drug smugglers on drug smuggling
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This article was downloaded by: [UQ Library]On: 19 November 2014, At: 23:29Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Global CrimePublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fglc20
Drug smugglers on drug smugglingApostolos Maspero aa Hellenic Police , Greece© 2009, Apostolos MasperoPublished online: 07 Aug 2009.
To cite this article: Apostolos Maspero (2009) Drug smugglers on drug smuggling, Global Crime,10:3, 286-288, DOI: 10.1080/17440570903080129
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17440570903080129
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286 Book Reviews
subsumed within the sheer volume of data presented, the overall result is a series of inci-sive analyses which do much to broaden, deepen and generally enrich our understandingof many aspects of this area.
Kelly HignettRussian and Eurasian Crime Research Unit, School of History,
Keele University, Staffs, UKEmail: [email protected]
© 2009, Kelly Hignett
Drug smugglers on drug smuggling, by Scott H. Decker and Margaret Townsend Chapman,Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2008, pp. 224, US $21, ISBN 1-59-213643-5
Most empirical studies on the topic of drugs trafficking are confined to the analysis of theempirical data derived from the competent law enforcement services’ perspective. In thecase of Decker and Townsend, comprehensive research has been conducted aiming toreach valuable conclusions derived from the drug smugglers’ point of view. The researchers’main objective is to provide various insights into the drug smuggling organisations – datawhich cannot be obtained through investigations of the law enforcement authorities – byconducting in-depth interviews with convicted drug smugglers, housed temporarily in USfederal prisons. At the same time, the terms risk and reward are revised according to theapprehensions and interpretations of the interviewees.
The research focuses on a specific phase of the drug trafficking phenomenon: theillegal importation of cocaine that originated from Colombia into the US drug market.Decker and Townsend examine in detail the period beginning from the dismantling of thelarge centralised cartels of the 1990s. They have been replaced by decentralised groups,controlling different aspects of the operations and developing their actions collectively.
The reader should be fully satisfied with the organisation of the study which consti-tutes an excellent example for similar future projects on the same topic. The authors havequoted a series of significant researchers (Reuter, Griffith, Zaitch, Rydell) and their stud-ies on the specific field, presenting them briefly in the first chapter of the book. Theychoose to group these studies into two main categories: those which seek to comprehendthe smuggling groups and their operational processes and those which examine the impactof the interdiction efforts applied by law enforcement authorities.
A specific chapter of the book is dedicated to the description of the organisation of thestudy. The questionnaire used (see Appendix) was formed according to the initial objec-tives of the researchers, after reviewing previous research methodologies that helped themto define their own variable measures. Special effort has been made for the selection of theresearch sample, a multi-stage process, based on specific criteria and seeking to identifythose interviewees who would be regarded as ‘high-level’ smugglers or ‘heavily involved’in the smuggling business. This ‘thoughtful selection process’ begins with reviewing thebackground of 415 candidates and ends up with the final selection of a limited number of34 convicted drug smugglers.
The development of the drug trafficking organisations in Colombia and the United Statesduring the late 1980s and the 1990s is described in the next chapter. As it has been alreadymentioned and confirmed by the interviewees, the demise of the cartels led to the ‘decen-tralisation’ of the broader criminal activity, meaning that an increasing number of smallergroups are contemporarily involved in the gathering and transportation of cocaine. These
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fragmented groups base their action on the existence of multiple choices for collaborationand on the compartmentalisation of knowledge/information sharing, following the criminal‘network’ paradigm of P. Williams. A number of different groups and people manage todirect the gathering of massive loads and their undercover transportation towards theUnited States. Through this process, new roles in the structure of the smuggling operationsare distinguished. Every individual or group task in the structure is analysed exhaustivelyin the book, starting from the supplying entities in Colombia, and ending up with the indi-vidual retailers in the States. Among these roles Decker and Townsend emphasise the sig-nificance of specific parts in the structure defining them by the terms ‘brokers’ and‘offices’. ‘Brokers’ are characterised by the researchers as the ‘leaders of the wholesale traf-ficking business’ because they have the most important contacts in the network structure andare able to link and facilitate the cooperation and coordinated action between different smug-gling groups. The ‘offices’, composed of the largest number of members (50–100 people),are considered to be ‘the center for moving the drugs’ and ‘the connection between thebrokers and the individual transporters’. They are in contact and in negotiations with bro-kers and offices in the United States for the sale and movement of each new load. Itbecomes obvious that no one in the smuggling structure is able to obtain total control of allthe stages in the smuggling process. The decentralisation of power and knowledgebetween different groups becomes an efficient counter-measure towards law enforcementefforts, since the uncovering of a specific core cannot reveal all the people and groupsinvolved in the illegal enterprise.
Aspects of the factual movement of drugs are analysed in the following chapter. Basedon the descriptions given by the interviewees, the researchers specify various geographicalroutes used by the smugglers, including a list of transit countries (midpoints) bordering theUnited States. They also provide much detail on specific operational methods and proce-dures which are implemented in order for a load of drugs to be transferred and importedinto the States. The logistics used include various means of transportation such as privateor commercial vessels, planes and land vehicles. The researchers argue that smugglers arein an advanced position and less risk of exposure is taken, when using private vessels. Insuch case, law enforcement preventive controls have less successful results, since smug-glers can minimise the possibility of any detection by using sophisticated methods for theconcealment of the loads (e.g. special compartments).
The researchers continue their study presentation in the book by examining the variousroles played by the interviewees in the drug smuggling operations and the ways they ini-tially became involved in this (illegal) business. The acknowledged roles are distinguishedby two noticeable key variables: the immediate handling of the trafficked drugs and theestablishment of contacts with suppliers in the source countries. The majority of the con-victed individuals were considered to be in the ‘upper echelons’ of their criminal activity,since they were in position to organise drug smuggling events. Besides the structure rolesalready described in the third chapter of the book, it is interesting to identify the correla-tion between the ‘formal’ profession or access of the smugglers to specific legitimate busi-ness structures and their ‘unofficial’ illegal activity. A number of them were in factinvolved in legal activities which could be exploited for the purposes of smuggling (e.g.boat owners/captains and airplane pilots). This correlation helps the researchers to verifythat routine activities of everyday life create the necessary opportunities and contacts forrecruitment of new members into the smuggling business. Even though drug smugglingnetworks are built on trust relationships, refined upon friendship, kinship or common ethnicity,the crossing of cultural barriers and the establishment of contacts between diverse – inmany aspects – individuals is also possible.
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The conceptual balance between risk and reward seems to impact the actions andoptions of the smugglers. The researchers continue their study by presenting a number ofstrategies taken in order to minimise any risk of detection and arrest. Adaptability andreadjustments in their tactics are implemented not only as responses to the applied lawenforcement measures but also as anticipations to the expected profits. Moreover, detailson the ways the smugglers were caught are presented. It becomes clear that investigativemeasures such as infiltration are more successful than indiscriminate preventive controls.Regarding the perception of the US criminal justice system as a risk factor, most individualsexpressed the unexpected outcome of their conviction in long-lasting imprisonment sen-tences, since they had the belief that after their arrest their sentences would be less severe.
Decker and Townsend focus their final conclusions on three main issues: the organisa-tional structure of the smuggling networks, the management of risk and the potentialresponse by law enforcement. The researchers point out that the smuggling enterpriseshould not be considered a ‘well organised’ activity at all its phases. The organisationalstructure of the involved groups favors the recruitment and exploitation of many periph-eral members for the purposes of transferring drugs in the United States. But it also favorsthe insulation of specific core clusters in the structure, able to exercise control and deter-mine the ‘policy’ of the wider smuggling network. This organisation of ‘loose networks’is also a successful counter-measure, reducing the risk of exposure for those members whobelong to the ‘elite’ of this structure. From this point of view, potential responses arebeing proposed, such as the use of confidential informants, publicising the sentences as adeterrent measure, etc. Among them it is worth mentioning the researchers’ opinion thatthe law enforcement authorities run the risk of getting trapped in their own institutional-ised actions creating their own ‘fixed images’ of the problem, instead of designing andimplementing efficient responses, adjusted to the ever-changing and dynamic nature of thedrug trafficking phenomenon.
Apostolos MasperoHellenic Police, Greece
Email: [email protected]© 2009, Apostolos Maspero
Drug lords. The rise and fall of the Cali cartel. The richest, most powerful crimesyndicate in history, by Ron Chepesiuk, Lytham, Milo Books Ltd., 2005, xxii, 360 pp.,$12.56 (paperback), ISBN 1-90-385438-51
This is an interesting and riveting story of the Cali cartel. It is well written and it is diffi-cult to stop reading until one finishes it. The book appears to be well researched and theauthor provides very useful sections on the cast of characters, and a chronology of the Calicartel. The book illustrates how the Cali cartel penetrated a large city: its society, police,and some government agencies. It developed high-tech methods to monitor governmentactions against it as well as those of the competing Medellin cartel. The Cali cartel, in con-trast to the aggressive one in Medellin, followed a low profile, did not attempt to obtaindirect political power and projected a non-violent image. Chepesiuk debunks this beliefand shows that the Cali cartel could be as violent as the Medellin one. The main difference
1. This book was originally published as The Bullet or the Bribe, Praeger Publishers, 2003.
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