I thibk nobody can really tell which organized crime is the most powerful or number 1. Because there is to much things we can compare to make a list. Like money, drug distribution, territories, gambling, arm trafficking, involment in politics, the influence in the country etc.
So I think it will be better to make tiers list.
For exemple:
First tier: would be organized crime groups like the mafia, cosa nostra, ndrangheta, jewish mob, mexican cartels, russian bratva and chinese triads.
Second tier: would be japanese yakuza, irish mob, colombian cartels, albanians, italian camorra, hells angels, some nigerians
Third tier: chinese tongs, some nigerians, dominican cartels, biker MC, Yardies
**Some street gangs could be on the list of third tier.
And by the way nigerian crime groups are getting stronger in europe and asia, they can be put in second tier.
*** I domt know if I should put the Yakuza on first tier, since I dont really know their operations and power outside of Japan.
Yakuza's first tier. Their influence may not be as huge as before, but they still got reach.
The Israeli groups I'd put somewhere more second tier.
Hells Angels it depends chapter to chapter; several Canadian chapters in Quebec and on the West Coast are definitely second tier. Plenty of European chapters can be somewhere between second and third tier.
"Russians" it depends. A group like Solntsevskaya is definitely first tier. The Armenian, Georgian, Azerbaijani or Chechen groups on the other hand are more likely to be second tier.
Other close to second tier groups (imho) would be Serbian/Montenegrin groups, Turkish and Turkish-Kurdish groups and Bulgarian groups.
I'd say plenty of Europe-based drug trafficking organizations could be considered close second tier as well. More than a few Irish, British, Scottish, Dutch, Dutch-Moroccan and French-Algerian groups have direct contacts with Latin American DTO's and move tons of weight.
Corsicans in France still work in a very sophisticated way. They're not as huge into drugs anymore, but still have a low-key stranglehold over casino and slot machine operations.
On the other hand I'd put Lebanese groups in Germany and Australia somewhere between second and third tier.
Pakistani groups in the UK as well move tons of heroin in the West Midlands.
Greeks have plenty of low-key smuggling and gambling networks in any Greek enclave.
Korean groups have rather far-reaching prostitution and counterfeiting networks.
Assyrian families have been implicated in big trafficking operations (the clan Y. in Antwerp was one of the country's biggest cocaine importers for quite some time).
All third tier.
Plenty of street gangs have sets that earn their place in the third tier. In the USA there are sets of African American, Hispanic (Mexican and Dominican of course, but also Puerto Rican and Central American gangs) and Caribbean gangs that move plenty of weight. Several Vietnamese and Cambodian gangs make lots of money from gambling operations; there's even Hmong gangs that found a way to move up (their presence in the Emerald Triangle is well documented).
I'd say it's not only the case in the USA. Haitian gangs in Quebec have made powerful alliances.
Native gangs in Canada have made plenty of money exploiting smuggling networks.
Indian gangs in the Lower Mainland have been into contact with Latin American drug suppliers.
Antillean and Surinamese groups in the Netherlands have been increasingly implicated in large cocaine shipments.
An OMCG like the Head Hunters in New Zealand (heavily Tongan and Samoan nowadays) made tons of money from the local crank trade.
Somali gangs in London have been moving lots of dope with their county crossing drug lines.
Brazilian gangs like the PCC and the CV have become increasingly international in scope.
It's clear that the drug game has led to the empowerment of plenty of groups throughout the world. Even though it has to be said that the vast majority do not have the longevity of the Italian criminal organizations.
