Strategic Mobsters or Deprived Migrants? Testing the Transplantation and Deprivation Models of Organized Crime in an Effort to Understand Criminal Mobility and Diversity in the United States
| Author | Jana Arsovska |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12217 |
| Date | 01 April 2016 |
| Published date | 01 April 2016 |
Strategic Mobsters or Deprived Migrants?
Testing the Transplantation and Deprivation
Models of Organized Crime in an Effort to
Understand Criminal Mobility and Diversity
in the United States
Jana Arsovska*
ABSTRACT
The aim of this research is to study the emergence and mobility of organized crime in the Uni-
ted States. Focusing on Albanian organized crime in New York City, it investigates whether
organized crime groups move abroad easily and reproduce their territorial control in a foreign
country. This research explores the relevance of two perspectives on organized crime: the
transplantation/importation model, and the deprivation model. Findings are based on analysis
of court documents, interviews with law enforcement officials, Albanian immigrants, and Alba-
nian offenders. The study did not find strong support for either the transplantation or the depri-
vation model of organized crime. There is no evidence of strategic organized crime
transplantation. The findings suggest that the mobility of organized crime groups is functional
and varies across criminal markets, and that not only economic foundations but also social
forces and symbolic rewards of criminal migration need to be examined for better government
policies.
INTRODUCTION
After the end of World War II, and particularly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991,
international migration has emerged as a major demographic force throughout the world. Between
1990 and 2013, the number of international migrants worldwide rose by over 50 per cent, and
globally, there were 232 million international migrants in 2013. During the period 1990-2000,
seven of the top ten bilateral migration corridors had as destination a country in the North. The
United States was the destination of five of the top ten bilateral migration corridors, with Mexico-
United States being the largest corridor in the world (UN, 2013).
Along with the traditional triptych of family immigration, refugees and asylum seekers and
employment-related movements, some other forms of mobility such as tourist visits (which do not
constitute migration in the proper sense), the transfers of staff within multinational firms, and the
temporary movements of skilled workers and students have also been developing (OECD, 2001).
Overall, international migration has been widely recognized as an economic process caused by
wage differentials between sending and receiving countries, although some scholars have argued
*John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York.
doi: 10.1111/imig.12217
©2015 The Author
International Migration ©2015 IOM
International Migration Vol. 54 (2) 2016
ISS N 00 20- 7985 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
that the economic foundations of immigration are frequently misunderstood because they do not
take social forces into account (Massey et al., 1993).
However, although over the years scholars have managed to gain significant knowledge on inter-
national immigration trends and causes, criminal mobility in general, and “mafia”migration in par-
ticular, topics that remain understudied have only recently attracted scholarly attention (Varese,
2011; Ubah, 2007; Allum, 2014; Sergi, 2015; Morselli et al., 2011). Also, at present, despite some
noteworthy efforts from criminologists and sociologists (see Sciarrone and Storti 2014; Allum
2014; Sergi, 2015; Varese, 2011; Morselli et al., 2011) there is not yet a single, coherent theory of
criminal mobility.
The first aim of this article is to examine the migration patterns and mobility of ethnic Albanian
organized crime groups
1
operating in New York City. How did Albanian organized crime groups
emerge in the United States of America? Ethnic Albanian organized crime groups, in particular, are
considered to be global players and are widely present abroad. The heretofore unspecified nature of
the links between Albanian criminal groups operating in New York City and those operating in the
Balkans region is the main focus of this research. Is there any evidence of strategic and intentional
transplantation of Albanian groups into the United States? Are these groups coordinated by a cen-
tral organization in their country of origin? The second aim is to provide a broader theoretical
understanding of criminal mobility.
UNDERSTANDING INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL MOBILITY
Albanian organized crime
The fall of communism in Albania in 1991 and the Kosovo crisis in 1998-1999 resulted in substan-
tial population movements. These movements compounded the effects of other crises in the Balka-
ns, which had greatly contributed to the increase in asylum applications and inflows of refugees
with temporary protection status. During the Kosovo conflict, hundreds of thousands of people
were received on this basis in Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the Nordic countries, the Uni-
ted States, Canada and Australia.
After the conflict, a number of European countries, such as Switzerland, promoted the voluntary
return of refugees with temporary status through substantial financial support and logistical assis-
tance. For the United States and Canada, which had taken in 14,000 and 8,000 Kosovars respec-
tively in 1999, the rates of return remained very low; it is estimated that around 75 per cent of
them remained in the host countries (OECD, 2001).
During the mid 1990s, soon after the first wave of mass immigration to the United States from
the Balkans, the New York Times and other major US newspapers also started reporting on the
expansion of Albanian organized crime groups in New York City. In those early years after the fall
of communism, it was difficult for Western media and law enforcement to distinguish between
Albanian and other Balkan groups, so criminal groups coming from the Balkans region, including
Kosovo and Albania, were often labeled as “YACS.”YACS initially were defined as loosely orga-
nized gangs of European immigrants including Yugoslavs, Albanians, Croatians, and Serbs. By
June 1996 it was reported that YACS were responsible for more than 400 organized robberies and
break-ins at supermarkets in 23 states (Brenner, 1996).
However, by the late 1990s, Albanian criminal organizations
2
operating in Western countries
were studied more carefully by law enforcement agencies and scholars, and were often described
as clan-based groups resembling the Sicilian Mafia (Xhudo, 1996; Raufer and Qu
er
e, 2006). Over
the years, many law enforcement officials from Western Europe and the United States have stated
that Albanian criminal groups constitute a major threat to the Western world because of their
Strategic Mobsters or Deprived Migrants? 161
©2015 The Author. International Migration ©2015 IOM
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