120 articles
'Ndrangheta
The 'Ndrangheta is the Calabrian mafia, one of Italy's three traditional mafias. Family-based 'ndrina clans, Greek-derived contested name, dominant in Europe's cocaine trade, estimated revenue up to US$60 billion.
14K (十四K) (triad)
14K (十四K) is a Hong Kong triad society founded in the mid-1940s by the Kuomintang under General Kot Siu Wong, headquartered at 14 Po Wah Road, Canton, with 36 branches; now one of Hong Kong's three largest triads alongside Sun Yee On and Wo Shing Wo.
Albanian mafia
Albanian mafia: contested label for Albanian-speaking criminal networks from Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro active in cocaine, heroin and cannabis trafficking across Europe and Latin America, organized in fis clans.
American Mafia
The American Mafia, or La Cosa Nostra, is Italian-American organized crime operating in the United States since the 1920s through families such as New York's Five Families.
Apalachin meeting
The Apalachin meeting, also called the Apalachin raid or summit, was a November 14, 1957 gathering of American Mafia bosses at Joseph Barbara Sr.'s estate in Apalachin, New York, broken up by New York State Police under Sgt. Edgar Croswell, first public proof of a national crime syndicate.
Ba'athist Syrian Captagon industry
The Ba'athist Syrian Captagon industry was the Assad regime's state-sponsored captagon (fenethylline) production and trafficking apparatus, supplying about 80 percent of Middle East seizures and billions of dollars in revenue until the regime's fall in December 2024.
Bada Rajan
Bada Rajan (Rajan Mahadev Nair), Mumbai underworld don of Tilak Nagar, Chembur; ran cinema ticket black-marketing and hafta rackets, mentored Chhota Rajan, allied with Dawood Ibrahim, and was shot dead outside Esplanade Court in 1983.
Bali Nine
The Bali Nine: nine Australians arrested in Bali in April 2005 smuggling over 8 kg of heroin; ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran executed in 2015; five survivors repatriated December 2024.
Black Hand (extortion)
The Black Hand (Mano Nera) was an American extortion method of the late 1800s and early 1900s, using mailed threat letters signed with a black hand; not an organization, it declined after Joe Petrosino's 1909 death and Postal Inspector crackdowns.
Black Mafia
The Black Mafia was a Philadelphia African American organized crime group formed in the 1960s, distinct from Detroit's Black Mafia Family (BMF), known for extortion, heroin trafficking, the 1972 Club Harlem and 1973 Hanafi massacre murders, and the Junior Black Mafia successor.
Black Mafia Family
Black Mafia Family (BMF), cocaine trafficking and money laundering organization founded in early 1990s Detroit by Demetrius "Big Meech" and Terry "Southwest T" Flenory; dismantled in 2005 by Operation Motor City Mafia; also the name of the 2021 Starz drama series.
Bonanno crime family
Bonanno crime family: one of New York's five La Cosa Nostra families, founded under Maranzano and led by Joseph Bonanno; marked by the Donnie Brasco infiltration, Pizza Connection trial, and boss Joseph Massino's 2003 cooperation.
Brabant killers
Brabant killers (Bende van Nijvel, Tueurs du Brabant): unidentified Belgian gang behind 1982–1985 supermarket robberies and murders, 28 dead, about 40 injured; case closed unsolved in June 2024.
British firms (organised crime)
British firms are self-organized football supporter groups, such as West Ham's Inter City Firm and Leeds' Service Crew, that arranged match-day violence; some provided opportunity structures for organized crime, declining since the 1990s.
Bufalino crime family
The Bufalino crime family, also called the Scranton Mafia, was a small Italian American Mafia organization based in northeastern Pennsylvania, named after boss Russell Bufalino.
Buffalo crime family
Buffalo crime family, also called the Magaddino family or "The Arm," is a La Cosa Nostra organization based in Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York, led by Stefano Magaddino from 1922 to 1969, active in labor racketeering, gambling, and southern Ontario, and the subject of renewed federal prosecutions since 2024.
Cali Cartel
Cali Cartel (Cartel de Cali), Colombian cocaine trafficking organization founded by Gilberto and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela; less violent and more politically embedded than Medellín, supplied about 80% of US cocaine, collapsed after 1995 arrests and 2006 guilty pleas.
Camorra
The Camorra is a Neapolitan mafia-type criminal organization based in Naples and Campania, made up of autonomous clans rather than a single hierarchy, dating to the early 19th century.
Capo dei capi
Capo dei capi ("boss of bosses") is an informal Mafia title for the supreme leader, used for Riina and Provenzano in Sicily and held by Morello through Maranzano in the American Mafia until 1931.
Castellammarese War
Castellammarese War: 1930–1931 New York Mafia gang war between Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano's Castellammare del Golfo faction; about 60 killed; ended with both bosses dead, Luciano's Commission, and the Five Families.
Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit: Chicago's single La Cosa Nostra family, also called the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob. Founded via Colosimo, Torrio, and Al Capone during Prohibition; crew-based structure; known for street tax, juice loans, gambling, labor racketeering; weakened by Operation Family Secrets.
Clan del Golfo
Clan del Golfo (Gulf Clan), also AGC/Urabeños and since 2024 Ejército Gaitanista de Colombia, is Colombia's largest illegal armed drug-trafficking group, founded in 2006 from AUC paramilitary remnants, active in hundreds of municipalities.
Clerkenwell crime syndicate
The Clerkenwell crime syndicate, also called the Adams Family or A-Team, is an alleged London organised crime group based in Islington and Clerkenwell, led by brothers Terry, Patsy and Tommy Adams, active from the 1980s in extortion, armed robbery, drug trafficking, and money laundering.
Cleveland crime family
The Cleveland crime family, also called the Porrello crime family or Cleveland mafia, is an American Mafia organization based in Cleveland, Ohio, arising from the Mayfield Road Mob.
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family, originally the Profaci family, is one of New York's five Mafia families, founded by Joseph Profaci, renamed under boss Joe Colombo in 1963, marked by three internal wars, and led for decades by imprisoned Carmine Persico.
Consigliere
Consigliere (Italian "counselor") is the senior advisor rank in the Italian-American and Sicilian Mafia, part of a family's administration with the boss and underboss, typically the number-three man, mediator, and keeper of rules and traditions.
D-Company
D-Company (D Company, D-Gang) is the transnational crime syndicate founded by Dawood Ibrahim in 1970s Mumbai, now based in Pakistan, known for narcotics, extortion, the 1993 Bombay bombings, ISI ties, and U.S. Kingpin Act sanctions.
DeCavalcante crime family
DeCavalcante crime family, also called the New Jersey family or 'Real Sopranos': an Elizabeth/Newark-based La Cosa Nostra family, the only indigenous New Jersey Mafia family, built on construction union rackets under Simone 'Sam the Plumber' DeCavalcante and John Riggi.
Detroit Partnership
The Detroit Partnership is Detroit, Michigan's Italian-American La Cosa Nostra family, also called the Tocco–Zerilli crime family after its intermarried ruling families; known for Prohibition-era Purple Gang roots, gambling and extortion rackets, and the 1996 GAMTAX indictment of 17 members including boss Jack Tocco.
Dixie Mafia
Dixie Mafia: a loose confederation of white Southern criminals active from the 1960s, based in Biloxi, Mississippi, with no formal hierarchy or ties to La Cosa Nostra; known for Gulf Coast corruption and the 1987 Sherry murders.