Drug Trafficking

Drug trafficking is an immensely profitable enterprise that involves white-collar crime, particularly money laundering and political corruption. It is defined as the movement of illegal drugs across borders. Major drug syndicates that now look very much like other multinational firms in terms of size, resources, and sophistication conduct this transportation system. While these drug criminals have become more sophisticated, law enforcers have been slow to adapt to changing patterns of white-collar crime.

The issue of illegal traffic in drugs is an old one. In the past, drug cartels relied upon brutality. Drug traffickers, such as the infamous Colombian Juan Pablo Escobar, were noted for torturing and murdering anyone who got in their way. Such tactics deeply antagonized other individuals, often to the point of creating a multi-person vendetta, and placed pressure upon governments to crack down on the drug traffickers. Brutality, in short, was bad for business. Today's drug traffickers, such as the Cali cartel, only use violence if other solutions are not available. These entrepreneurs prefer to work quietly. Instead of intimidating others with violent crime, they practice the more profitable white-collar crime to ensure that business runs smoothly.

The success of a drug cartel rests upon its ability to launder money. Virtually all payments for drugs are made in cash and this cash must be laundered. Money-laundering, the process of concealing ill-gotten gains to make the money appear legitimate, and thereby evade detection and prosecution, has therefore become one of the major concerns of drug traffickers.

Governments have had increasing difficulty controlling aspects of the drug trade in part because of political disputes and historic patterns of crime. For example, while both the American and Mexican governments constantly state that they want to eliminate drug trafficking and sales, they are often in disaccord about how to stop these practices. Many Mexicans identify the root cause of the drug problem as unbridled consumption by American consumers while many Americans place emphasis on improved crime fighting tactics and abilities. The connection between Mexican officials (civilian politicians, local military commanders, and police officers) and illicit drug trafficking dates back to the 1920s, and it is therefore difficult to root out. Patterns of corrupt behavior have become firmly established within regulatory agencies.

The inability or refusal of governments to cooperate against drug traffickers has occasionally led to diplomatic crises. In 1998, the U.S. government obtained indictments against the employees of a dozen leading Mexican banks accused of laundering more than $100 million in illegal drug money. The bankers were ensnared through Operation Casablanca, a three-year undercover sting operation run by the U.S. Customs Service. The operation lured drug traffickers and their bankers to a party in a small Nevada town that was to culminate in a visit to a local brothel.

It ended, instead, in a mass arrest as U.S. law enforcement agents moved in and spoiled the party. Some 160 arrests were subsequently made during which Mexican law enforcement and banking authorities were kept in the dark about the operation for “security reasons” to protect against ...