From The New York Times on 23 November:By Erik EckholmWhen the girl now identified as Jane Doe 2 came under their control in 2006 at age 12, the Somali Outlaws and the Somali Mafia gangs set a firm rule: Their members could have sex with her for nothing; others had to pay with money or drugs.Repeatedly over the next three years, in apartments, motel rooms and shopping center bathrooms in Minnesota and Tennessee, the girl performed sexual acts for gang members and paying customers in succession, according to a federal indictment that charged 29 Somalis and Somali-Americans with drawing young girls into prostitution over the last decade, using abuse and threats to keep them in line, and other crimes. The suspects, now aged 19 to 38, sported nicknames like Hollywood, Cash Money and Forehead, prosecutors said.The allegations of organized trafficking, unsealed this month, were a deep shock for tens of thousands of Somalis in the Minneapolis area, who fled civil war and famine to build new lives in the United States and now wonder how some of their youths could have strayed so far. Last week, in quiet murmurings over tea and in an emergency public meeting, parents and elders expressed bewilderment and sometimes outrage- anger with the authorities for not acting sooner to stop the criminals, and with themselves for not saving their youth.For the rest of the article visit The New York Times.
According to a Department of Justice Press Release:PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and GEORGE VENIZELOS, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), announced today the arrest of 14 members and associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra (the "Gambino Family") on charges including racketeering, murder, sex trafficking, sex trafficking of a minor, jury tampering, extortion, assault, narcotics trafficking, wire fraud, loansharking, and illegal gambling.DANIEL MARINO is a longtime member and is currently a Boss of the Gambino Family. In that capacity, MARINO has over 200 fully-inducted or "made" mafia members under his command, as well as hundreds of associates who commit crimes with and for the mafia. THOMAS OREFICE and ONOFRIO MODICA are currently Soldiers of the Gambino Family acting under MARINO's supervision. OREFICE and MODICA each supervise crews that include DOMINICK DIFIORE, ANTHONY MANZELLA, MICHAEL SCOTTO, MICHAEL SCARPACI, THOMAS SCARPACI, DAVID EISLER, and SALVATORE BORGIA, all of whom are charged with racketeering and racketeering conspiracy. The indictment also charges other individuals who committed crimes with and for the Gambino Family, including STEVE MAIURRO, KEITH DELLITALIA, SUZANNE PORCELLI, and ANTHONY VECCHIONE.In addition to the racketeering charges, the defendants are charged with [among other crimes]Sex Trafficking and Sex Trafficking of a MinorOREFICE, DIFIORE, MANZELLA, SCOTTO, EISLER, MAIURRO, and PORCELLI are charged with sex trafficking and sex trafficking of a minor. From 2008 to 2009, the defendants operated a prostitution business where young women and girls—including an underage girl who was 15 years old at the time—were exploited and sold for sex. The defendants first recruited various young women and girls—ages 15 through 19—to work as prostitutes. The defendants then advertised the prostitution business on Craigslist and other websites. The defendants drove the women to appointments in Manhattan, Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Staten Island to have sex with clients. The defendants then took approximately 50 percent of the money paid to the young women. The defendants also made the women available for sex to gamblers at a weekly, high-stakes poker games that OREFICE and his crew ran. . .U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: "As today's case demonstrates, the mafia is not dead. It is alive and kicking. Modern mobsters may be less colorful, less flamboyant, and less glamorous than some of their predecessors, but they are still terrorizing businesses, using baseball bats, and putting people in the hospital. Today, the Gambino Family has lost one of its leaders, and many of its rising stars have now fallen. We will continue to work with our partners at the FBI to eradicate the mafia, and to keep organized crime from victimizing the businesses, and the people, of this city."FBI Special Agent-in-Charge GEORGE VENIZELOS stated: "In some ways, this is not the Gambino Family of John J. Gotti. But while the leadership may maintain a lower profile, this case shows that it's still about making money illegally, by whatever means. No crime seemed too depraved to be exploited if it was a money-maker, including the sexual exploitation of a 15-year-old. In truth, despite the popular fascination, it was never really about the thousand-dollar suits. It was—and is—about murder, mayhem, and money."Mr. BHARARA praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI. Mr. BHARARA also noted that the investigation is continuing.Assistant United States Attorneys ELIE HONIG, STEVE KWOK, and JASON HERNANDEZ are in charge of the prosecution. The case is being handled by the Office's Organized Crime Unit.The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.Read the Full Press Release.--------------------------------------------------As the press release explicitly states, all actors named in this case have not been convicted and are presumed innocent. Also, while this case may highlight more sensational aspects of trafficking, it's important to keep in mind that there is no one face of traffickers, and many if not most traffickers are not involved in organized criminal syndicates. Nevertheless, I am excited to see this case for two main reasons. First, assembling prosecutable trafficking cases is extremely difficult. I am pleased to see sex trafficking charges included with the other charges and to see the trafficking aspect of the case explicitly acknowledged. Also, as this case shows, other criminal activity such as racketeering often occurs in conjuncture with trafficking, which can be a useful avenue to pursue for both criminal cases and civil litigation on behalf of survivors when trafficking charges themselves may not hold up. Second, this case is an important reminder that the United States is not exempt from human trafficking, including human trafficking cases involving organized crime. This reminder is quite timely as we await the soon to be released US State Department's 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report where the US will include a rating for itself for the first time.
From AKI:
BRESCIA, Italy, February 27, 2008- Police in the northern Italian city of Brescia said on Wednesday that they arrested 8 people in connection with an Indo-Pakistani organised crime gang accused of human trafficking.
Through the operation, dubbed "Orient Express", the police discovered that the immigrants pay as much as 20,000 euros to arrange for their travel from India and Pakistan to Europe.
It is believed that after they leave the Asian continent, the immigrants cross through Russia to finally arrive at the borders of the European Union.
The human trafficking gang, made up of people of Indian and Pakistani origin, allegedly had numerous connections with other European countries and Brescia was considered the gang's headquarters.
After the immigrants arrive in Italy, they are put into vans and taken to various European countries, such as Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, and Britain, where they were employed in the black economy.
The vans used to transport the immigrants would be rented vehicles which made them difficult to trace.
The Brescia police also reportedly raided a Sikh temple in the northern city of Flero, where they found illegal immigrants of Indian nationality in hiding, as well as vehicles reportedly used for the transfer of the other immigrants.
It is believed that the immigrants were kept in a safe house and inside the Sikh temple, while they waited for their eventual transfer.
Read the full article
From My Fox:
A couple who owned a Denver sushi restaurant were arrested in connection with human trafficking and having ties to the Korean mafia.
Young Jo Kwon and his wife Jessie Kwon, who formerly owned and operated Denver's Osaka Sushi, were arrested May 9 and charged with 5 counts of theft and forgery. The Kwons, who now own Greenwood Village's Sushi Moon, are accused of forcing two South Korean immigrant employees to work without pay.
The Kwons allegedly threatened employees Jailhee Jo Hong and Jong Chul Choi with the revocation of their sponsorship which the Kwons claimed would result in the subsequent deportation of the employees' families.
Between 2000 and 2005, the Kwons are accused of depriving Jaihee Jo Hong of more than $19,000 in overtime wages. The Kwons are also accused of depriving Jong Chul Choi of more than $900,000 for four years of unpaid labor. Read the full article
By Peter Edwards
From the Star:
It's not just the gymnasts, grapplers and jumpers who are worth watching at this summer's Beijing Olympics, a British organized crime expert says.
It's also the prostitutes – or lack of them."China is a police state and it's a police state that is paranoid about its image," says Misha Glenny, author of McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld.
China has already ordered a "social cleansing" to clear Beijing of beggars, hawkers and prostitutes, but keeping crime groups from flooding the host city with hookers poses an Olympian task.Human trafficking is a key staple of 21st-century organized crime groups, along with narcotics and weapons, Glenny said.
The 2004 Athens Olympics and 2000 Sydney Games were each marked by massive influxes of prostitutes.
Canadian officials have already been warned to brace themselves for more of the same at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. The Future Group, an organization that combats human trafficking, has warned the B.C. and federal governments in a report called "Faster, Higher, Stronger: Preventing Human Trafficking at the 2010 Olympics."
Glenny said he finds it tough to look at major international events like the Olympics, or shifts in government policy, and not wonder how they might benefit the myriad international crime groups he has studied.
"Whenever a big political event takes place, I don't look at it through the same eyes any more," said Glenny, a former BBC correspondent in the former Yugoslavia and Southeast Asia and the author of two books on the Balkans.
The fall of communism and the liberalization of international financial markets over the past two decades have created an exponential growth in organized crime around the world, said Glenny, who's based in England and acts as a political policy adviser.
Read the full article
From the Tiraspol Times:
April 22nd, 2008, NORWICH - A group of Moldovan women who were forced into prostitution have been freed in raids across London and Surrey, in the United Kingdom.
The raids, which took place over the past three days, uncovered a Moldovan-linked network of brothels and human trafficking which so far has led to the arrest of 15 people. They are suspected of being involved in an international criminal network managing people trafficking and prostitution, the Norwich Evening Post reports.
Moldova, Europe's poorest country, is the continent's leading supplier of underage girls for sexual exploitation. Human trafficking rings operate with impunity in Moldova, where they are for the most part under government protection and where a number of local government officials are involved as participants behind the rings. Due to a climate of impunity, no government officials have ever been charged with human trafficking and prostitution offenses in Moldova.
"This major operation successfully disrupted a long standing organized criminal network. Human trafficking is simply modern day slavery and, as we've discovered, it is happening in this county," said British Detective Chief Inspector Christine Wilson, head of Norfolk's Vulnerable People Directorate. In the investigation into the gangs involved in human trafficking, British police received no cooperation of any kind from Moldova's authorities.
Read the full article
Related: Corruption breaks new records in Moldova
By Karen Ryan
April 25, 2008 CHISINAU- Being in charge of Moldova's government is a lucrative business, as long as you can still get money from the people who are left in the country. A large percentage of Moldova's working-age population has already gone abroad, but those who remain in the country are targeted for bribes like never before.
The country's government has been listed as Europe's most corrupt in a number of international studies, and the latest to weigh in is Transparency International with a fresh survey released this week. According to the poll, which was conducted on a sample of 1105 people in Moldova between 23 February and 10 March 2008, incidents of corruption now breaks new records in Moldova.
The polls excluded nearby Transdniestria (Pridnestrovie), which has 'de facto' not been a functioning part of Moldova since 1990.
Corruption is one of Moldova's main problems, Transparency International Director Lilia Carasciuc said at a 22 April press conference in Chisinau. Over 80% of Moldovans think that corruption is holding back the development of their country. "
- According to the survey, people place corruption as third among the problems they meet, it following only poverty and unemployment. The business people also feel that, and place this phenomenon as second after great taxes," says Lilia Carasciuc.
Over 76% of the Moldovans are prepared to pay a bribe, Basa Press reports. The percentage is higher when reported to the business people: over 81%.
According to the survey, Moldovans pay bribes in 80.7% of the cases when they try to get visas to leave their country. Many need visas to be able to work abroad. Among the lucky ones who manage to get out, most show no inclination of ever wanting to return.
Crossing the border in and out of Moldova, crooked customs officers demand their baksheesh 57.2 % of the time. And if that wasn't enough, once you are inside Moldova you will be forced to cough up even more cash: In dealing with police, bribes are required in 51.2% of all cases.
Read the full article
