Økonomisk Kriminalitet Nordiske Perspektiver - Scandinavian ...

stolen goods straight away to Albania, Lithuania, Romania or Poland to sell them
there, is much safer. The Eastern gangs are a world apart compared to the
Norwegian grey zone. They have no Norwegian businessmen as customers, while
melting into a huge grey zone of their own when they are safely back home.
A business in its own right, but not business as usual
Organized criminal activities are not “simply vice crimes; and they are not a
deeper criminal conspiracy.” Dwight C Smith wrote this in the late 1970s. That’s a
long time ago, but he is still interesting to read:
“They represent, in virtually every instance, an extension of a legitimate market
spectrum into areas normally proscribed. Their separate strengths derive from the
same fundamental considerations that govern entrepreneurship in the legitimate
marketplace: a necessity to maintain and extend one` s share of the market.”
(Smith 1978:164)
Middle range hypothesis and typologies are what we need for studying organised
crime in the Nordic countries at the present time. The “grey zone” and the
“lookalike” have certain similarities with legitimate businesses. Even “the worlds
apart” may have, in Albania, Lithuania, Romania or Poland. We have named our
article “a kind of business” and “not business as usual” because our examples are
more different from, than similar to legitimate businesses. Conspiracy due to the
risk of arrest and seizure are obvious. Organisational designs and the time
horizons are different from legitimate businesses that are relevant for comparison.
The legitimate distribution and sale of wine and spirits in Norway has been the turf
of a semi state monopoly since the 1920s, with a well known logo, main office,
warehouses, distilleries - and 200 licenses stores around the country at the present
time. Directors, employees, suppliers and distillers are well known, if we want to
know. The selection of goods, the prices, the accounts, the addresses and the
opening hours are all in the open. The illegal market is fluid, mysterious,
decentralised, on and off and very incalculable compared to the legitimate alcohol
market. The nervousness and the restlessness of those who are involved in import
and distribution of illegitimate alcohol are striking. The calm and the openness of
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