International Journal on Criminology Volume 7, Number 1, Winter 2019/2020 | Page 84

Criminal Networks: The Forgotten Actors of International Politics
Mafia leaders, they were extremely useful to Turkish secret services to conduct
unlawful assassinations and counter-insurgency operations within and outside
Turkish borders (Glenny 2009). In return, Ulkucu and Mafia were given a blank
check to conduct drug, weapons, and cigarettes trafficking. Covering their illicit
activities under their nationalistic sense of honor and attachment to the Ottoman
Empire heritage, pro-governmental Babas were also given access to political and
administrative positions (Aslaneli 1999). Hence, in 1996, the Susurluk scandal,
notably involving Catli, revealed the inextricable mutual interests between Mafia
and Turkish elites in managing highly profitable criminal activities as well as fighting
Kurdish separatism (Aslaneli 2001).
3.1.3. Mafias’ States
The last and ultimate political strategy of Mafias aim is to take de facto full authority
over a Nation-State. The criminal–political nexus questions the threshold where
a region is still considered to govern public institutions or turn into a Mafia’s territory.
Douglas Farah defined criminalized states as “states where the senior leadership
is aware of and involved—either actively or through passive acquiescence—on
behalf of the state, transnational organised crime (TOC), where TOC is used as an
instrument of statecraft, and where levers of state power are incorporated into the
operational structure of one or more TOC groups” (Farah 2015, 2). According to
Moises Naim, in Mafia states, a mix of notorious criminals, Presidents, militaries,
spy chiefs, and government officials “enrich themselves, families and friends while
exploiting the money, muscle, political influence, and global connections of criminal
syndicates to cement and expand their own power” (Naim 2012, 1). Mafias
become the sole political force ruling directly or through a puppet-government,
capturing every resource, using public power according to their criminal needs
and eliminating all reluctant forces. National interests and Mafias’ interests amalgamate.
From Afghanistan to Venezuela, examples of criminalized Nation-States
are allegedly numerous (Naim 2012).
In Western and Eastern Balkans, a criminal patronage system has indeed
been established. In July 2001, an Italian prosecutor formally accused the then-
Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Dujkanovic, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Branko Petrovic and local police chiefs, to be active associates of Camorra and
Sacra Corona Unita bosses in the running of the largest Mediterranean cigarette
trafficking network, smuggling over 1,000 tons of cigarettes per month (Traynor
2003). Cigarettes were mainly sold to Tobacco multinational companies based in
Switzerland including R.J Reynolds and Philip Morris (Glenny 2009). Experts affirm
that during President Dujkanovic’ reign half of Montenegro’s GDP originated
from criminal activities (Gayraud 2014).
In West Africa, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau are two famous Mafia States’ examples.
In 2007, UNODC’s reports highlighted that the two countries had become
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