ABSTRACT
On 11 March 2004 a coordinated series of train bombings in Madrid killed 191 people and injured more than 1,500 others.2 The death toll would have been even higher had not one of the bombs failed to explode. Significantly, the unexploded bomb provided forensic clues that facilitated the succeeding investigation. In the ensuing months, Spanish investigators not only succeeded in identifying and arresting most of the perpetrators, but also pieced together the activities that preceded the attacks, including the fundraising efforts. The investigators found that the financial activities of these terrorists were intimately connected to those of a drug trafficking group, thus lending credence to arguments that there is a growing cooperation – and perhaps a nexus – between organized crime and terrorism.
