Criminal tattooCriminal tattoos are a type of tattoos associated with criminals to show gang membership and record the wearer's personal history—such as their skills, specialties, accomplishments, incarceration, world view and/or means of personal expression. Tattoos have been empirically associated with deviance, personality disorders, and criminality. Certain tattoo designs have developed recognized coded meanings. The code systems can be quite complex, and because of the nature of what they encode, the designs of criminal tattoos are not widely recognized as such to outsiders.
War on drugsThe war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States. The initiative includes a set of drug policies that are intended to discourage the production, distribution, and consumption of psychoactive drugs that the participating governments and the United Nations have made illegal.
Drug lordA drug lord, drug baron, kingpin, or narcotrafficker is a type of crime boss, who is in charge of a drug-trafficking network, organization, or enterprise. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly in possession of something illegal but are insulated from the actual trade in drugs by several layers of staff. The prosecution of drug lords is therefore usually the result of carefully planned infiltration into their networks, often using informants from within the organizations.
Corsican mafiaThe Corsican mafia is a set of criminal groups originating from Corsica. The mafia is closely tied to both the French underworld and the Italian Mafia. The Corsican mafia is an influential organized crime structure operating in France, Russia, and many African and Latin American countries. The pre-war crime bosses of Marseille, Paul Carbone and François Spirito, collaborated closely with the Milice in Vichy France and the Nazi Gestapo in Occupied France.
StiddaThe Stidda; ˈstiɖːa) is a Sicilian and Maltese Mafia-type criminal organization and criminal society centered in the central-southern part of Sicily and Malta. Members are known as stiddari or stiddaroli. It is most active in the rural parts of southern Sicily and Malta and is a rival to the Cosa Nostra, originating as a dissident offshoot group of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. Some members have a star tattooed on their bodies. Little is known of the origins of the organization, though it is believed to have come about in a similar fashion to the Mafia, in the same rural environment of Sicily.
Mafia stateIn politics, a mafia state is a state system where the government is tied with organized crime to the degree when government officials, the police, and/or military became a part of the criminal enterprise. According to US diplomats, the expression "mafia state" was coined by Alexander Litvinenko. Mafia and Yakuza In a critical review of Moisés Naím's essay in Foreign Affairs, Peter Andreas pointed to the long existence of Italian mafia and Japanese Yakuza, writing that there were close relationships between those illicit organisations and respective governments.
Triad (organized crime)A triad () is a Chinese transnational organized crime syndicate based in Greater China with outposts in various countries having significant Chinese diaspora populations. The Hong Kong triad is distinct from mainland Chinese criminal organizations. In ancient China, the triad was one of three major secret societies. It established branches in Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Chinese communities overseas. Known as "mainland Chinese criminal organizations", they are of two major types: “dark forces” (loosely-organized groups) ()and “Black Societies" () (more mature criminal organizations).
Yamaguchi-gumiis Japan's largest yakuza organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe before World War II. It is one of the largest criminal organizations in the world. According to the National Police Agency, it had 3,800 active members at the end of 2022. The Yamaguchi-gumi are among the world's wealthiest gangsters, bringing in billions of dollars a year from extortion, gambling, the sex industry, arms trafficking, drug trafficking, real estate and construction kickback schemes.
