The Infiltration of Organized Crime into the Legal Economy across European Countries

• In Event: The Infiltrations of Organized Crime Groups into the Legal Economy from a Transnational Perspective

Abstract

This paper, drawing on some preliminary findings of EU projects OCP (www.ocportfolio.eu) and ARIEL (www.arielproject.eu), analyzes a multitude of cases of infiltration by organized crime in the European legitimate economy, looking at where investments occur (what business sector, what region, what company type) and how they occur (using what infiltration strategy, what ownership and control structure, what financing source). A comparative approach is adopted, focusing on the differences across countries (why are some business sectors more exposed in some countries than in others?) and across criminal organizations (what are Chinese mafia groups' most frequent investments? Or Italian 'ndrangheta's? Or motorcycle gangs'?). Possible explanations of these differences are finally discussed.

Authors

• Giulia Berlusconi, Università Cattolica - Transcrime

• Michele Riccardi, Università Cattolica - Transcrime