The whole world is the playground of today’s criminal masterminds. The worst thieves and thugs have found the dark side of globalization, exploiting the same technologies that make the Earth seem small and ripe for legitimate international commerce and trade. They have unleashed an unprecedented crime wave that is truly border-less. Less hierarchical, and operating as elusive networks, today’s criminal gangs are able to nimbly take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. They hack, steal, smuggle, launder and kill on a global scale, working with different partners and evading various law enforcement units and agencies. The most troubling convergence: the merging of international criminal activity with violent terrorism. They are all accused of a long history of committing serious crimes and are considered a menace to the world.
Joaquìn Guzmàn
Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (b. April 4, 1957) is a fugitive Mexican drug lord who heads the world’s largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization, the Sinaloa Cartel, an organization named after the Mexican Pacific coast state of Sinaloa where it was initially formed. Known as “El Chapo Guzmán” (“Shorty Guzmán”) for his 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) stature, he became Mexico’s top drug kingpin in 2003 after the arrest of his rival Osiel Cárdenas of the Gulf Cartel, and is now considered “The most powerful drug trafficker in the world,” by the United States Department of the Treasury.
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian physician, Islamic theologian and current leader of al-Qaeda. He was previously the second and last “emir” of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, having succeeded Abbud al-Zumar in the latter role when Egyptian authorities sentenced al-Zumar to life imprisonment. His wife and three of his six children were killed in an air strike on Afghanistan by US forces in late 2001, following the September 11 attacks on the USA. As of May 2, 2011, he became the leader of al-Qaeda following the death of Osama bin Laden. This was confirmed by a press release from al-Qaeda’s general command on June 16. After the 9/11 attacks the U.S. State Department offered a US$25 million reward for information leading to al-Zawahiri’s apprehension.
Dawood Ibrahim
Dawood Ibrahim, also known as Dawood Ebrahim, and Sheikh Dawood Hassan, is the head of the Indian organized crime syndicate D-Company in Mumbai. He is currently on the wanted list of Interpol for organised crime and counterfeiting. Dawood Ibrahim is accused of heading a vast and sprawling illegal empire in and against India and Indians. After the 1993 Bombay bombings, which Ibrahim allegedly organized and financed, he became India’s most wanted man.
Semion Mogilevich
Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich is a Ukrainian-born organized crime boss, believed by European and United States federal law enforcement agencies to be the “boss of bosses” of most Russian Mafia syndicates in the world. Secret US diplomatic cables, released by Wikileaks, describe Mogilevich as the figure in charge of both RosUkrEnergo and Raiffeisen Bank. He is believed to direct a vast criminal empire and is described by the FBI as “the most dangerous mobster in the world”.
Nasir al-Wuhayshi
Nasir al-Wuhayshi served as a private secretary to Osama bin Laden for years in Afghanistan. He left Afghanistan in 2001 and was soon arrested by Iranian authorities, who handed him over to his native Yemen two years later where he was imprisoned without charges. In February 2006, Nasir al-Wuhayshi was one of 23 Yemeni captives who escaped from custody from a maximum security prison in Sana’a. Al-Wuhayshi became the leader of Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni operations after the former leader was killed in a US Predator drone strike in 2002.
Matteo Messina Denaro
Matteo Messina Denaro, also known as Diabolik, is a Sicilian mafioso. He got his nickname from the Italian comic book character of the same name. He is considered to be one of the new leaders of Cosa Nostra after the arrest of Bernardo Provenzano on April 11, 2006. Matteo Messina Denaro became known nationally on April 12, 2001, when the magazine L’Espresso put him on the cover with the headline: Ecco il nuovo capo della mafia (“Here is the new boss of the Mafia”). He has been a fugitive since 1993.
Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov
Alimzhan Tursunovich Tokhtakhounov is a Russian businessman, suspected criminal, and former sportsman of Uyghur origin. He is accused in relations with organized crime and bribing of figure skating judges in the 2002 Winter Olympics. His nickname is thought to be “Taiwanchik,” which refers to his distinctly Asiatic as opposed to European facial features. The United States has a current arrest warrant out for him on fraud-related charges.
Felicien Kabuga
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda issued an international arrest warrant for Kabuga in August 1999, charging him with 11 counts, including genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and complicity in genocide. KTN news network in Kenya reported on June 14, 2008 that Kabuga had been arrested by Kenya Police the day before and is being held at Gigiri Police Station in Nairobi. Later, the suspect was found to be a local university lecturer, not Kabuga as previously thought, and released. It is suspected that Kabuga is in Kenya, and is believed to be running businesses and enjoying protection from either the Kenyan government or some influential figures within the country.
Joseph Kony
Joseph Rao Kony is the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan guerrilla group. While initially enjoying strong public support, the LRA allegedly turned on its own supporters, supposedly to “purify” the Acholi people and turn Uganda into a theocracy. Kony proclaims himself the spokesperson of God and a spirit medium, has nurtured a cult of personality, and claims he is visited by a multinational host of 13 spirits, including a Chinese phantom. Ideologically, the group is a syncretic mix of mysticism, Acholi nationalism, Islam, and Christian fundamentalism, and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and local Acholi tradition. Kony has been accused by government entities of ordering the abduction of children to become child-sex slaves and child soldiers. Kony was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, in 2005 but has evaded capture.
Doku Umarov
Doku (Dokka) Khamatovich Umarov is a major Chechen Islamist militant in Russia. He is responsible for numerous terror attacks on civilians, earning himself the nickname “Russia’s Osama Bin Laden”. He is one of the major rebel leaders in Russia and has claimed responsibility for numerous terror attacks, including the 2010 Moscow Metro bombings and the 2011 Domodedovo International Airport bombing. The attacks killed 40 and 36 civilians respectively, and injured hundreds.
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