Tony, Jack and Marilyn were right to be scared, of course. Drugs and prostitution are still the number one money raisers and these fields of enterprise are as vicious as ever. So the path of true love and true crime can still be violent and messy. But while some may yet like it hot, most of our new-age gangsters have cooled to sub-zero temperatures in their attempts to create the deepest and most undetectable cover. The modern Morans and Capones now work so far from the dirty end of the stick as to be unrecognizable to their own minions and unknown to the authorities. Every time you read of a big crime ring being busted you can be sure that the circus moved on long ago. Those were just the fall guys..

"Sternly attack criminal activities"

The real impresarios of villainy are sitting right at the top of governments, are embedded deep in the very institutions and mechanisms intended to combat them and serve as hatchet men for international dealings between major states, such as Russia and China, and emerging economies in Africa and Asia. How else could China have secured almost the totality of “rare earth” supplies from Africa right under the nose of the most powerful cartels of European and US buyers, without even offering top dollar? How else could the Russian government disenfranchise major multinational companies of their holdings without even facing a significant legal challenge? How else could dictators of third-world nations squirrel away tens of billions of dollars of what was ostensibly aid money? Verily, they have their exits and their entrances..

bootleggers & customers

But the greatest single factor serving the cause of organized crime is also its greatest potential nemesis. The opening of borders and creation of ever-larger economic groupings, with all that this entails in the free movement of people, goods and services, internationally enhanced contracting and faster financial communications, is doubtless the best incentive for expanding criminal organizations to get into the institutional and global-business mainstream, as that’s where the really big money is. However, the ever-watchful eye of the internet community is making it harder to hide those dirty deeds. Meanwhile, the annoying independence of European judiciaries from political or economic pressure has and continues to be a well-dimensioned fly in the criminal ointment, as many judges and prosecutors at the highest level continue to show great courage in the face of this smooth-talking or bullying riff-raff and simply will not be bought off, bombed out or otherwise deterred. And they are gradually getting the legislative tools they need to help them. It’s a very long tunnel, but I believe there is light at the end of it.