Originally Posted By: Dwalin2011
Originally Posted By: americafyeah
maybe it's just me but i wouldn't consider mexican drug cartels to be organized crime.they are simply drug traffickers. and in mexico,they operate as terrorist organizations,albeit "narcoterrorism" but i still think they are the textbook definition of terrorists,only without the religious component

I think it's precisely the lack of the religious component that is the key difference. Since they rely on money and not on religious fanaticism, they can buy many allies among politicians and law enforcement and have white-collar front people in the upper society. The methods are terroristic indeed, but if for them it is business and not ideology, I think they are still organized crime. For example, in Italy in the 80s and first 90s, after Toto' Riina took over, the Cosa Nostra used terrorist methods too (first killing judges and policemen who were too good at doing their jobs, killing relatives of underworld rivals, then their own political protectors who were unable to overturn the maxi-trial life sentences), but they are still considered mafia. Even though later they went completely crazy, Giovanni Brusca even wanted to plant poisoned needles in the sand on beaches to mass murder random tourists just to intimidate the public.

I think the key difference between the violence commited by the Mexican cartels and the Islamist terrorist groups is the motive and reason behind it. For example when the cartels behead people and throw their bodies in the central town square is to "calendar" or heat up the "plaza". (Sinaloa doesn't do this btw). They do this so the authorities especially the federal government will concentrate their troops and crackdown on the cartels in that specific city or town. This will make it harder for the cartel that is affected by this to operate, NOT to intimidate the public. I think that is the key difference here. Terrorist groups do so to intimidate the public and make the people living there to support them out of fear. Also terrorist groups take over the local government or government and govern their area by fear. The cartels don't, they instead corrupt the local government and infiltrate the police, it's not a complete take over like the terrorists groups typically do.

Last edited by SmearyGoose1768; 11/14/16 01:29 AM.