Word: mafia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...marijuana, amphetamines and a host of other illicit substances that compose a $320 billion-a-year industry, making drugs one of the most valuable commodities in the world. But despite arguments that legalizing drugs would destroy the organized-crime rings that currently control the market, the report argues that "mafia coffers are equally nourished by the trafficking of arms, people and their organs, by counterfeiting and smuggling, racketeering and loan-sharking, kidnapping and piracy, and by violence against the environment." As Costa said in a statement announcing the report's release, "It is no longer sufficient...
...Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. government views the case as wholly separate from the other issues now dividing Pyongyang and Washington. But Pyongyang almost certainly does not. For a regime that acts more like a Mafia family than a government, kidnapping has been a tactic North Korea has used for decades. Relations between Japan and North Korea are inflamed precisely because of revelations that for years the North kidnapped Japanese and then used them to train North Korean spies in Japanese language, culture and history. At a moment when Washington is pledging to get tough, Pyongyang "will...
...Though Americans will wake up this morning shocked by the harshness of the verdict, they shouldn't be. This is, sadly, business as usual for the North. The regime in Pyongyang is nothing if not a Mafia state - a family-run dynasty that funds itself in part through a variety of illicit businesses, such as illegal arms sales and counterfeiting U.S. currency. For decades, international kidnapping has been in its playbook. (See pictures of North Korea's secrets and lies at LIFE.com...
...Costa Nostra n.--The Italian Mafia's nickname for Spain, which translates as "Our Coast...
USAGE: "Neapolitan gangsters, including the alleged fugitive boss captured Saturday night in the city of Marbella, have a name for Spain: La Costa Nostra ... The term plays off Cosa Nostra, or Our Thing, as the Mafia is called, and underscores what authorities say: that Spain has become a top base for the Naples underworld." --Los Angeles Times...