I thought it would be fitting to start up a thread concerning the involvement of organized crime groups in arms trafficking . After all it's an activity that often gets mentioned in relation to organized crime , but is seldom explored .


I'm sure everyone here knows that the biggest arms traffickers out there aren't organized crime groups , but corrupt businessmen who are unofficially sanctioned by the various governments of the world . Fellows like Sarkis Soghanalian , Viktor Bout , etc. , .

That said there obviously are organized crime groups involved in trafficking arms , but this is where the topic gets interesting . After all one never hears of open air arms markets in the developed world , like one hears of open air drug markets . And while most people who buy guns from gangsters are probably gangsters or criminals themselves , there surely must be demand for illegal firearms among regular civilians . Especially in countries where it's very hard to obtain guns even for such mundane purposes as hunting .


Not to mention that there obviously are some paranoid anti government types in countries where firearms laws are rather liberal ( like the US ) , who are very much against the idea of buying firearms from legitimate dealers , that organized crime groups could sell guns to . Yet there seems to be next to no information available concerning gangsters selling guns to these ( probably fairly sizeable ) markets .

OC (Italian and others) are very big in arms trafficking in Europe, Mexico and elsewhere in the world where they either have very tough gun control laws or ban non-police and military from owning firearms. But, not here in the US, where it's easy to get guns compared with the rest of the world.

The US is also a supplier of illicit weapons in Europe.

What's strange to me is that open air arms markets run by organized crime groups don't seem to exist . Nor do any organized crime groups seem to be involved in selling arms on street corners or what have you .


Of course the more thoughtful ones are rightfully worried about vetting their customers properly when it comes to arms , however history abounds with unthinking gangsters , so it's surprising that no gangster of that sort has ever engaged in the practice of selling guns to anyone and everyone .