OC24 Podcast

This panel will assess illicit networks and fentanyl in Brazil, Mexico, and other Latin American countries using the 3rd GEN Gang literature and criminal insurgency as lenses. Fentanyl and other synthetic drugs have risen in importance and in the political rhetoric surrounding them due to high numbers of overdose deaths particularly in the United States. This panel aims to discuss the organized crime networks which facilitate this trade in a nuanced fashion. 

Speakers

Daniel Weisz Argomedo, Researcher and writer on organized crime

Nathan P. Jones, Associate Professor of Security Studies at Sam Houston State University.

Guadalupe Correa Cabrera, Professor, George Mason University, Professor of Policy and Government at George Mason University.

John P. Sullivan, Instructor, University of Southern California, Retired Lieutenant, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department with experience in counterterrorism intelligence.

We will share our experiences in the great environment of the 24 Hours Conference on Global Organised Crime. Particularly how mafiaindanke e.V. was founded, the difficulties we encountered and how we managed to find our role in the public discourse. During the discussion, we will show the audience one possible way we can respond as a civil society that could be viable in other countries. How we have managed to deal with the difficulties of being made up of only volunteers and often having limited resources, and yet how we have achieved important goals.

Speakers

Giulia Norberti, mafianeindanke e.V, Member of the board of mafianeindanke e.V. – antimafia NGO in Germany.

Sandro Mattioli, mafianeindanke e.V, Investigative journalist, a journalist investigating activities of Italian Organized Crime groups in Germany for 15 years and president of mafianeindanke e.V., Germany's leading antimafia association.

Ludovica Boelting, mafianeindanke e.V, Long term activist in the anti-mafia field. Member of the board of mafianeindanke e.V. – antimafia NGO in Germany.

Ruggero Scaturro, GI-TOC, Senior Analyst for the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime conducting research on the Western Balkans, and on Italian mafia-related issues.

Helena Raspe, mafianeindanke e.V. deputy chairwoman at the German antimafia NGO mafianeindanke e.V., freelance journalist, political scientist and policy advisor with a focus on Latin America and organized crime, based in Berlin

Axel Hemmerling, Ludwig Kendzia, David Klaubert and Margherita Bettoni spent three years investigating when and how the Calabrian 'ndrangheta arrived in East Germany. They looked into newspaper archives, searched property register files, used FOIAs and talked to several sources in Germany and in Italy. In the process, they came across a major, still publicly unknown police investigation against the 'ndrangheta in East Germany that took place almost 20 years ago. The investigation came to a sudden end under unclear circumstances, no arrest was made. They gained access to thousand of pages connected to the investigation and could read hundreds of wiretapped phone calls made by alleged 'ndrangheta members living in Eastern Germany at the beginning of the 2000s. Including some very interesting calls that suggest a proximity to some institutional members, such as a local judge. The result is the investigative documentary "Mafia colony East Germany. German unity's blind spot", that was aired by the German public broadcaster ARD in 2021 and translated into English by the public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW). Following their investigation, the Parliament of Thuringia created a parliamentary committee of enquiry (the first one in German parliamentary history dealing with the 'ndrangheta) to find an answer to two main question: 1. Why was this investigation closed at such an early stage? 2. Was the 'ndrangheta in contact with institution in Thuringia?

Speakers

David Klaubert, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Staff writer and investigative journalist, focussing on organized crime

Zora Hauser, University of Oxford

Margherita Bettoni, An award winning journalist investigating Italian mafia groups in Germany since a decade

Axel Hemmerling, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk

One of the most efficient tools for promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance is open data technology. This panel will offer examples of how open data platforms can be used effectively and will consider opportunities for expanding the use of such data to improve good governance in Southeast Asia. The panel aims to shed light on the practical applications of open data in combating corruption.

Speakers

Torplus Yomnak, Chulalongkorn University

Thanisara GG Ruangdej, CEO & Co-founder, Punch Up, WeVis

Dewi Anggraeni, Indonesia Corruption Watch

Khairil Yusof, Sinar Project

During this session, panellists will discuss the latest developments, challenges, and outlooks on Southeast Asia's drug trade, alongside UNODC’s ongoing support to enhance cross-border collaboration and information sharing. The region's drug trade has been marked by a decade of growth in the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs, particularly methamphetamine. While seizures of the drug returned to pre-COVID-19 levels with nearly 151 tons seized in 2022, the market has evolved considerably. At frontline border crossings, detecting and investigating illicit trafficking requires that officers have advanced expertise in identifying and analyzing substances, and the ability to readily collaborate with their counterparts. 

Speakers

Esteban Felipe De La Torre, UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Magali Vennin, UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Naoki Sugano, UNODC ROSEAP Criminal Justice Team

Inshik Sim, UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific

This Roundtable Discussion will examine the interplay between politics and economics in the frontier peripheries and urban heartlands of Pakistan.

Speakers

Junaid Qureshi, Director European Foundation for South Asian Studies

Dr. Prem Mahadevan, Specialised in research on organised crime, intelligence and irregular warfare.

Taha Siddiqui, The Dissident Club, An award winning investigative Pakistani journalist in exile living in France

Ayesha Siddiqa Agha, King’s College London

Francesca Marino, Journalist/Independent Expert

Niels Verster, European Foundation for South Asian Studies

This Roundtable Discussion will examine the question of how organized crime and political militancy interact in the Indian context. It will look at the role of mafia syndicates in perpetrating international terrorism, and will focus on Mumbai’s D-Company and drug gangs along the India-Pakistan border. The Mumbai bombings of 1993, which were carried out by D-Company, remain perhaps the strongest example of a crime-terror convergence but their sheer destructiveness has tended to make them an outlier case. This Roundtable will set the example of D-Company in perspective, by looking at the broader geopolitical and socio-economic context within which criminals turn to political violence. 

Speakers

Junaid Qureshi, Director European Foundation for South Asian Studies

Geeta Datta, News 9 Plus

Dr. Prem Mahadevan, Specialised in research on organised crime, intelligence and irregular warfare.

Kartikeya Tripathi, University College London

Michela Mutovciev, Research Analyst, European Foundation for South Asian Studies

This panel will discuss the main issues with illegal natural resources export and illegal tourism as well as the criminal activities, in relation to “China's mafia invasion” of the East Siberia region which was historically linked to the Silk Road. They will then talk about criminal law versus environmental direct action in democratic societies with the aim to redefine the socially acceptable boundaries of environmental direct actions through a lens of green criminology and ecological democracy. They will also explore the uniqueness of transnational environmental crimes since transnational criminal organizations accrue substantial profits through the pillaging of the Earth's flora and fauna, threatening its ecosystems and endangering the survival of various states and (non-)human communities. Finally, they discuss the convergence of wildlife crime with other illicit flows in 10 Eastern and Southern African countries. 

Speakers

Andrey Anisimov, Irkutsk institute, Irkutsk branch of The all-Russian state university of justice. Assistant Professor of the department of criminal procedure and forensic science at the Irkutsk branch of The all-Russian state university of justice

Juneseo Hwang, Lecturer, Sungkonghoe University

Alastair Nelson, Conservation Synergies and GI-TOC. Thirty years experience leading field programs in conservation and counter wildlife crime work in the Horn of Africa, East and southern Africa.

André Duffles Teixeira Aranega, Bachelor's and Master's degree in International Relations by the Institute of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (IRI/PUC-Rio).

Radha Barooah, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

The practice of ‘cuckooing’, where vulnerable people have their homes taken over, has generated significant policy and practice attention across the UK over the last ten years. While not exclusively, this has often been associated with the workings of illicit drug markets, with connections made to the activities of organised crime and the supply model known as ‘county lines’. Involving a range of researchers who have recently completed or are currently engaged with studies on this area, this roundtable discussion will provide an opportunity for critically reflecting on the current state of knowledge about cuckooing and how it should be understood. In addition, speakers will consider the practical implications of their findings for informing, critiquing and improving better responses. Finally, consideration will be given to what a future research agenda on this area might look like. 

Speakers

Dr Rose Broad, University of Manchester

Simon Harding, University of West London

Dr Laura Bainbridge, Lecturer in Criminal Justice, University of Leeds

Prof Stephen. J. Macdonald, Durham University

Jack Spicer, University of Bath

The Director of GITOC, Mark Shaw, will discuss his new book Breaking the Bombers: How the Hunt for PAGAD Created a Crack Police Unit. This talk touches on the features, implications, and risks associated with vigilantism, as well as the most effective responses within the framework of the rule of law, aiming to reduce violence and curtail criminal activities.

Speakers

Mark Shaw, Director, GI-TOC

Vusumzi Pikoli, Africa Board member and Senior Advisor - GITOC

Elrena Van Der Spuy, University of Cape Town

Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Senior Expert, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

Dr Etannibi Alemika, Professor of Criminology