ENTER THE DRAGON: INSIDE CHINESE HUMAN SMUGGLING ORGANIZATIONS*

This paper examines the inner workings of Chinese human smuggling organizations. Contrary to widely held conceptions about Chinese organized crime, most alien smugglers are otherwise ordinary citizens whose familial networks and fortuitous social contacts have enabled them to pool resources to transport human cargoes around the world. They come from diverse backgrounds and form temporary alliances to carry out smuggling operations. With the exception of a shared commitment to making money, little holds them together. The smuggling organizations mostly resemble ad hoc task forces and are assembled for specific operations. These organizations have clear divisions of labor with limited hierarchical structures. We discuss the theoretical implications of their unique organizational characteristics.     

Underground banks in NYC,their main clientele and operators: The perspective of Chinese illegal immigrants

The financial link of the process of illegal immigration is an unexplored area in previous studies. This current work is the first qualitative study to deal with this concern. The study examines the nature of Chinese-operated informal fund transfer systems in the U.S. by investigating the main clientele, operators or owners, location, and operation style of Chinese underground banks. The primary source of data came from in-depth interviews with thirty illegal immigrants in New York City and Philadelphia. The findings show that the emergence of underground banks in the U.S. coincided with the largest tide waves of Abstract: The financial link of the process of illegal immigration is an unexplored area in previous studies. This current work is the first qualitative study to deal with this concern. The study examines the nature of Chinese-operated informal fund transfer systems in the U.S. by investigating the main clientele, operators or owners, location, and operation style of Chinese underground banks. The primary source of data came from in-depth interviews with thirty illegal immigrants in New York City and Philadelphia. The findings show that the emergence of underground banks in the U.S. coincided with the largest tide waves of Chinese illegal immigrants smuggled into the U.S. They served as a preferred means of fund transfers among Chinese illegals due to the unique service they offered, not necessarily because of the clients' illegal status, or coercive means by smuggling groups. The evidence generated from this research provides support for the illegal enterprise perspective. Chinese illegal immigrants smuggled into the U.S. They served as a preferred means of fund transfers among Chinese illegals due to the unique service they offered, not necessarily because of the clients' illegal status, or coercive means by smuggling groups. The evidence generated from this research provides support for the illegal enterprise perspective.     

Through the Back Door: Applying Theories of Legal Compliance to Illegal Immigration During the Chinese Exclusion Era

This article applies theories of legal compliance to analyze the making of this country's first “illegal immigrants”—Chinese laborers who crossed the U.S.‐Canadian and U.S.‐Mexican borders in defiance of the Chinese exclusion laws (1882–1943). Drawing upon a variety of sources, including unpublished government records, I explore the ways in which Chinese laborers gained surreptitious entry into the United States during this period and ask, what explains their mass noncompliance? I suggest that while an instrumental perspective is useful for understanding these border crossings, it overlooks other important determinants of noncompliance: normative values and opportunity structures. Specifically, the exclusion laws were widely perceived by the Chinese as lacking social and moral legitimacy, and thus not worthy of obedience. In addition, the existence of smuggling networks and liberal immigration policies in Canada and Mexico played a critical role in facilitating noncompliance. The article concludes with a discussion about the benefits and challenges of using this theoretical framework to analyze noncompliance in immigration law.     

Death penalty views in China, Japan and the U.S.: An empirical comparison

Many nations impose the death penalty, yet most of the literature on capital punishment has focused on Western nations, particularly the U.S. China and Japan are two retentionist nations. Based on the data collected in 2005, this study examined the level of death penalty support and views on capital punishment among college students from China, Japan, and the U.S. It was found that Chinese respondents reported the highest level of death penalty support, followed by Japanese and U.S. students. Respondents from China and Japan were more likely to believe in the deterrence value of capital punishment than their U.S. counterparts. Views on retribution differed among the respondents. U.S. students were most likely to feel that innocent people are sentenced to death. In multivariate analyses, deterrence was the strongest correlate of death penalty views among Chinese and Japanese respondents, followed closely by retribution. For both Chinese and Japanese students, the barbarity of government taking the life of a person was the strongest predictor for opposing the death penalty. For U.S. respondents, retribution was the strongest reason for supporting capital punishment and the barbarity of executions was the strongest reason for opposing the death penalty.     

Cocaine,the contras,and the United States: How the U.S. government has augmented America's drug crisis

A study of Washington's connections to Honduran and other contra supporters in the illicit drug traffic shows that such gray alliances for covert operations are themselves a major part of this country's drug problem. It is true that the U.S. has arrested contra supporters on drug charges; but, time after time, these drug arrests have come after the U.S. has ceased to promote the contra faction which those arrested had been supporting. The new Bush drug strategy seems unlikely to affect the window of drug smuggling opportunity opened by Washington's relations with the corrupt Honduran military, and may well open new such windows by new grey alliances with the corrupt right-wing forces in the Andean countries of origin.

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Response Assessment of Thermal Papers from Four Continents to Fingerprint Development by Heat

Latent fingerprint deposits on thermal paper sourced from the U.S., China, the U.K., and Australia have been visualized by heating. U.S. and Chinese sourced paper produced two distinct types of fingerprint development. In one type (type 1), the paper dye colors where the deposit is present (as previously reported) and in the other type (type 2) the ‘inverse’ of this gives paper coloring only in areas not coincident with the deposit. Both development types gave identifiable fingerprints, the majority fading within 24 h of heating. Fingerprint development from U.K. and Australian sourced paper was exclusively type 1 and resistant to fading. Temperatures for fingerprint visualization were higher for U.S. paper (64–71°C) and Chinese paper (75–95°C) than for U.K. and Australian sourced paper (43–50°C). Particularly for Chinese sourced paper, these temperatures were within a few degrees of the normal paper color temperature. A mechanism for type 2 fingerprint development is proposed.     

Organized contraband smuggling and its enforcement in Canada: An assessment of the anti-smuggling initiative

This article provides an overview of contemporary cigarette and liquor smuggling affecting Canada and summarizes the results of research that evaluates a Federal enforcement program in this country entitled the Anti-Smuggling Initiative (ASI). To combat the escalation and increased organization of cigarette smuggling, the Canadian Government provided special funding to federal enforcement and prosecution agencies beginning in 1994. The program evaluation concluded that there was a substantial decrease in the contraband tobacco market as a result of the ASI initiatives; however, evidence suggests that reductions in Canadian cigarette taxes made during the same period were the most powerful policy tool in influencing cigarette smuggling. While the ASI laid the foundation for success in dismantling some of the largest known tobacco and liquor smuggling operations in Canada, it does not appear to have had a strong deterrent effect on organized smuggling in general. Instead, the impact on smuggling groups can more accurately be characterized as one of displacement. Indeed, history shows that early successes in organized crime enforcement are often followed by diminishing returns as criminal groups become more adaptive and sophisticated. This research concludes that to most effectively address the smuggling of legal goods, enforcement must be supplemented with taxation policies that reduce the financial viability and attractiveness of this trade.     

The organizational structure of international drug smuggling

While most group offending is not well organized, it is generally assumed that high levels of organization can be found in group offending that generates revenue, such as white-collar crime, drug sales, and smuggling drugs or humans. The organizational structure of international drug smuggling has typically been viewed as highly rational and formally structured. Employing interviews with thirty-four federal prisoners convicted of smuggling large volumes of cocaine into the United States, this study explored the organizational structure of high level international drug smuggling. The subjects described a general lack of formal structure and depicted the drug smuggling operations as composed of isolated work groups without formal connections among each other. These findings bring into question the idea that these groups are rationally organized around pursuing efficiency and support recent research that suggests network security or minimizing risk are key organizing principles of drug trading organizations.     

Verification of eligibility for public benefits--INS. Proposed rule

This rule amends the Immigration and Naturalization Service ("Service") regulations by establishing a new part requiring certain entities that provide Federal public benefits (with certain exceptions) to verify, by examining alien applicants' evidence of alien registration and by using a Service automated verification system that the applicants are eligible for the benefits under welfare reform legislation. The rule also sets forth procedures by which a State or local government can verify whether an alien applying for a State or local public benefit is a qualified alien, a nonimmigrant, or an alien paroled into the United States for less than 1 year, for purposes of determining whether the alien is eligible for the benefit. In addition, the rule establishes procedures for verifying the U.S. nationality of individuals applying for benefits in a fair and nondiscriminatory manner.     

The Social Organisation of Migrant Smugglers in Turkey: Roles and Functions

Thousands of irregular migrants and refugees are transported from conflict areas and/or underdeveloped countries to wealthy Western states. These transfers are usually facilitated and arranged by migrant smuggling organisations. This paper reflects part of a comprehensive research project on irregular migration and migrant smuggling in Turkey and examines the structure and networks of smugglers operating in Turkey. Based on face-to-face interviews with smugglers (N?=?54), it aims to shed light on migrant smugglers, smuggling structures and their organisations in Turkey. The findings suggest that the migrant smuggling business is composed of networks established at the local, national and international levels. These are structured on an ad hoc basis and are often adaptable to any changes and opportunities that may arise.     

The trade in people in and from the former Soviet Union

This paper focuses on the trafficking and smuggling of human beings fromand through the former Soviet Union. It explores the reasons for the risein the illegal movement of people; the groups which facilitate it; the demographics of the people who are moved and the business side, includingthe profits, the disposition of profits and the use of corruption to facilitatethe trade. With the disintegration of state control over national territory, this mass movement of people often violates national laws and the national sovereignty of the countries of the Soviet successor states and the countrieswhere the former Soviet citizens move illegally. The paper concludes that thistrade mirrors and contributes to the overall downward development of thepost-Soviet economies. In contrast, a comparative look at the respective Chinese developments indicates that trade in human beings tends to facilitatethe growth of both the Chinese legitimate and illegitimate economies.     

The Vodka Sea: Comparative History of Spirits Smuggling in the Baltic Sea

This paper examines the spirits smuggling in the Baltic Sea region in the inter-war period. On 1 June 1919 the Finnish Parliament passed the Prohibition Act forbidding the production, transportation, sale, and storage of alcohol which activated spirits smuggling to Finland. Large-scale spirits smuggling was arranged during Prohibition by criminal organizations through international networks. Mostly cheap German liquor was delivered to Nordic countries and to the United States. The representatives of organized crime in the Baltic Sea region became rich fast during Prohibition thanks to limits set by countries. Contemporary drug smuggling and spirits smuggling are comparable due to similar organizational structure and modus operandi.     

Asian transnational organized crime and its impact on the United States: Developing a transnational crime research agenda

Undertaken on behalf of the National Institute of Justice between July 2003 and August 2004, the research goals of this study were to (a) determine high priority areas for research on Asian transnational organized crime (TOC); (b) assess the impact of Asian TOC on the United States; (3) identify relevant data and information sources in Asia; and (4) identify potential collaborative research partners and institutions in Asia. The aim was thus not to examine in detail the organized crime situation in this region, but rather to lay the foundation for a research agenda and strategy that would accomplish that purpose. In seeking to achieve this aim, the researchers used a variety of techniques as part of an overall exploratory methodology. They included four months of interviews (andfield observations) with experts in eight Asian sites, including law enforcement officials, policymakers, and scholars, as well as American officials in each site. Meetings were also held with Asian crime experts in the United States. Interviews and site visits were supplemented with surveys and analyses done by local Asian researchers, an analysis of U.S. indictments, and the review of a large volume of literature. The sites covered by this research are China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia. The major findings are first, that there is little consensus among the Asian authorities on just wliat their main organized crime problems are. Whereas the Asian authorities give higher priority to traditional organized crimes, e.g., gambling, extortion, prostitution, etc., the American authorities focus more on transnational crimes. Consistent with this view, Asian authorities do not see much linkage between the local or regional crime groups about which they are most concerned, and transnational organized crime. Next, contrary to the views and expectations of some American authorities, the commonly expressed view among the respondents in this study is that there is no collaboration or linkage between transnational organized crime groups and terrorists. Finally, the transnational organized crime networks operating in the region are said to be highly specialized, with any overlapping of criminal activities occurring mostly at the level of transportation of goods or people. It is recommended that future collaborative research efforts focus on trafficking in women and children, human smuggling, and drug production and trafficking. These are likely to continue to have the most impact upon the United States and upon U.S. interests in the region. It is further recommended that these research efforts be both bi-lateral (principally with China) and multi-lateral in nature. A wide variety of potentially willing research partners are identified and their strengths and weaknesses are assessed. Finally, a specific strategy for accomplishing the research agenda is proposed. Support for this research was provided by TDL# 1700-215 from the National Institute of Justice. The opinions are those of the authors and do not reflect the policies or views of the National Institute of Justice.     

Illicit markets,weak states and violence: Iraq and Mexico

This article focuses on drug trafficking violence in Mexico and on those elements of the violence in Iraq which are related to competition for the control over smuggling of oil and other largely licit commodities. It suggests that the broader context is critical, while the nature of the commodity—and in particular whether it is prohibited or simply a legal commodity that is stolen and diverted to both domestic and international black markets—is not the major determinant of the level of violence. Both Mexico and Iraq suffer from transitional violence (arrangements for criminal activity which were dominated by the state have broken down), are characterized by anomie and a culture of lawlessness, have a surfeit of specialists in violence along with the ready availability of weapons, and are afflicted by high levels of corruption. In Mexico the violence has centered around the control of drug routes and strategic warehouses on the Mexico–United States border as well as control of local retail markets; in the southern province of Basra in Iraq the violence has centered on control of oil smuggling. While some of the violence has targeted state authorities it also reflects the fragmentation of criminal organizations. The author would like to thank Peter Andreas and Joel Wallman for their excellent substantive and editorial comments and suggestions. Phil Williams is Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, and author of a forthcoming monograph on Organized Crime in Iraq to be published by the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College.

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WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN CHINESE TRANSNATIONAL HUMAN SMUGGLING: A GENDERED MARKET PERSPECTIVE*

Despite extensive sociological research on gender and organizations, criminologists have paid insufficient attention to how organizational context and market demands may shape the extent and nature of women's participation in illicit enterprises. This study uses an organizational framework to examine the case of Chinese human smuggling to the United States. Drawing from interviews with 129 human smugglers, we propose a gendered market perspective for understanding the place of women in the human smuggling enterprise. We argue that the limited place of violence and turf as organizing features of human smuggling, the importance of interpersonal networks in defining and facilitating smuggling operations, gender ideologies about work and caregiving, and the impact of safety as an overriding concern for clients combine to create a more meaningful niche for women in human smuggling operations than is found in other criminal endeavors. Our research suggests that organizational and market contexts are significant explanations for gender stratification in illicit enterprises.     

Snakeheads,mules, and protective umbrellas: a review of current research on Chinese organized crime

China’s red-hot economy in recent decades has not only brought the country unprecedented wealth and political prominence in the world but also created ample opportunities for criminal enterprises to flourish. A review of recently published literature reveals that two types of transnational criminal activities – human smuggling and drug trafficking – received a fair amount of empirical attention in the research community. Other crimes, however, although carrying equally significant cross-national implications, have received scant attention. Thanks to a handful of empirical studies in recent years, the notion that traditional Chinese crime syndicates dominated transnational criminal activities has largely been dispelled. Most of those involved in transnational crimes (at least in human smuggling and drug trafficking) were found to be otherwise ordinary individuals who exploit their social or familial networks to take advantage of emerging opportunities. The criminal underworld in China appears to be growing along two separate tracks, with transnational organized crimes operating on one track and locally based criminal organizations on the other. Both groups of criminal entities are not known to cross paths in any systemic way. Research on Chinese organized crime (either locally based or transnational) has remained rather limited. Future research needs to emphasize empirical strategies to explore these and other pressing transnational criminal activities, as well as to solidify recent findings.     

The dragon breathes fire: Chinese organized crime in New York City

Although it is widely acknowledged that Chinese businesses are victims of extortion by Asian youth gangs, there is no reliable information to examine the patterns and social processes of the problem. This paper explores the structure of extortion and other forms of victimization based on surveys of (N=603) Chinese-owned businesses in three Chinatown neighborhoods in New York City. It focuses on the nature of Chinese crime groups, social contexts of gang extortion, social processes of victimization, and merchants' compliance or resistance to gang demands. Finally, the paper discusses the problems and prospects of Chinese criminality in America.Support for this research was provided by Grant 89-IJ-CX-0021 from the National Institute of Justice. The opinions are those of the authors and do not reflect the policies or views of the U.S. Department of Justice.     

Crimes committed by terrorist groups: Theory,research, and prevention

Statement of Purpose: A decline in state-sponsored terrorism has caused many terrorist organizations to resort to criminal activity as an alternative means of support. This study examines terrorists' involvement in a variety of crimes ranging from motor vehicle violations, immigration fraud, and manufacturing illegal firearms to counterfeiting, armed bank robbery, and smuggling weapons of mass destruction. Special attention is given to transnational organized crime. Crimes are analyzed through the routine activity perspective and social learning theory. These theories draw our attention to the opportunities to commit crime and the criminal skills necessary to turn opportunity into criminality. Through these lenses, the research appraises the “successes” and “failures” of terrorists' engagement in crime. Because “failures” can result from law enforcement efforts to (1) interrupt criminal skill development, and/or (2) remove criminal opportunities via technologies and transportation systems, the research represents a best practices approach to the study and control of terrorism. This project was supported by Grant No. 2003-DT-CX-0002 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.     

Organized crime and the theft of Iraqi antiquities

Amid the chaos following the downfall of Saddam Hussein, thousands of treasured artifacts from Iraq’s museums and ruins disappeared. Many were trafficked out of the country and into auction houses in the West. This occurrence highlights the often-overlooked role of organized criminal networks in the collection, smuggling, and sale of illicit antiquities. By taking advantage of the breakdown in social order that surrounded the U.S.-led invasion in {dy2003}, criminals were able to profit from Iraq’s heritage and deprive its people of their past. This report examines the looting of Iraqi museums and archaeological during the fighting of 2003. Details of the antiquities theft that accompanied the chaotic aftermath of that conflict are investigated for signs of infiltration by organized criminal actors. In addition, the role of organized crime in the international trade in illicit antiquities is examined to shed further light on this obscure aspect of international criminal activity. Finally, the international response is evaluated to determine its effectiveness in combating both the theft of Iraq’s archaeological treasures and the increasing power of criminal actors in the country.     

Exploitation in Human Trafficking and Smuggling

This article explores the mechanisms that underpin human smuggling and trafficking. It argues for the continued analytical relevance of the distinction between “trafficking” and “smuggling”, as posited by the 2000 UN Protocols. While this distinction has come under sustained criticism from several authors over the last 15 years, it nonetheless continues to capture the essential features of two distinct phenomena (control over a human being vs. illegal entry into a country), and acknowledges the role of agency in smuggling. The paper goes on to discuss three different scenarios that may emerge as a result of the interplay between smugglers and smuggled persons, and it specifies the role of exploitation in each scenario. In addition, the paper offers empirical evidence of the key building blocks of smuggling — namely the search for reliable information and the reaching of an agreement in regard to the service offered — and of how smuggling can turn into trafficking. This work concludes by drawing out the relevant policy implications.