ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the dynamic relation between ethnicity, mobility, and Transnational Organized Crime (TOC). It studies the mobility and migration patterns of organized crime groups as depicted by law enforcement agencies, criminologists, offenders, and the media. The chapter also acknowledges that the multiple links between migration and organized crime raise much broader questions about ethno-cultural relations, collective versus individual rights, political power, the nature of democracy, Western imperialism, and the limits of cultural tolerance. Illegal immigration and asylum seeking have been associated with ethnic minority groups of Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European origins. One reason for overstating the ethnic minority involvement in organized crime is to improve the image of law enforcement agencies or to impose normative order in foreign regions. Ethnic Albanian- and Turkish-organized crime groups dominated the headlines in the late 1990s owing to their extreme violence. Since 2003, these groups appear to have adopted a lower profile and more fluid organizational structures.
