Thieves World Review
In Claire Sterling's Thieves' World, new light is shed on the current status of organized crime in the world today. The days of crime families battling it out in the streets is a thing of the past. The fall of communism in Soviet Russia and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in Germany opened the doors to a land of endless wealth and opportunity that all the major crime syndicates have taken advantage of. Sterling suggests that the early 90's was the beginning of a convergence of all great crime syndicates. "The Sicilians, Russians, Chinese Triads, Japanese Yakusa, and many other smaller groups began moving toward an agreement to avoid conflict, devise common strategies, and work the planet peaceably together." This is referred to as a broader pax mafiosa. With this agreement now in place, the Italians and Colombians combined forces and moved in on the western half of the Europe and flooded it with supplies of cocaine. Since the Italians no longer had quite the stronghold in the United States that they used to have and because Europe was their home turf, it only made sense for them t
With the downfall of communist Russia, the mafia only increased it's regular activities in the former U.S.S.R. This was especially true when it came to laundering dirty money. The money was used to buy Rubles and then reinvested into real estate and other ventures in Russia. Russian President Boris Yeltsin was even quoted as saying that, "nearly two-thirds of Russia's commercial structure has ties to the criminal world." At one time the mafia in Russia was considered to be the fastest growing crime organization on the planet, with more than five thousand different groups. "It's like the old Texas oil-boom towns, a constant parade of con men, promoters, and shady customers...the greatest collection of sleazebags in the world," remarked U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Robert Strauss. In America, law enforcement has been battling organized crime for the last 3 decades, but it seems that the battle has just begun. The battle now, according to the author, is not as much directly with the Cosa Nostra, as it is with the small gangs that hire out for them. The Hispanics, Asians, Mexicans, black s
Some common words found in the essay are:
Cosa Nostra, United Europe, Boris Yeltsin, Yakusa Russian, Wall Germany, Thieves' World, Japanese Yakusa, Strauss America, It's Texas, Italians Colombians, organized crime, italian crime, crime families, sterling suggests, cosa nostra, money money, crime syndicates,
Approximate Word count = 740
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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