Tuesday Reitano

Tinti Peter

As millions of people seek passage to Europe in order to escape conflict, repression, poverty and natural catastrophe, their movements are enabled and encouraged by ruthless professional criminal networks that earn billions of pounds from this insidious new trade. Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Saviour investigates one of the most under-examined aspects of the great migration crisis of our time to discover who profits from it. The human suffering that results extends well beyond the Mediterranean: the smugglers' routes cross the Sahara, penetrate deep into the Balkans and reach hidden corners of Europe's capitals. But smugglers are also revered as saviours by many of those they move, delivering them to a safer place and a better life. Disconcertingly, it is often criminals who help the most desperate, when the international system turns them away. This book is a measured attempt, born of years of research and reporting in the field, to better understand how people-smuggling networks function, the ways in which they have evolved, and their long term impact on both migration and global organised crime.

Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Saviour

Mark Shaw

Covid-19 is reshaping and challenging governments, societies and economies in previously unimaginable ways—but gangsters and profiteers have adapted. They have found new routes for illegal commodities, from narcotics to people. Shortages, lockdowns and public attitudes have brought the underworld and upperworld closer together, as criminals strive to meet needs, maximise opportunities and fill governance vacuums. Unscrupulous fraudsters are touting fake remedies to desperate people: counterfeit drugs, and trafficked wildlife used in traditional medicine. Social distancing and restrictions have seen online transactions and cyber-ops replacing or supplementing physical shipments, opening opportunities for scammers and hackers. Heavy-handed state responses have created new illicit markets by prohibiting the sale of particular goods and services, while some elites have capitalised on the pandemic for personal or political gain. Covid has cast a long shadow over the rule of law. Criminal Contagion uncovers its extraordinary impacts on the global illicit economy, and their long-term implications.

How Mafias, Gangsters and Scammers Profit from a Pandemic

Criminal Contagion

Peter Tinti

When states, charities, and NGOs either ignore or are overwhelmed by movement of people on a vast scale, criminal networks step into the breach. This book explains what happens next.

Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Savior

Sasha Jesperson

Lucia Bird Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo

This edited volume examines the use of militarised responses to different forms of criminal activity, discussing the outcomes and unintended consequences. Politicians and policymakers frequently use militarised responses to look tough on crime. The deployment of armies, navies, military assets and militarised approaches can send a powerful message, but have produced mixed results. While they generate the perception that governments are actively engaged on issues of concern to the public, and in some cases have resulted in notable successes, on the downside they have frequently also increased the loss of life, exacerbated the humanitarian consequences of a particular crime and entrenched divides between security and state institutions and the criminal proponents, narrowing the possibilities for future negotiated solutions. By focusing on four different areas of criminality – wildlife crime, piracy, migration and drug trafficking – the book allows context and evidence-based conclusions to be drawn on the strategic value and commonality of responses and their outcomes.

Tuesday Reitano

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