The name of the mafia groups. Italian mafia from a to z
There are many in the world criminal gangs, which, due to their high organization and large numbers, began to be called the mafia. With the most powerful and brutal mafias this post will introduce you to the world.
Sicilian mafia
Valid in Sicily from early XIX century, turning at the beginning of the 20th century into international organization. Initially, the organization was engaged in protecting the owners of orange plantations and nobles who owned large plots of land, mainly from themselves. These were the beginnings of racketeering. Later, Cosa Nostra expanded its area of activity, becoming a criminal group in all respects. Since the 20th century, banditry has become the main activity of Cosa Nostra.
Mungiki (Kenya)
This is a Kenyan political-religious group banned since 2002, reviving traditional African religion. Originated in the wake of the Mau Mau uprising. Gained fame due to massacres and clashes with the police.
Mungiki considers itself a religious group that advocates for the preservation of traditional "African way of worship, culture and way of life." Its adherents pray, turning their faces towards Mount Kenya. They also practice vows and sacrifices.
Since the release of the first list richest people world in 1982, Forbes magazine includes drug lords and gangsters - since organized crime is part of the world economy, these incomes need to be counted. For example, according to The Guardian, the Calabrian mafia 'Ndrangheta became richer in 2013 than Deutsche Bank and McDonald's combined - by €53 billion.
Below are the odious figures underworld who made millions and billions - Pablo Escobar, "Shorty", Al Capone, Tony Salerno and others.
John Gotti
New York boss of the Gambino clan John Gotti received two nicknames from the press. “Teflon Don” - for being invulnerable to justice for a long time. And also “Don the Dapper” - for expensive custom suits (Brioni for $2000 and hand-painted silk scarves for $400), careful hairstyle, black Mercedes 450 SL and lavish parties.
Growing up in the South Bronx, Gotti joined the Gambino clan in the 1950s, one of the powerful syndicates involved in gambling, extortion, loan sharking and drugs. The US government suspected that on his way to becoming head of the Gambinos, Gotti eliminated his predecessor Paul Castellano in 1985. An FBI agent who worked on the Gotti case said that "he was the first media don, never trying to hide the fact that he was a superboss." And his large lifestyle and external gloss always provided food for articles in the tabloids.
According to New York Times, Gotti received between $10 and $12 million in annual income, and the Gambino clan earned more than $500 million a year in the 1980s. Justice did not reach Gotti until 1992, and 10 years later he died in prison.
Shinobu Tsukasa
74-year-old Shinobu Tsukasa leads a yakuza clan called the Yamaguchi-gumi. Fortune named Yamaguchi-gumi among the five most powerful mafia groups in the world with annual profits of $6.6 billion. Yamaguchi was founded in the port city of Kobe more than 100 years ago and employs 23,400 people. Most of the income comes from selling drugs, as well as gambling and extortion.
Shinobu Tsukasa is the sixth leader of the clan in history. In the 1970s he was sentenced to 13 years for murder samurai sword. In 2005 he was jailed for 6 years for possession firearms. In 2015, a split occurred in the Yamaguchi-gumi. According to Tokyo Reporter, most of the group remained with Tsukasa, and 3,000 members formed a new clan led by Kunio Inoue.
Michael Franzese
On Fortune's list of the 50 Most Powerful Mafia Bosses, Michael Franzese was ranked 18th. Franzese, nicknamed “Don Yuppie,” is the son of a bank robber who formed a cartel that was involved in the release of B-movies, the illegal sale of gasoline, scams involving the repair and sale of cars, and fraudulent loans.
Michael Franzese received between $1 and $2 million in income per week. In 1985, the US government charged him with fraud, stripped him of $4.8 million in assets and ordered him to repay $10 million for illegally selling gasoline through shell companies. After eight years in prison and a $15 million settlement, Frances moved to California and decided to capitalize on his criminal past. He has written two books - an autobiography, Blood Covenant, and a business advice book, I'll Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse, as well as sold the rights to a miniseries about his life to CBS. Now the former gangster lives in a $2.7 million house, drives a Porsche, gives interviews to Vanity Fair and gives lectures at universities.
Anthony Salerno
In 1986, Fortune magazine published a list of the "50 Most Powerful Mafia Bosses." Chief Editor explained the appearance of the material by the fact that “organized crime is a powerful economic factor" Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno also made the list. Led by a gangster, the Genovese clan (300 people) was involved in racketeering and drugs in New York. According to The New York Times, the clan's influence extended to Cleveland, Nevada and Miami, and its interests also included construction, loan sharking and casinos. Since the 1960s, the clan has earned $50 million a year. Between 1981 and 1985, Salerno imposed a two percent Mafia tax in New York on all contractors pouring concrete for buildings costing more than $2 million. Salerno's real wealth may have been $1 billion.
In 1988, the gangster was sentenced to 70 years for racketeering and concealing illegal income of $10 million a year (the declaration indicated only $40,000 a year). Four years later, at the age of 80, he died in prison.
Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar
The income of India's most wanted criminal is estimated by Business Insider at $6.7 billion. Forbes included Kaskar in the lists of the most influential people in the world in 2009, 2010 and 2011 (50th, 63rd and 57th place, respectively). His crime syndicate, D-Company, is blamed for the 1993 and 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and has also been involved in drug and arms smuggling. The US government believes that Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar has ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. According to one version, Kaskar is hiding in Pakistan.
Al Capone
Capone - the most famous American gangster. A character named Al Capone appears in 77 Mafia films.
At the time of his death in 1947, his fortune was estimated at $1.3 billion. Capone operated in various criminal spheres - bootlegging, racketeering, murder. In 1929, the American government declared him "Enemy No. 1." Prosecutors repeatedly sentenced Capone to prison, but he was released several months later. As a result, in 1931, Capone was only sentenced for tax evasion - for 11 years. He was to spend most of his sentence in Alcatraz.
In 1939, Capone was released, but his health was poor - he suffered from syphilis and dementia.
In 2012, Forbes conducted an analysis of Capone's former properties. The Chicago four-bedroom house he bought with his first earnings was valued at $450,000, and the Miami Beach mansion where he died in 1947 was valued at $9.95 million.
Griselda Blanco
The Western press called Colombian Griselda Blanco the “Godmother of Cocaine.” Blanco was one of key figures in the Miami cocaine trade in the 1970s and 1980s. Even in the male drug business, she had a reputation as a ruthless operator. According to Business Insider, her fortune was approaching $2 billion, however, she was far from the income of Exobar.
A three-time widow whose spouses were rumored to have died at her hands, she named one of her sons Michael Corleone. Its distribution network made tens of millions of dollars and transported about 1,500 kilograms of cocaine a month, according to The Guardian. Before his arrest in 1985 in California, “Godmother” appeared on the list of the most dangerous drug traffickers along with Escobar and the Ochoa brothers. She was charged with 40 to 200 murders in Florida, but death penalty the woman escaped due to a technical error in court: the officer who testified against her was discredited because he had a telephone sex conversation with the secretary in the prosecutor’s office, the Guardian wrote. Blanco was imprisoned in federal prison and deported to Colombia in 2004, where she was shot and killed by a motorcycle killer eight years later.
Khun Sa
Khun Sa, the “Opium King,” was estimated by Business Insider to be worth $5 billion. Born Chang Shifu, the son of a Chinese man and a Shan woman, in the 1960s he changed his name to the pseudonym Khun Sa, which means “Prosperous Prince.” During these years, he led the Burmese army engaged in the cultivation of opium in the Golden Triangle South-East Asia, there were 20,000 men there. In the 1970s and 80s, the Sa army controlled the Thai-Burmese border and was responsible for 45% of the pure heroin entering the US, earning it the title of "the best in the business" by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) (The Economist).
The US government placed a $2 million bounty on the head of the “Opium King.” By the 1990s, the DEA was able to destroy Sa’s trading chain, he moved to Yangon and retired. Currently, opium production in the Golden Triangle has fallen to 5% of the global figure (in 1975 it was 70%).
There are different versions about whether the drug lord saved billions before his death in 2007 - from “lived in luxury”, but “was content with a modest pension.”
Morris Dalitz
Moritz (Moe) Dalitz was one of these legendary gangsters, like Al Capone and Bugzy Siegel. During the Prohibition era, he was involved in bootlegging, and later in the gambling business and real estate. In 1982, Dalitz was on the first list richest forbes along with artist Yoko Ono, actor Bob Hope and mob accountant Meyer Lansky. Dalitz's fortune was estimated at $110 million, but how much he actually earned remains a question.
Dalitz received a significant share of his wealth from the first Las Vegas casinos. In 1949, he co-founded the Desert Inn and Stardust Hotel casinos. In the 1950s, he took part in the emergence of the Paradise Development Company, which built a university and convention center in Las Vegas. In the 1960s, he invested in the $100 million La Costa Resort complex near San Diego, after which he sued Penthouse magazine for $640 million, which wrote that the construction was financed by the mafia. Unlike many of his colleagues with a criminal past, Dalitz lived to an old age, in last years did charity work.
Rafael Caro Quintero and Amado Carrillo Fuentes
Before the star of the drug lord "Shorty" rose in Mexico, two names thundered there - Rafael Caro Quintero (pictured) and Carrillo Fuentes. The head of the Guadalajara cartel, Rafael Quintero, owned a marijuana plantation called Rancho Bufalo. During a police raid in 1984, about 6,000 tons of marijuana were seized at the ranch, which, according to The Wall Street Journal, cost Quintero between $3.2 and $8 billion. The Guadalajara cartel earned $5 billion a year. There were rumors in the Mexican press that Quintero, following Escobar, offered to pay Mexico's foreign debt in exchange for his freedom. The drug lord was sentenced to 40 years in a Mexican prison in 1989, but was released 28 years later.
The second Mexican drug lord is Carrillo Fuentes, head of the Juarez cartel. The Washington The Post estimated his fortune at $25 billion. It is believed that his wealth allowed him long years avoid justice. Fuentes received the nickname "Lord of the Skies" for his extensive fleet (22 aircraft) for transporting cocaine to the United States. Fuentes died in 1997 during plastic surgery by changes in appearance.
Pablo Escobar
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar became the first criminal to appear on the Forbes 100 International Billionaires list in 1987 with an income of $3 billion. He dropped out only after his death in 1993. The Medellin cartel, led by Escobar, had revenues of $7 billion from 1981 to 1986, with the drug lord taking 40% for himself. The cartel received its main wealth from smuggling cocaine into the United States (about 15 tons daily); in the late 1980s it owned 80% of the entire cocaine market in the world. According to Business Insider, Escobar earned $420 million a week; according to other sources, his fortune totaled more than $30 billion.
Every year, the king of cocaine lost about $2.1 billion (10% of revenue) as the money was haphazardly stored in warehouses and abandoned farms, destroyed by mold and rodents. Every month he spent $2,500 on rubber bands to hold bills together. Once Escobar burned $2 million to warm his daughter: the family was then hiding in the mountains, and there was nothing to light a fire with. In 1984, the cartel offered to pay Colombia's national debt in exchange for immunity. The Drug Enforcement Administration placed a reward of $11 million on Escobar's head. In 1991, the drug lord made a deal with the Colombian government to build his own La Catedral prison (with a football field and guards chosen by him), which the authorities could not approach closer than 5 km.
The life of the drug lord was so colorful that Netflix released the series “Narcos” dedicated to him in 2015.
Brothers Ochoa and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha
In 1987, along with Escobar, the co-founders of the Medellin cartel, Jorge Luis Ochoa-Vazquez (with an income of $2 billion) and his brothers Juan David and Fabio, who received 30% of the cartel's revenue, were included in the Forbes list of the richest. Ochoa Brothers stayed in Forbes list another 6 years until they surrendered to the authorities.
The drug lord Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, who lived at the same time, worked both with the Medellin cartel and independently (for example, transporting cocaine from Bogota to the United States disguised as flower deliveries) was also a billionaire. In 1988, Forbes estimated his fortune at $1.3 billion. Gacha remained on the list for two years until he was shot dead by Colombian police.
Joaquin Guzman Loera
In 2009, Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera, nicknamed “Shorty,” was included in the Forbes list of the richest people on the planet with a fortune of $1 billion. In 2012 and 2013, he ranked 63rd and 67th among the most influential people in the world. Strategic Forecasting Inc. and even estimated his wealth at $12 billion. The Sinaloa Cartel under the leadership of Loehr was responsible for 25% of illegal drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States and received revenue of $3 billion. The New York Times, citing data from the Drug Enforcement Administration, writes that the cartel sold more cocaine than Escobar at the peak of his career.
“Shorty” started his business in the early 1990s, transporting cocaine, including in cans of chili peppers (in 1993, Mexican authorities confiscated such a 7-ton cargo). He was declared "Mexico's most wanted man" with a $7 million reward for his capture: $5 million from the United States and another $2 million from Mexico. He was first arrested in 1993, but escaped from prison in 2001. IN last time Mexican intelligence agencies captured Loera in Sinaloa in January 2016. The drug lord was killed by vanity. He was going to make a biographical film about himself and was conducting a casting. In addition, actor Sean Penn flew to "Shorty" for an interview. It is believed that the authorities were able to track the movements of the criminal due to this.
One day - one truth" url="https://diletant.media/one-day/25917973/">Mafia groups are everywhere. There are hundreds, if not thousands of them. In some countries and cities, bandits have been driven underground, but continue to work even if their leaders are in prison or killed. In others, criminals acquire influential patrons among security forces and politicians, so they do not need to hide. In any case, each such criminal structure has its own unique style. The “Amateur” found out where the most dangerous mafiosi in the world are based and what they do.
Yamaguchi-gumi
Favorite tattoos of Yakuza members: dragons, flowers, landscapes
The Japanese mafia Yakuza is as memorable a symbol as, for example, sushi or anime. This “brand” unites dozens of groups, the most influential and largest of which is considered to be the Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate. Its leaders are well known outside the land of the rising sun. The United States is imposing personal sanctions against the gang leaders and prohibiting its companies from conducting any transactions with them.
By buying shares in companies, the Yakuza learn ugly facts about management
Although the Yakuza clans compete with each other, they largely work on similar principles. There are special initiation rites for newcomers. The same Yamaguchi-gumi even conducts something like an entrance exam. Bandits cover their bodies with bright tattoos, and if they are guilty of something, they punish themselves by cutting off their fingers. Japanese criminals have come up with a very effective and time-tested method of taking money - sokaiya. By purchasing shares in companies and becoming one of its main shareholders, Yakuza members learn the most unsavory facts about management or find out trade secrets, and then demand tidy sums for their non-disclosure.
Bamboo Union
Taiwanese mafia escorts in last way your boss
One of the most influential groups in Taiwan operates both on the island itself and on the Chinese mainland. Has influence in Asia, Europe and America. There are suggestions that there are representatives of this criminal clan even in the DPRK, where their patron is personally the head of the republic. Members of the “Bamboo Union” trade in contract killings and debt collection. They also run the gambling business.
In general, mafia communities in China are usually called “triads.” Once upon a time, these were secret criminal organizations that emperors and communists fought unsuccessfully against.
Mara Salvatrucha
Members of Mara Salvatrucha have their own sign language
"Ants" practice gang rape
The “stray ants” or MS-13 group appeared in Los Angeles in the 1980s, quickly gained enormous influence and is considered one of the most violent in the North and South America. Initially, it included people from El Salvador, but now they are increasingly being joined by Mexicans, Guatemalans, and any Latin Americans in general. The FBI believes it includes up to 80,000 people around the world. In addition to the usual activities for mafia structures (murders, robberies, pimping, racketeering), Mara Salvatrucha collaborates with drug cartels, sells weapons and “helps” illegal immigrants move to the United States. Rumors of their cruelty help keep entire neighborhoods in fear. “Ants” practice gang rape, mass shootings, and cutting off heads and limbs.
Camorra
Camorra in New York
The Camorra is one of the first bandit communities in Italy. Mentioned for the first time in the 18th century. A group appeared in Naples, and, oddly enough, for several centuries it never changed its registration, although its representatives had long since dispersed throughout the world. Unlike Sicilian mafia Cosa Nostra, which is always “interested” in politics, is much more important for the Camorra financial well-being. They make money by selling cocaine and... taking out garbage! In Italy, it is impossible to deal with bandits, despite investigations, raids and other measures. But in the USA they almost managed to get rid of the Italian mafiosi.
Camorra - one of the first bandit communities in Italy
Solntsevskaya organized crime group
The main mafia series in Russia is “Brigade”
Bandits, especially those from Russia, are essential characters in a good American action movie. It may seem that the mafia clans in our country are, in general, the most ferocious in the world. It is impossible to verify this statement.
Relations with the Italian mafia "Solntsevsky" to establish drug supplies
In the dashing 90s, there were organized criminal groups in probably every Russian city. One of the most famous and “successful” is often called the Solntsevskaya organized crime group, which at the beginning controlled only the thimbles, and only then developed vigorous activity: kidnappings, murders, pimping, racketeering. Friendly relations with the Italian mafia and Latin American drug cartels allowed the Solntsevskys to organize the supply and transit of drugs.
It has been active in Sicily since the beginning of the 19th century, becoming an international organization at the beginning of the 20th century. Initially, the organization was engaged in protecting the owners of orange plantations and nobles who owned large plots of land, mainly from themselves. These were the beginnings of racketeering. Later, Cosa Nostra expanded its area of activity, becoming a criminal group in all respects. Since the 20th century, banditry has become the main activity of Cosa Nostra.
2. Russian mafia
This is officially the most feared organized crime group. Former FBI special agents call the Russian mafia "the most dangerous people on the ground". In the West, the term “Russian mafia” can mean any criminal organizations, both Russian and from other countries post-Soviet space, or from the immigration environment in foreign countries. Some get hierarchical tattoos, often use military tactics and carry out contract killings.
3. Mexican Mafia (La eMe)
This gang is an ally of the Aryan Brotherhood with south coast USA. Known for her active involvement in the drug trade. Gang members are easily identified by a special tattoo in the form of a black hand located on the chest.
The Mexican Mafia was created in the late 50s by members street gang Mexicans imprisoned in the Deuel prison located in Trici, California. The gang was founded by thirteen Mexican-Americans from East Los Angeles, several of whom were members of the Marawila gang. They called themselves Mexicanemi, which translates from the Nahuatl language as “the one who walks with God in the heart.”
4. Yakuza
The Yakuza are organized crime syndicates in Japan, similar to the triad in other Asian countries or the Western mafia. Nevertheless, social organization and the way the yakuza work is very different from other criminal groups: they even have their own office buildings, and their actions are often and completely openly written about in the press.
One of the iconic images of the Yakuza is their intricate, colorful tattoos all over their bodies. The Yakuza use a traditional method of manually injecting ink under the skin, known as irezumi, as a form of proof of bravery as the method is quite painful.
5. Chinese Triad
The triad is a form of secret criminal organizations in China and the Chinese diaspora. Triads have always had common beliefs (belief in the mystical meaning of the number 3, which is where their name comes from). Currently, triads are known primarily as mafia-style criminal organizations common in Taiwan, the United States and other Chinese immigration centers, specializing in drug trafficking and other criminal activities.
"Triad" is one of the most patriotic mafias. During international events militants guarantee the safety of foreigners, and during the SARS outbreak they even announced a $1 million bonus to a doctor who finds a cure for this disease.
6. Hell's Angels (USA)
One of the world's largest motorcycle clubs, with its chapters (branches) all over the world. It is included, along with Outlaws MC, Pagans MC and Bandidos MC, in the so-called “Big Four” outlaw clubs and is the most famous among them.
Law enforcement agencies in a number of countries call the club a “motorcycle gang” and accuse them of drug trafficking, racketeering, trafficking in stolen goods, violence, murder, etc.
According to the legend posted on the official website of the motorcycle club, during the Second World War, the American Air Force had a 303rd heavy bomber squadron called “Hell’s Angels”. After the end of the war and the disbandment of the unit, the pilots were left without work. They believe that their homeland betrayed them and left them to their fate. They had no choice but to go against their “cruel country, get on motorcycles, join motorcycle clubs and rebel.”
7. Mara Salvatrucha
This mafia is involved in many types of criminal businesses, including trafficking in drugs, weapons and people; robberies, racketeering, contract killings, kidnappings for ransom, pimping, car thefts, money laundering and fraud.
Many street vendors and small shops located in the Mara Salvatrucha territories pay the gang up to half of their income for the opportunity to work. Many Salvadorans living in the United States are also forced to pay to MS-13; if they refuse, the bandits will mutilate or kill their relatives in their homeland.
8. Montreal Mafia Rizzuto
Rizzuto - crime family, which is primarily based in Montreal but covers the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. They once merged with families in New York, which ultimately led to the mafia wars in Montreal in the late 70s. Rizzuto owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate in different countries. They own hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, construction, food, service and trading companies. In Italy they own companies producing furniture and Italian delicacies.
9. Mungiki (Kenya)
This is a Kenyan banned (since 2002) political-religious group that revives traditional African religion. Originated in the wake of the Mau Mau uprising. She gained notoriety in connection with massacres and clashes with the police.
Mungiki considers itself a religious group that advocates for the preservation of traditional "African way of worship, culture and way of life." Its adherents pray, turning their faces towards Mount Kenya. They also practice vows and sacrifices.
It has been active in Sicily since the beginning of the 19th century, becoming an international organization at the beginning of the 20th century. Initially, the organization was engaged in protecting the owners of orange plantations and nobles who owned large plots of land, mainly from themselves. These were the beginnings of racketeering. Later, Cosa Nostra expanded its area of activity, becoming a criminal group in all respects. Since the 20th century, banditry has become the main activity of Cosa Nostra.
2. Russian mafia
This is officially the most feared organized crime group. Former FBI special agents call the Russian mafia "the most dangerous people on Earth." In the West, the term “Russian mafia” can mean any criminal organization, both Russian itself and from other states of the post-Soviet space, or from the immigration environment in non-CIS countries. Some get hierarchical tattoos, often use military tactics and carry out contract killings.
3. Mexican Mafia (La eMe)
This gang is an ally of the Aryan Brotherhood from the south coast of the United States. Known for her active involvement in the drug trade. Gang members are easily identified by a special tattoo in the form of a black hand located on the chest.
The Mexican Mafia was created in the late 50s by members of a Mexican street gang incarcerated in Deuel Prison, located in Trici, California. The gang was founded by thirteen Mexican-Americans from East Los Angeles, several of whom were members of the Marawila gang. They called themselves Mexicanemi, which translates from the Nahuatl language as “the one who walks with God in the heart.”
4. Yakuza
The Yakuza are organized crime syndicates in Japan, similar to the triad in other Asian countries or the Western mafia. However, the social organization and work patterns of the Yakuza are very different from other criminal groups: they even have their own office buildings, and their actions are often and completely openly reported in the press.
One of the iconic images of the Yakuza is their intricate, colorful tattoos all over their bodies. The Yakuza use a traditional method of manually injecting ink under the skin, known as irezumi, as a form of proof of bravery as the method is quite painful.
5. Chinese Triad
The triad is a form of secret criminal organizations in China and the Chinese diaspora. Triads have always had common beliefs (belief in the mystical meaning of the number 3, which is where their name comes from). Currently, triads are known primarily as mafia-style criminal organizations common in Taiwan, the United States and other Chinese immigration centers, specializing in drug trafficking and other criminal activities.
"Triad" is one of the most patriotic mafias. During international events, militants guarantee the safety of foreigners, and during the SARS outbreak they even announced a $1 million bonus to a doctor who finds a cure for this disease.
6. Hell's Angels (USA)
One of the world's largest motorcycle clubs, with its chapters (branches) all over the world. It is included, along with Outlaws MC, Pagans MC and Bandidos MC, in the so-called “Big Four” outlaw clubs and is the most famous among them.
Law enforcement agencies in a number of countries call the club a “motorcycle gang” and accuse them of drug trafficking, racketeering, trafficking in stolen goods, violence, murder, etc.
According to the legend posted on the official website of the motorcycle club, during the Second World War, the American Air Force had a 303rd heavy bomber squadron called “Hell’s Angels”. After the end of the war and the disbandment of the unit, the pilots were left without work. They believe that their homeland betrayed them and left them to their fate. They had no choice but to go against their “cruel country, get on motorcycles, join motorcycle clubs and rebel.”
7. Mara Salvatrucha
This mafia is involved in many types of criminal businesses, including trafficking in drugs, weapons and people; robberies, racketeering, contract killings, kidnappings for ransom, pimping, car thefts, money laundering and fraud.
Many street vendors and small shops located in the Mara Salvatrucha territories pay the gang up to half of their income for the opportunity to work. Many Salvadorans living in the United States are also forced to pay to MS-13; if they refuse, the bandits will mutilate or kill their relatives in their homeland.
8. Montreal Mafia Rizzuto
The Rizzuto are a crime family that is primarily based in Montreal but operates in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. They once merged with families in New York, which ultimately led to the mafia wars in Montreal in the late 70s. Rizzuto owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate in different countries. They own hotels, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, construction, food, service and trading companies. In Italy they own companies producing furniture and Italian delicacies.
9. Mungiki (Kenya)
This is a Kenyan banned (since 2002) political-religious group that revives traditional African religion. Originated in the wake of the Mau Mau uprising. She gained notoriety in connection with massacres and clashes with the police.
Mungiki considers itself a religious group that advocates for the preservation of traditional "African way of worship, culture and way of life." Its adherents pray, turning their faces towards Mount Kenya. They also practice vows and sacrifices.
