International Organized Crime in the Czech Republic: A Case Study

The main research questions are: What kind of history there has been in the Czech Republic, when considering the international organized crime since the Velvet Revolution and communist regime? How can we define the phenomenon? What kinds of organized criminal syndicates there are acting today? Which actions are popular there? Which are the main organized crime theories? And finally, is a legislative aspect the most important tool to combat organized crime? There has been a big change regarding to the international organized crime situation in the Czech Republic since the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The democratization process offered good chances to international crime syndicates in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. It also demanded big changes in legislation and practice to combat organized crime. Because of the former communist regime, they lacked many forms of basic organized criminal actions, such as drugs trafficking, gambling, contract killing and more. However, all main transnational organized crime groups established activities in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic during the years of the democratization process. We can define the organized crime phenomenon through the legislative aspect. There are many international organized crime groups working in the Czech Republic. However, I only consider the groups from China, Nigeria and also some Balkan groups, and some of their activities. Furthermore, the main organized criminal activities came from abroad. Moreover, some of the syndicates used the citizens of the Czech Republic to open new markets effectively. The Chinese based organized crime groups have used the knowledge of Vietnamese emigrants to get to the Czechian market. These groups are involved in many acts in the Czech Republic today, such as illegal migration, casinos, money laundering, drugs, kidnappings of normally their own citizens, racketeering and fake goods. Many Balkan based syndicates have been interested in many businesses, such as a drug business and human trafficking, in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic after the revolution. The North Balkan route includes the Czech Republic as a final destination to traffic drugs and more. Nigerian based organized crime groups are for instance responsible for organizing young couriers to bring drugs to the Czech Republic from all over the world. They prefer the citizens of the Czech Republic as couriers. Two main organized crime theories are: alien conspiracy model and bureaucracy model. The first suggests that organized crime is a phenomenon coming from abroad. However, there are many obstacles and we can see it when concerning the case of the Czech Republic. The second one is popular in legislative circles, public discussions and media. It refers to a pyramid kind of structure of the syndicates, divided tasks as well as internal and external sanctions. We should understand the main models when thinking about the organized crime legislation. A further question is, how could we effectively combat international organized crime? Are our legislative tools enough or do we need something else as well? My general answer is that we need many other social ways to combat the phenomenon and to protect our Western values, such as freedom of speech and equality between men and women. Those ways should include anti-corruption and a strong civil society at least. Word list: Organized crime, the Czech Republic, trafficking, organized crime legislation, money laundering, ethnicity of criminal syndicates, alien conspiracy theory, bureaucracy model, anti-corruption, Western values.