Mark Galeotti: "The City of London is a money laundering center"

LondonThe British historian Mark Galeotti, an analyst specializing in Russian security and transnational crime, has just published a new essay in Spanish, which is also a history of organized crime: Homo criminalis. How Crime Organizes the World (Capitán Swing). A pleasant, rigorous, and also worrying book because it reveals what we often only think happens in crime novels or screen fiction: crime never rests, it is closer than we suspect, and today's criminals can become tomorrow's lawmakers.

He opens the book with a passage from Rinconete y Cortadillo. Why is Cervantes useful for understanding organized crime?

— Because it's perfect. Anyone who has seen The Sopranos or The Godfather immediately recognizes the parallelism. I meant that crime, as such, has always existed and is very identifiable.

We are all criminals, you say. Really?

— Human beings have two characteristics. At some point we will break the rules. It could be a trivial matter or much more serious. And the second is that there is always a gap between what society considers right and wrong and what the state says is and is not. In democracies, the gap is small. In authoritarian regimes, it can be very large. There is always a mismatch, and it is where organized crime often flourishes.

It is said that crime reflects the values of a society. What does it tell us about our world?

— That we live in a global society, but that our laws and values are national. Organized crime takes advantage of this: it connects places where drugs are produced with places where they are consumed. It is the dark side of globalization. The other point is that we live in an era, especially in the West, where we have money and expectations, and we consider a good life to be almost a right. And organized crime also comes into play here: it can sell drugs, but also fake or stolen watches. In consumer society, organized crime is also just another supplier.

Do the legal world and the underworld depend on each other? Which of the two needs the other more?

— The legal world is generally more powerful. It's not that it needs the underworld, but organized crime offers shortcuts: it allows banks to have more capital than they would have without dirty money, or for buildings to be constructed faster with stolen or cheaper materials. We all tend to want shortcuts.

Talks about banks. Do you think the City of London is one of the main areas in the world where organized crime and legal businesses mix the most?

— Yes, but it's not about mobsters entering banks with suitcases of money. The City is a global financial center, partly fueled by dirty money, and that's why it's also a center for money laundering. This causes that money to flow to London, New York, Frankfurt, or Dubai. Not just London, it's the global financial system.

Is organized crime harder to combat than terrorism?

— Yes. Terrorists want to be visible because they want to create terror. In contrast, criminals prefer to go unnoticed, operate with discretion, and even corrupt the state. But organized crime is much deadlier than terrorism. And criminal organizations have become transnational structures.

Criminals, sometimes, want to enter politics. Where is the border between crime and state?

— In functional Western countries, this is more difficult, but in other places we do see criminals moving into politics. It is a reputation laundering process. Over time, many seek respectability, and politics is one way.

Like the Corleone family.

— Exactly.

Can organized crime justify harsher state control over citizens?

— Yes. Organized crime concerns states much more than ordinary crime. If someone is mugged in the street, that is not a problem, but a criminal conspiracy, it is. That's why they dedicate many more resources to it. In the process, they sometimes exceed their limits. Italy is an interesting example of a country where, in fact, the police and magistrates have extraordinarily broad powers. They were introduced because the state was trying to fight the mafia.

How have digitalization and cryptocurrencies changed organized crime?

— It is part of the transformation of globalization. It is part of the fact that the world is now a single space of information, commercial, financial, and, nevertheless, the law remains national. In a way, it is just a natural evolution of how criminals move money abroad and traffic goods across national borders. Now, with digitalization, most crime is, in one way or another, digital, and the proceeds of crime will be laundered electronically around the world.

Could you point out which country or region best shows the connection between organized crime and political power?

— to carry out, for example, the assassination of a dissident in Spainto carry out, for example, the assassination of a dissident in Spain, it has to make concessions in return. And criminals are becoming emboldened thanks to this.

What is the main mistake of Western governments that makes fighting organized crime much more difficult?

— Every time we ban something, tax it, or regulate it, we are creating criminal opportunities. This is not to say we shouldn't do it, but the fact is that, time and again, we pass laws or take some action and then we are surprised that gangsters find ways to profit from it. When we pass laws or make regulations, we should think: "How could someone intelligent and corrupt exploit this for their own benefit? And how can we build safeguards from the start?"

Does society need grey areas where the law is applied less strictly?

— I would put it the other way around. Rather, we must recognize that it is inevitable that there will be communities opposed to the dominant laws. We must recognize this and, as much as we can, control it and minimize its effects. But we must not pretend that we can win, that we can eradicate criminality or organized crime. Politicians love these kinds of statements. "We will stop the gangs." It sounds good. It is forceful. But it is impossible.

What is the best series about organized crime? The wire or The Sopranos?

— The Wire is very good, but I would stick with The Sopranos.

Why?

— The Sopranos highlights two issues very well. The first is that you can have very effective organized crime groups even if their individual members are often stupid, traumatized, flawed, and chaotic. It's the idea that the organization is greater than the sum of its parts. But the other issue is the feeling, in The Sopranos, of an end of an era. Tony Soprano was almost the last representative of that old Italian-American school that had a certain culture and codes. Now organized crime is basically made up of criminal entrepreneurs. They are not interested in respect or tradition. They are interested in making money quickly and safely. They are a very different type of criminal from the old generation of The Sopranos or The Godfather.