Never; I’ve heard about mafia gathering "taxes" from local business owners in 90s, but I do not think it is an issue anymore (I feel it stopped like 20 years ago).
Nope, definitely not personally. There is organized crime (especially drug-related, given that my country (Netherlands) is a logistical hub for large parts of Europe), but very much under the radar.
I think the biggest thing that is visible in the news / in society, is that criminals tend to hang explosives (mostly heavy fireworks) on front doors as a form of retaliation. But in practice, that isn’t always related to gangs, it’s also tied to personal conflict and the access/passion lower classes have to heavy fireworks (I know, it’s ridiculous). And while drawing a lot of attention, statistically these actions are quite insignificant.
In the larger scheme of things, the Netherlands is a very, very safe country compared to other countries in the world.
Check out the podcast called Underworld .. discusses this topic in depth with detailed info at times. Sometimes it’s brief and limited like these guys are half assing their work. I can’t honestly tell. Sometimes it’s intriguing, sometimes I feel like I’m listening to an AI bot that is drunk.
I’m in Sicily…so yes.There are areas of my city where the mafia is very strong.
That doesn’t mean they are shooting people in the streets.That’s rare these days.
But there is widespread extortion of business owners for example, and there’s larger scale misappropriation of funds…. the leaders of the mafia here have become (or are strongly linked to) seemingly respectable businessmen and politicians these days.
A lot of people are involved, to some extent.Usually you only find out when you see that they have been arrested.
No? I mean, why would any normal, average person have any contacts with the organized crime anywhere at all?
Also, Poland is very safe (so safe, that the question "Is Poland safe?" became quite a meme recently) and it also involves a relatively weak organized crime. It used to be much stronger shortly after the fall of communism, because there was a huge illegal trade in heroine from former Soviet Union and Afghanistan through Poland and other V4 countries to Western Europe. But nowadays organized crime is far weaker and, well, disorganized.
No. The 90s were weird after the regime change, but I didn’t personally encounter anything even then. A weed-growing gang could work, but other than that, I think Czechs would usually make for lousy gang members.
You mean like organized crime.. yes.. I know a few from where I grew up, it was a small place and we’re a small country so – yes. .. some are in jail, some are dead, some are now what we call "controversial entrepreneurs’. ( see, we even have a name for them).
I was never a target of any such individuals if that’s what you’re asking, but I know a few people that were – debts, gambling and extortion related ..
Had a family friend that used to gun run for the IRA. Got caught and went to jail back in the 70s. Now I take what he says with a grain of salt but he was involved.
I’ve also met someone who was hiding out in malaga, Spain, for whatever they did in Ireland. A lot of the kinian cartel and a few other gangs hide out in the area. I had no idea about anything this man did. I just knew he was a shady character out there. My friends family always go out there a lot, so they crossed paths in the Irish community there. I avoided them when I went out there for a week years ago with my friends. I feigned illness and other things to not go to dinner with them, etc. No thanks from the vague stories I heard. My luck I’d be in the room with him when a police raid happens! I eventually had to say hi and bye to him on my last day. After that, my friend told me he couldn’t step back on irish soil or he’d be arrested. Never gave me specifics, but I think he’s in jail now.
No, it is not common at all. Organized crime exists, but definitely was "stronger" in the 90s, shortly after regaining independence, when legislation lagged behind a lot and there were a lot of new opportunities to get richer.
It’s not really visible racketeering anymore, it’s usually international schemes dealing with counterfeit goods or illegal production. A common person will likely live their entire lives not encountering anyone of that sort.
Not local gang, but where we used to drink in my hometown, some serbs started showing up regularly until one of them pulled a gun and got the shit kicked out of him for it. The gun ended up in a street drain and some of the guy’s teeth ended up on the pavement. They were all told to not come again after that.
Other than watching a raid against a Hells Angels member from across the street whose son In used to play football with? No. Not that I’m aware of. But I’m also keeping a good distance between me and those people.
I did once know a friend of a friend who had worked for a gang in another country and suddenly got a strong urge to move to Denmark and be very incognito.
In Cracow for many years some strip clubs were stealing from customers by roofing them and zeroing their credit cards (they would sell them a drink for like 5 k EUR). Owner of a few of these strip clubs lives in my area. Didn’t really interact with him, but passed him many times as he was driving around in his golden lamborghini with custom registration plate that said something like IMN01 (I’m No 1). Now he’s in prison.
He also puts the biggest and brightest Christmas lights in whole neighborhood, so I guess he has a liking to flashy stuff.
Nope, never had any encounters and I don’t think anyone I know has either. Obviously different gangs exist, but they don’t have any impact on the average person, they have no interaction with the state or with wider civil society. People are always making shit jokes/comments how if you come to London you’ll get stabbed but unless you personally know someone in a gang the likelihood of you encountering any trouble from your local gang of yoofs is pretty small.
For the bigger mafias, they mainly control the drug trade (e.g. Albanian or Colombian gangs) or are involved in people trafficking in some way (often around brothels, taking advantage of people from Eastern Europe, or East Asia) – again, not something the average person will encounter. People often comment about how during the London riots in summer 2011 that Elephant & Castle was basically unscathed (despite being an area of high deprivation) because that’s a strong LatAm area and you Do Not Fuck with the Colombians.
Yes (Scotland). I’ve seen a mafia bagman collecting protection money from an Italian business. My wife was once offered their help to deal with her ex-husband (who they seemed to have a problem with for reasons I couldn’t work out). They were also involved in getting a secular school closed and replaced with a Catholic one.
I’d guess they are now making most of their money from AirBnB investments so the gangster stuff is a thing of the past.
Not in my home country, but I did have a run in with gang members in the US. However my guide knew them well so they were super friendly and showed off all their guns to me.
In Germany and yes. They are everywhere. Libanese clans, Italian mobster. Biker Gangs. I met a few of them, they are nice person as long you dont come in their way and behave neutral. One of the interesting meetings i had with banditos in Kiel. They had a hq with strip club included there. So long night. but all my friends were so scared all the time.
Back in high school, one of my classmates (an iron pumper himself) distributed anabolic-steroids on behalf of a local gang. I helped him with programming in computer classes. Once there was an incident when a guy bullied me in school. My classmate intervened and I had no more problems.
My classmate was incarcerated for drug-dealing within a year of becoming adult.
It was late 1990s. The gang that manufactured drugs was busted shortly after.
I’m from Galicia, northwestern Spain, where a lot of big drug cartels operate. Back in the day I had friendly relations with people that belonged to those cartels (quite down in the chain of command)
There was no issue. I did not ask much, "get in their way" or did any business with them other than share some drinks since we had common friends.
Ye, it’s usually immigrant kids.. have had multiple encounters almost impossible to not if you live in the suburbs of any larger Swedish city :/ Bullerbyn är död.
I dont think any gang member identifies themselves as gang member. Unless you are involved in crime as well. So no, I dont have any experience with such encounters.
It is common to read in a local newspaper something about organized crime. Often low level, but like a warehouse nearby used for drugs or something like that. Lately its more and more common explosives are placed at a houses which is often related to crime. Its not like an every dat occurance but it happens in bigger cities.
Not personally but someone I know cut up a large car in London once, which then stopped in front of him and two very heavy gangster looking guys walked over, leaned in the window, (while he was shitting bricks) wagged his finger, said “naughty boys then they drove off.
Years ago in the dark days of 80s football I used to be on vague nodding terms with Carlton Leach who was a well known West Ham hooligan who later had close connections with The Essex Boys, drug dealers who came to an unfortunate end. Lots of West Ham fans knew him then .
In the late 90s/early 2000s due to the field I was sort of adjacent to (legal field). They were…from other parts of Europe, though. Not since then, but I’m no longer in that field. I don’t think that particular type of mafioso is as common anymore, though.
Not mafia, but I did ride past a Hells Angels club house to and from my university. The chain fell off my bike in my way home, and I was trying very unsuccessfully to fix it, and two of the Hells Angels came out and fixed it for me. They were very nice and friendly, and I always waved and called out hello when I saw them after that.
In Belgium, there have been an increasing number of incidents involving drug networks (between gangs) in recent years.
In Antwerp, for example, grenades were thrown a few years ago.
In Brussels, there have been countless shootings (with weapons of war) in very poor areas of the city.
With all the internal political problems, it’s unfortunately a situation that leave us with an impression of total political carelessness.
At the same time, there is also a vast network of stolen bikes that are resold abroad (but I think several European countries are affected).
Never. But said that I know there are proper drug gangs in the south and maybe still some in Galicia so I guess someone from any of those regions might be able to give a proper account
Yep. Late 80s. One of my late dad’s friends was a made man for the Apulian equivalent of the mafia
(at the time and place this happened, the organisation didn’t have a name; nowadays it’s sometimes called Sacra Corona Unita but I doubt it’s a very current term)
He wore expensive clothes and had a big blue Benz, but otherwise I had no idea he was in the mob until he got killed via AK in his house.
I grew up in the wild nineties in Lithuania. So yeah I know plenty in person. For example my classmate was a gang member, he was really nice person by the way lol. Usually they wasn’t touching "civilians"
Oh yes. In the netherlands is a hotspot. There are Turkish, Maroccan, Itallian, Albanian and Russian mafias, there are Mexican and South American cartels, Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian gangs, and various other syndicates, but most daunting: the Belgo-Dutch crime groups. Rated as top 1 thread by this report on European organized crime I can’t find right now from somewhere in the last 2 or 3 years, the Belgo-Dutch crime groups are loose alliances and networks. They form and disolve, so not really "Mafia", as in strict hierachies and wide famlies. However, they tend to work away from the public eye. What happens outside the public sphere, will not get reported on in the media. Not long ago the head of the national police called the Netherlands a narco state; the police is understaffed. We’ve had this current global economic system the longest, so the accompanying underworld is also the most advanced, evolved in the tradition of not being too nosey. So if you keep your smarts, don’t do shady shit, and don’t stick your nose into other’s business, you won’t encounter it.
To answer the question: In my town, far away from the Dutch core on the German border, a former center of industry (textiles) with large disenfranchised migrant worker polutations, a tourist and university city (w/ circa 160 different nationalities), but also a gateway for smuggling to germany and a place where those not-welcome-no-more in the core Dutch underworld end-up, I’ve had more than enough unfortunate encounters. Luckily, not too unfortunate.
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Never; I’ve heard about mafia gathering "taxes" from local business owners in 90s, but I do not think it is an issue anymore (I feel it stopped like 20 years ago).
If the IRA count as gang members then lots of people in Ireland have had some sort of interaction with them if they’re over a certain age.
Not sure I’d class them as gang members, though.
I don’t know if that counts, they weren’t real gang members, but I once called police and they acted like the mafia.
Nope, definitely not personally. There is organized crime (especially drug-related, given that my country (Netherlands) is a logistical hub for large parts of Europe), but very much under the radar.
I think the biggest thing that is visible in the news / in society, is that criminals tend to hang explosives (mostly heavy fireworks) on front doors as a form of retaliation. But in practice, that isn’t always related to gangs, it’s also tied to personal conflict and the access/passion lower classes have to heavy fireworks (I know, it’s ridiculous). And while drawing a lot of attention, statistically these actions are quite insignificant.
In the larger scheme of things, the Netherlands is a very, very safe country compared to other countries in the world.
Check out the podcast called Underworld .. discusses this topic in depth with detailed info at times. Sometimes it’s brief and limited like these guys are half assing their work. I can’t honestly tell. Sometimes it’s intriguing, sometimes I feel like I’m listening to an AI bot that is drunk.
I’m in Sicily…so yes.There are areas of my city where the mafia is very strong.
That doesn’t mean they are shooting people in the streets.That’s rare these days.
But there is widespread extortion of business owners for example, and there’s larger scale misappropriation of funds…. the leaders of the mafia here have become (or are strongly linked to) seemingly respectable businessmen and politicians these days.
A lot of people are involved, to some extent.Usually you only find out when you see that they have been arrested.
No? I mean, why would any normal, average person have any contacts with the organized crime anywhere at all?
Also, Poland is very safe (so safe, that the question "Is Poland safe?" became quite a meme recently) and it also involves a relatively weak organized crime. It used to be much stronger shortly after the fall of communism, because there was a huge illegal trade in heroine from former Soviet Union and Afghanistan through Poland and other V4 countries to Western Europe. But nowadays organized crime is far weaker and, well, disorganized.
No. The 90s were weird after the regime change, but I didn’t personally encounter anything even then. A weed-growing gang could work, but other than that, I think Czechs would usually make for lousy gang members.
I work as a card dealer in a club (similar to a casino), so I won’t be surprised if I have. But, upfront ? No.
You mean like organized crime.. yes.. I know a few from where I grew up, it was a small place and we’re a small country so – yes. .. some are in jail, some are dead, some are now what we call "controversial entrepreneurs’. ( see, we even have a name for them).
I was never a target of any such individuals if that’s what you’re asking, but I know a few people that were – debts, gambling and extortion related ..
Had a family friend that used to gun run for the IRA. Got caught and went to jail back in the 70s. Now I take what he says with a grain of salt but he was involved.
I’ve also met someone who was hiding out in malaga, Spain, for whatever they did in Ireland. A lot of the kinian cartel and a few other gangs hide out in the area. I had no idea about anything this man did. I just knew he was a shady character out there. My friends family always go out there a lot, so they crossed paths in the Irish community there. I avoided them when I went out there for a week years ago with my friends. I feigned illness and other things to not go to dinner with them, etc. No thanks from the vague stories I heard. My luck I’d be in the room with him when a police raid happens! I eventually had to say hi and bye to him on my last day. After that, my friend told me he couldn’t step back on irish soil or he’d be arrested. Never gave me specifics, but I think he’s in jail now.
No, it is not common at all. Organized crime exists, but definitely was "stronger" in the 90s, shortly after regaining independence, when legislation lagged behind a lot and there were a lot of new opportunities to get richer.
It’s not really visible racketeering anymore, it’s usually international schemes dealing with counterfeit goods or illegal production. A common person will likely live their entire lives not encountering anyone of that sort.
Not local gang, but where we used to drink in my hometown, some serbs started showing up regularly until one of them pulled a gun and got the shit kicked out of him for it. The gun ended up in a street drain and some of the guy’s teeth ended up on the pavement. They were all told to not come again after that.
Other than watching a raid against a Hells Angels member from across the street whose son In used to play football with? No. Not that I’m aware of. But I’m also keeping a good distance between me and those people.
There’s certain restaurants and ice cream parlors where the local gossip is that they belong to the mafia, so probably.
Never.
I did once know a friend of a friend who had worked for a gang in another country and suddenly got a strong urge to move to Denmark and be very incognito.
In Cracow for many years some strip clubs were stealing from customers by roofing them and zeroing their credit cards (they would sell them a drink for like 5 k EUR). Owner of a few of these strip clubs lives in my area. Didn’t really interact with him, but passed him many times as he was driving around in his golden lamborghini with custom registration plate that said something like IMN01 (I’m No 1). Now he’s in prison.
He also puts the biggest and brightest Christmas lights in whole neighborhood, so I guess he has a liking to flashy stuff.
My toddler is obsessed with anything with wheels so he has waved at a few Hells Angels who’ve given him a little vroom in return if that counts
I’ve had dealings with the biggest fucking gang in Spain. SGAE….the artists union.
I hate them so much (note this isn’t against artists or unions, just this particular organization)
Nope, never had any encounters and I don’t think anyone I know has either. Obviously different gangs exist, but they don’t have any impact on the average person, they have no interaction with the state or with wider civil society. People are always making shit jokes/comments how if you come to London you’ll get stabbed but unless you personally know someone in a gang the likelihood of you encountering any trouble from your local gang of yoofs is pretty small.
For the bigger mafias, they mainly control the drug trade (e.g. Albanian or Colombian gangs) or are involved in people trafficking in some way (often around brothels, taking advantage of people from Eastern Europe, or East Asia) – again, not something the average person will encounter. People often comment about how during the London riots in summer 2011 that Elephant & Castle was basically unscathed (despite being an area of high deprivation) because that’s a strong LatAm area and you Do Not Fuck with the Colombians.
Yes (Scotland). I’ve seen a mafia bagman collecting protection money from an Italian business. My wife was once offered their help to deal with her ex-husband (who they seemed to have a problem with for reasons I couldn’t work out). They were also involved in getting a secular school closed and replaced with a Catholic one.
I’d guess they are now making most of their money from AirBnB investments so the gangster stuff is a thing of the past.
Not in my home country, but I did have a run in with gang members in the US. However my guide knew them well so they were super friendly and showed off all their guns to me.
In Germany and yes. They are everywhere. Libanese clans, Italian mobster. Biker Gangs. I met a few of them, they are nice person as long you dont come in their way and behave neutral. One of the interesting meetings i had with banditos in Kiel. They had a hq with strip club included there. So long night. but all my friends were so scared all the time.
Back in high school, one of my classmates (an iron pumper himself) distributed anabolic-steroids on behalf of a local gang. I helped him with programming in computer classes. Once there was an incident when a guy bullied me in school. My classmate intervened and I had no more problems.
My classmate was incarcerated for drug-dealing within a year of becoming adult.
It was late 1990s. The gang that manufactured drugs was busted shortly after.
Yeah I encounter cartel members everytime I go to the big retail chains or call the communication company, since they cartelize prices.
I’m from Galicia, northwestern Spain, where a lot of big drug cartels operate. Back in the day I had friendly relations with people that belonged to those cartels (quite down in the chain of command)
There was no issue. I did not ask much, "get in their way" or did any business with them other than share some drinks since we had common friends.
Ye, it’s usually immigrant kids.. have had multiple encounters almost impossible to not if you live in the suburbs of any larger Swedish city :/ Bullerbyn är död.
I dont think any gang member identifies themselves as gang member. Unless you are involved in crime as well. So no, I dont have any experience with such encounters.
It is common to read in a local newspaper something about organized crime. Often low level, but like a warehouse nearby used for drugs or something like that. Lately its more and more common explosives are placed at a houses which is often related to crime. Its not like an every dat occurance but it happens in bigger cities.
Not personally but someone I know cut up a large car in London once, which then stopped in front of him and two very heavy gangster looking guys walked over, leaned in the window, (while he was shitting bricks) wagged his finger, said “naughty boys then they drove off.
Years ago in the dark days of 80s football I used to be on vague nodding terms with Carlton Leach who was a well known West Ham hooligan who later had close connections with The Essex Boys, drug dealers who came to an unfortunate end. Lots of West Ham fans knew him then .
In the late 90s/early 2000s due to the field I was sort of adjacent to (legal field). They were…from other parts of Europe, though. Not since then, but I’m no longer in that field. I don’t think that particular type of mafioso is as common anymore, though.
Not mafia, but I did ride past a Hells Angels club house to and from my university. The chain fell off my bike in my way home, and I was trying very unsuccessfully to fix it, and two of the Hells Angels came out and fixed it for me. They were very nice and friendly, and I always waved and called out hello when I saw them after that.
In Belgium, there have been an increasing number of incidents involving drug networks (between gangs) in recent years.
In Antwerp, for example, grenades were thrown a few years ago.
In Brussels, there have been countless shootings (with weapons of war) in very poor areas of the city.
With all the internal political problems, it’s unfortunately a situation that leave us with an impression of total political carelessness.
At the same time, there is also a vast network of stolen bikes that are resold abroad (but I think several European countries are affected).
Never. But said that I know there are proper drug gangs in the south and maybe still some in Galicia so I guess someone from any of those regions might be able to give a proper account
Yep. Late 80s. One of my late dad’s friends was a made man for the Apulian equivalent of the mafia
(at the time and place this happened, the organisation didn’t have a name; nowadays it’s sometimes called Sacra Corona Unita but I doubt it’s a very current term)
He wore expensive clothes and had a big blue Benz, but otherwise I had no idea he was in the mob until he got killed via AK in his house.
I printed the nudes of a hells Angels leaders girlfriend. I handled it very professional and polite and the payed a good tip.
In the next months a couple of prostitutes asked for me to design their pricelists.
I grew up in the wild nineties in Lithuania. So yeah I know plenty in person. For example my classmate was a gang member, he was really nice person by the way lol. Usually they wasn’t touching "civilians"
Oh yes. In the netherlands is a hotspot. There are Turkish, Maroccan, Itallian, Albanian and Russian mafias, there are Mexican and South American cartels, Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian gangs, and various other syndicates, but most daunting: the Belgo-Dutch crime groups. Rated as top 1 thread by this report on European organized crime I can’t find right now from somewhere in the last 2 or 3 years, the Belgo-Dutch crime groups are loose alliances and networks. They form and disolve, so not really "Mafia", as in strict hierachies and wide famlies. However, they tend to work away from the public eye. What happens outside the public sphere, will not get reported on in the media. Not long ago the head of the national police called the Netherlands a narco state; the police is understaffed. We’ve had this current global economic system the longest, so the accompanying underworld is also the most advanced, evolved in the tradition of not being too nosey. So if you keep your smarts, don’t do shady shit, and don’t stick your nose into other’s business, you won’t encounter it.
To answer the question: In my town, far away from the Dutch core on the German border, a former center of industry (textiles) with large disenfranchised migrant worker polutations, a tourist and university city (w/ circa 160 different nationalities), but also a gateway for smuggling to germany and a place where those not-welcome-no-more in the core Dutch underworld end-up, I’ve had more than enough unfortunate encounters. Luckily, not too unfortunate.
Barbershops in the UK are meant to be the biggest front for money laundering. My local also sells weed and the owner drives an expensive Mercedes.
Does it count if the gang members aren’t native…?
Only biker gangs like HA. They are quite chill these days though or at least there are no gangwars like the nordic biker war in the 90s.
Finnish organized crime is mostly so backroom stuff that people don’t even realize it exists.
So no.