Welcome to Underworlds with Mark Shaw.

Organized Crime is everywhere, hidden in plain sight. The stories from this world have been mythologised by Hollywood. But the reality can be even stranger and more exciting than fiction.

From the golden age of the American mafia (La Cosa Nostra), to the modern-day cocaine empires, and from the shadowy links between organized crime and terrorism, to the twilight of the Yakuza.

In this series Mark Shaw, the Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime delves into non-fiction books about organized crime and the illicit economy with the authors themselves. He asks questions about their background and investigations, but also the challenges associated in writing about this murky world.

It's been a while since our previous episode of The Impact. But in that time the Global Initiative has continued to track the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on organized crime around the world.

As the rest of the world shut down, the adaptability and agility of criminal networks has been clear to see – they have found new routes for illegal commodities, from drugs to people.

In this special episode Jack introduces Lindy Mtongana and her interview with the Director of the Global Initiative, Mark Shaw, and the Deputy Director, Tuesday Reitano to discuss their new book - Criminal Contagion: How Mafias, Gangsters and Scammers Profit from a Pandemic.

You can also watch the interview here.

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Brazil is a vast country of some 211 million people. A nation full of energy but also plagued by crime; powerful criminal networks like the PCC and Red Commando battle over international and domestic drug trafficking routes. Then there is illegal logging, gold mining, land invasion, human trafficking, high levels of violence, highly militarised law enforcement and a huge corruption scandal that rocked the Brazilian political class.

And now COVID-19 has struck and Brazil has the second highest number of cases in the world.

Presenter(s)

Ana Paula Oliveira / Jack Meegan-Vickers

Guests

Antonio Sampaio, a research fellow at the International institute for Strategic Studies, the host of the Sounds Strategic Podcast and a member of the GI Network of Experts

Christian Vianna De Azevedo, an academic researcher, and law enforcement officer who specialises in transnational organised crime and terrorism. Christian is also a member of the GI Network of experts

Gabriel de Santis Feltran, a Professor at the Federal University of Sao Carlos in Sao Paulo state and member of the GI Network of experts

Adriana Erthal Abdenur, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Plataforma CIPÓ and a member of the GI Network of experts.

Additional Reading

‘Illicit order: The militarized logic of organized crime and urban security in Rio de Janeiro’