CAPITALISM'S ACHILLES HEEL Dirty Money and How to

118 CAPITALISM’S ACHILLES HEEL
it all going, which unfortunately, due to lax regulation, is accomplished with
comparative ease.
Furthermore, the yakuza have greatly extended their international reach.
Japanese and Korean gangs cooperate in amphetamine manufacture, smuggling,
and distribution. Japanese gangs residing throughout Asia supply
women and young girls for the Japanese sex trade, and trafficking routes often
parallel well-worn paths that bring drugs out of Colombia, Brazil,
Burma, Laos, and elsewhere. The Russian mafia cooperates in supplying
women and weapons. Pacific island nations have a strong yakuza presence in
hotels and casinos, and Australia is feeling the onslaught. Yakuza groups reportedly
are heavy investors in Hawaiian real estate. Gang members are frequently
spotted on the West and East coasts of the United States, often
purchasing cheap firearms to be smuggled into Japan and sold for fat profits.
Particularly in California, alliances with Vietnamese and South Korean
gangs, Chinese triads, and U.S. mafias have solidified in recent years.
Legislation adopted in the 1990s gives Japanese police greater powers in
fighting crime. But, as the Far Eastern Economic Review again reported,
“Since Japan launched its yakuza crackdown a decade ago, serious crime has
soared by 70 percent.” 136 In other words, the world’s oldest criminal syndicate,
facing mounting pressure, yet operating with growing sophistication
appears to have extraordinary staying power and bright prospects in this
rapidly globalizing twenty-first century.
Transnational crime, whether perpetrated by syndicates or governments,
has grown far too large to be defeated by ordinary police methods. Curtailing
illicit financial flows is the key to curbing this global scourge, and in this
effort, capitalism has the major role to play.
Terrorists
Whatever line may have once separated drug traffickers, criminal syndicates,
and terrorist groups is now becoming increasingly blurred. Terrorists very
often resort to crime and cooperate with criminals in generating money, obtaining
arms and explosives, and moving operatives. And criminals are not
averse to using terrorist tactics and random violence in pursuit of revenues.
As explained in the preceding sections, criminal gangs tend to specialize
in particular skills and cooperate with each other across borders.
Drugs and drug revenues, for example, may be handled by a dozen