Criminal syndicates in Russia, Japan, Italy and Mexico have penetrated financial institutions in the U.S., threatening our national security:
U.S. President Barack Obama has identified transnational organized crime operations as a threat to national security because of their increasing infiltration of financial institutions.
Obama signed an executive order last month placing economic sanctions on four crime groups -- the Japanese Yakuza, Mexico's Los Zetas, the Italian Camorra and a network of Russian criminal leaders dubbed Brother's Circle.
The order gives the U.S. Department of the Treasury the authority to seize money flowing through the United States traced to members of foreign organized crime groups. It also prohibits U.S. citizens from involvement in property or financial transactions with the groups.
In a U.S. State Department briefing, Russia was condemned as a mafia state:
Russia is a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a "virtual mafia state", according to leaked secret diplomatic cables that provide a damning American assessment of its erstwhile rival superpower.
Arms trafficking, money laundering, personal enrichment, protection for gangsters, extortion and kickbacks, suitcases full of money and secret offshore bank accounts in Cyprus: the cables paint a bleak picture of a political system in which bribery alone totals an estimated $300bn a year, and in which it is often hard to distinguish between the activities of the government and organised crime....
- Russian spies use senior mafia bosses to carry out criminal operations such as arms trafficking.
- Law enforcement agencies such as the police, spy agencies and the prosecutor's office operate a de facto protection racket for criminal networks.
- Rampant bribery acts like a parallel tax system for the personal enrichment of police, officials and the KGB's successor, the federal security service (FSB).
Mafia-tied Russian tycoons are given star treatment by Wall Street firms and U.S. authorities:
One of Russia's most powerful tycoons -- barred entry to the U.S. for years due to U.S. government concerns about possible ties to organized crime -- visited the country twice [in 2009] under secret arrangements made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska met with FBI agents in August and earlier this month as part of a continuing criminal probe, according to two administration officials. The focus of that probe couldn't be learned.
Mr. Deripaska used the opportunity of his recent U.S. visits to meet with top executives of U.S. investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The aluminum giant he controls, UC Rusal, is preparing for an initial public offering, a vital part of Mr. Deripaska's efforts to save his debt-burdened business.
The private investigator who blew the whistle on Madoff was blatantly ignored for nearly a decade by the SEC. He suspected that this was because the NASDAQ chairman's clients included the Russian mob:
One reason: Bernie Madoff was among the "most powerful men" on Wall Street.
Another: In 2002 Markopolos said he discovered billions of dollars in "dirty money" was being funneled into Madoff Securities through a series of off-shore accounts.
"When you're that big and that secretive, you're going to attract a lot of organized crime money, and which we ... now know came from the Russian mob and the Latin-American drug cartel," Markopolos said.
Madoff's feeder funds came from an extensive list of rogue states and criminal organizations. Many of these came to power under the Bush 41 regime and were consequently protected during Junior's presidency.