The illegal drug trade in Colombia has, since the 1970s, centered successively on four major drug trafficking cartels: Medellín, Cali, Norte del Valle, and North Coast, as well as several bandas criminales, or BACRIMs. The trade eventually created a new social class and influenced several aspects of Colombian culture and politics.
Published in Chapter:
Organized Crime as One of the Main Reflections of Terrorism in the Modern World
Irakli Kervalishvili (Georgian Technical University, Georgia)
Copyright: © 2023
|Pages: 12
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-5311-7.ch015
Abstract
At the end of the 20th century, security concern went beyond interstate cooperation and disarmament issues. With the development of the globalization process, organized crime became a bigger topic. According to several estimates, since the 1980s, the number of criminal acts, having been carried out within organized crime, has increased by 5% annually. Members of organized criminal groups gain huge income. By estimates, which were presented in 1999, the total amount of so-called dirty money in the world was from 500 to 1500 billion dollars per year, which was equal to 5% of the world GDP during this period. In 2009 it was estimated to generate $870 billion – an amount equal to 1.5% of global GDP for this period. As of 2016, transnational crime was a $1.6 trillion to $2.2 trillion annual “business.”