A Comparative Study of Financial Crimes and Criminal Networks in the United States
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The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Where Political Extremists and Greedy Criminals Meet: A Comparative Study of Financial Crimes and Criminal Networks in the United States Author: Roberta Belli, LL.M., Ph.D. Document No.: 234524 Date Received: June 2011 Award Number: 2009-IJ-CX-0006 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. WHERE POLITICAL EXTREMISTS AND GREEDY CRIMINALS MEET: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FINANCIAL CRIMES AND CRIMINAL NETWORKS IN THE UNITED STATES by Roberta Belli A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2011 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. © 2011 Roberta Belli All Rights Reserved ii This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Criminal Justice in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Joshua D. Freilich, Ph.D. ____________________________ ___________________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Joshua D. Freilich, Ph.D. ____________________________ ___________________________________ Date Executive Officer Kirk Dombrowski, Ph.D.____________________ Amy Adamczyk, Ph.D._______________________ James P. Lynch, Ph.D._______________________ Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. ABSTRACT Where political extremists and greedy criminals meet: A comparative study of financial crimes and criminal networks in the United States by Roberta Belli Advisor: Joshua D. Freilich, Ph.D. Financial crime poses a serious threat to the integrity and security of legitimate businesses and institutions, and to the safety and prosperity of private citizens and communities. Experts argue that the profile of financial offenders is extremely diversified and includes individuals who may be motivated by greed or ideology. Islamic extremists increasingly resort to typical white-collar crimes, like credit card and financial fraud, to raise funds for their missions. In the United States, the far-right movement professes its anti-government ideology by promoting and using a variety of anti-tax strategies. There is evidence that ideologically motivated individuals who engage in financial crimes benefit from interactions with profit-driven offenders and legitimate actors that provide resources for crime in the form of knowledge, skills, and suitable co-offenders. This dissertation sheds light on the nexus between political extremism and profit-driven crime by conducting a systematic study of financial crime cases involving Islamic extremists, domestic far-rightists, and their non-extremist accomplices prosecuted by federal courts in 2004. Attribute and relational data were extracted from the U.S. Extremist Crime Database (ECDB), which is the first open- source relational database that provides information on all extremist crimes, violent and non-violent, ideological and routine crimes, since 1990. A descriptive analysis was conducted comparing schemes, crimes, and techniques used by far-rightists, Islamic iv This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. extremists, and non-extremists, before moving into an in-depth social network analysis of their relational ties in co-offending, business, and family networks. The descriptive findings revealed considerable differences in the modus operandi followed by far-rightists and Islamic extremists as well as the prosecutorial strategies used against them. The subsequent exploratory and statistical network analyses, however, revealed interesting similarities, suggesting that financial schemes by political extremists occurred within similarly decentralized, self-organizing structures that facilitated exchanges between individuals acting within close-knit subsets regardless of their ideological affiliation. Meaningful interactions emerged between far-rightists and non-extremists involved in business ventures and within a tax avoidance scheme, indicating that the crime-extremism nexus was more prevalent within far-right settings compared to Islamic extremist ones. The findings were discussed in light of their implications for criminological theories, criminal justice and crime prevention policies, and methodological advances. v This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Joshua D. Freilich, who started mentoring me during my first year as a PhD student and encouraged me to fully explore the whole range of my research interests. Over four years ago we started talking about a possible study on financial crimes and terrorism. No longer after that we embarked on this incredible project together, and that is how the U.S. Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) - Financial Crime from an idea became reality. For believing in me and giving me the chance to create something so meaningful and ambitious, I will be forever grateful. I am greatly obliged to my examination committee: Dr. Dombrowski, who sparked my interest in social network analysis and offered invaluable feedback and guidance; Dr. Adamczyk, who agreed to join this project at the last minute without hesitation; and Dr. Lynch, whose challenging questions undoubtedly contributed to make this a more rigorous empirical study. I must also thank the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for funding this research. This dissertation would have not been possible without the amazing team of research assistants who worked on the ECDB: William, Catherine, Ashmini, Yvette, Rebecca, Kevin, Tarra, Celinet, Johnny, and many others. I met a few colleagues at work, and I found many good friends. Thank you for all your help and support. vi This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. I owe everything to my family back in Italy and here in the United States. ǯǣ Ǩ. Even when the road ahead was not clear, you never stopped encouraging me and giving me the strength to pursue my dreams. I am who I am today because of who you are. SimǡDzdz ǣhave been a great friend, amazing listener and supporter throughout my life. Thank you to the best brother any big sister could wish for. Soon there will be not one, but three doctors in the family. Fabio: thank you for your love, support, patience and understanding. You made me laugh when I needed it most, and comforted me when I was almost ready to give up. I took each and every word you said at heart and look where it brought me. ǣ ǯ ǯ sanity. Grazie Gigi! My grandparents, here and in the afterlife: nonna Beppa e nonna Natalia, nonno Livio e nonno Silvio. We have come a long way from that sunny mountain region of ours. My experience as a doctoral student at John Jay College would have not been the same withouth the many talented and inspiring people whom I shared with all the good and bad moments: Besiki, Meredith, Andrea, Crystal, Anna, Younoh, Gipsy. Thank you! To all the wonderful people I met since I moved to New York City, who helped me in so many ways, knowingly or unknowingly. You are too many to mention, but you all have a special place in my