International Journal on Criminology Volume 7, Number 1, Winter 2019/2020 | Page 86

Criminal Networks: The Forgotten Actors of International Politics
Armed groups’ evolution toward criminalization, from ideological focus
to economic motivations, also gives Mafias a determinant role in conflict resolution.
Today, most of the armed groups in Colombia, from paramilitaries like Los
Pepes to the Fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), are cocaine
producers, collaborating closely with Mexican cartels and Italian Mafias, notably
the Ndrangheta (Saviano 2014). Hence, without Mafias, their buyers, incentives,
and resources might be insufficient for armed groups to continue fighting, forcing
them, in turn, to seriously engage in peace processes.
3.2.2. Mafias’ Weapons Smuggling: A Direct Incidence in Conflicts
Mafias are indispensable geopolitical actors to take into consideration as one of
the primary activities enriching them; arms’ trafficking is directly fuelling conflicts
globally. The current leader of illicit arms smuggling is Russian organized crime or
Bratva. As Misha Glenny points out, in 1990s Russia’s institutional chaos, thousands
of Vori’ (thieves) networks were ruling the country: “By 1999, they were more than
11,500 registered ‘private security firms’ employing 800,000 people ( ... ) 200,000
had licenses to carry arms, while Russian Interior Ministry estimated that there
were at least half as many against that remained unregistered” (Glenny 2009, 84).
Increasingly structured, the Bratva extended its activity beyond Russian borders
thanks to two sources of wealth: the distribution of heroin coming from central
Asia and the immense stocks of abandoned weapons at their disposal (Yakov 1999).
In fact, during the 1990s, smugglers like Viktor Bout and Leonid Minin
started to move weapons to armed groups in Sierra Leone, Angola, Columbia, and
Afghanistan providing air cargo services to places no one else would go (Glenny
2009). However, the first transnational criminal empire built thanks to weapons
smuggling was the network of “Don” Semen Mogilevic, a notorious Bratva’ boss,
and FBI most-wanted man. Involved in prostitution, immigration, and drug business,
and reportedly controlling Moscow’ Sheremetyevo International Airport,
Mogilevic owns galleries, nightclubs, banks, and caterer companies throughout
the world (Saviano 2014).
While being only a small player until 1994, Mogilevic acquired that year
the three largest Hungarian weapon companies (Army Co-Op, Magnex 2000, and
Digep General Machine) and obtained a permit authorizing him to legally sell and
buy weapons (Saviano 2014). De facto controlling the entire Hungarian armament
sector, Mogilevic sold weapons to various armed groups in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran,
and Pakistan, bypassing every UN sanction or international regulation. In a 2008
Wikileaks cable, then U.S. Ambassador in Ukraine William Taylor expressed his
fears that gas supplies to Ukraine and the EU were linked to the Russian Bratva,
and more specifically Mogilevic. In fact, RosUkrEnergo, the largest Ukrainian gas
distributor, 50% owner Oligarch Dmitry Firtash, who financed former president
Yanukovych’ election, admitted in a meeting with Ambassador Taylor that Mogi-
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