International Journal on Criminology Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2014 | Page 33

Criminal State and Illicit Economy
As illustration of the global and national
security concern yakuza represent, a
2007 Japan police report warned that "the
yakuza made such incursions into the financial
market that they threaten the very basis
of the Japanese economy" 39 . More recently,
they "have been tied to a wide range of businesses,
including the nuclear industry 40 and
[…] a Japanese camera manufacturer mired
in a major accounting scandal" 41 .
As another illustration of the global
reach of the yakuza, following the Executive
Order, issued in 2011 by President Obama to
target and disrupt four major transnational
criminal organizations (Brother's circle,
Eurasian based—Camorra, Italian based—
Yakuza and Zetas, Mexican based) 42 , the
U.S. Treasury announced in February 2012
the freezing of the American-based assets
of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the larger yakuza
group, and two of its leaders. It will also bar
any transactions between Americans and
members of this crime syndicate.
Shaping their image, a longstanding
feature of mafia-type organizations,
the yakuza "were some of the first responders
after the earthquake [that provoked the
tsunami hitting the Fukushima power plant],
providing food and supplies to the devastated
area and patrolling the streets to make sure
no looting occurred" 43 .
Kosovo
In 2011, the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe adopted a widely
commented report investigating organ trafficking
in Kosovo. It held the view that "[...]
in confidential reports spanning more than
a decade, agencies dedicated to combating
drug smuggling in at least five countries have
named Hashim Thaqi [Prime Minister of
Kosovo] and other members of his 'Drenica
Group' as having exerted violent control over
the trade in heroin and other narcotics" 44 .
"In the course of the last ten years, intelligence
services from several Western European
countries, law enforcement agencies,
including the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) in the United States, and analysts of
several nationalities working within NATO
structures have prepared authoritative, wellsourced,
corroborated reports on the unlawful
activities of this 'Drenica Group'" 45 .
"At a minimum, there is solid documentary
evidence to demonstrate the involvement
of this group, and its financial
sponsors, in money laundering, smuggling
of drugs and cigarettes, human trafficking,
prostitution, and the violent monopolisation
of Kosovo’s largest economic sectors including
vehicle fuel and construction" 46 .
38 (cont)
Agency's organized crime division, estimates that up to 50% of the bad debts held by Japanese banks could
be impossible to recover because they involve organized crime and corrupt politicians", thus slowing down the
decade long recovery process, hence the "yakuza recession" moniker.
39
Foreign policy, "The Yakuza lobby", Op. cit.
40
The Telegraph, “How the Yakuza went nuclear”, February 21, 2012.
41
New York Times, “U.S. Treasury Dept. Penalizes Japan’s Largest Organized-Crime Group”, February 24,
2012.
42
Executive order #13581, July 24, 2011.
43
The Telegraph, Op. cit.
44
Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly, Report #12462, Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking
in human organs in Kosovo, January 2011. Paragraph 66 and footnote 28: The agencies dedicated to
combatting drug smuggling are "the German (BND), Italian (Sismi), British (MI6) and Greek (EYP) intelligence
services".
45
Ibidem, footnote 31.
31