Reply #71: Octafish, here is something you may find interesting:

[Zorra]

FINANCIAL GLOBALIZATION AND THE GLOBALIZATION OF CORRUPTION AND CRIME

The mass media reward us with an image of the directors of global delinquency: vulgar men and women, dressed outlandishly, living in ridiculous mansions or behind the bars of a jail. But that image hides more than it shows: the real bosses of the modern Mafiosi, or their organization, or their real influence in the political and economic regions are never divulged publicly.

If you think the world of delinquency is synonymous with the world beyond the grave and darkness , you are mistaken. During the period called the "Cold War", organized crime acquired a more respectable image and began to function like any other modern company. It also penetrated the political and economic systems of the national States. With the beginning of the Fourth World War, the implantation of the "new world order" and its accompanying opening of markets, privatization, deregulation of commerce and international finance, organized crime "globalized" its activities as well.

"According to the UN, the annual global income of transnational criminal organizations are about 1000 billion dollars, an amount equivalent to the combined GNP of countries with weak income (according to the categories of the global banks) and its 3 billion inhabitants. This estimate accounts for the product of drug trafficking, the illegal trafficking of arms, contraband of nuclear materials, etc., and the profits of activities controlled by the Mafiosi (prostitution, gambling, black market speculation...).
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The criminal organizations of the 5 continents have made theirs the "spirit of global cooperation" and, associated, participate in the conquest and reorganization of the new markets. But they participate not only in criminal activities, but in legal businesses as well. Organized crime invests in legitimate businesses not only to "launder" dirty money, but to make capital for their illegal activities. The preferred business endeavors for this are luxury real estate, the vacation industry, mass media, industry, agriculture, public services and ... banking!

http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/mexico/ezln/1997/jigsaw.html