized crimes. The obtained income from contraband tobacco is reinvested to support other criminal activities, to finance drug trafficking in Canada and to purchase illegal weapons. Smuggling tobacco is more dangerous as it involves more and more youth from year to year and encourages them to take up smoking through unrestricted access to inexpensive cigarettes.

Thus an illegal product is sold for $6 for one carton (200 cigarettes), while the legal one is sold for $75-90. All these activities resulting from the sales of illicit tobacco activities affect the safety and security of Canadian communities and children.

Illegal immigrants living in states and cities that have adopted strict immigration policies are packing up and moving back to their home countries or to neighboring states.

One motive of illegal immigration is to escape civil war or repression in the country of origin. For example, people in Germany that were considered minorities fled their country in fear that they would be oppressed and arrested. Non-economic push factors include persecution (religious and otherwise), frequent abuse, bullying, oppression, and genocide, and risks to civilians during war. Political motives traditionally motivate refugee flows - to escape dictatorship for instance.