Understanding the Dynamics of Clan Crime: Networks, Continuities, and Influences

This panel aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of ‘clan crime’, emphasizing the need for multi-dimensional approaches to study and address this phenomenon effectively. By integrating network, generational, and gendered analyses, the panel offers a nuanced perspective on the persistence and evolution of organized crime within familial contexts, highlighting potential intervention points to disrupt these entrenched networks.

Organizer and Moderator: Mahmoud Jaraba

This panel delves into the multifaceted nature of ‘clan crime’, offering a comprehensive exploration of its network, generational, and gendered dimensions through diverse case studies and research findings. By analyzing specific criminal clans, the panel seeks to uncover the underlying mechanisms that sustain and propagate organized crime within family networks. The presentations will collectively enhance our understanding of how these clans operate, evolve, and impact broader societal contexts.

Criminal Clan and Normalization of Violence

Dina Siegel, Utrecht University

This presentation focuses on the Abu-Latif criminal clan in the Galilee, Israel. Based on ethnographic research conducted from 2020 to 2023, Dina Siegel analyzes how this clan monopolized illicit markets for drugs, weapons, and extortion in northern Israel. The study highlights how violence, including contract killings, has become 'normalized' in Arab and Druze villages, offering insights into the mechanisms through which such normalization occurs and its broader social impacts.

Intergenerational Continuity in Organized Crime Families

Toine Spapens, Tilburg University

Toine Spapens explores the critical role of family ties in criminal networks, emphasizing the intergenerational continuity of criminal behavior within organized crime families in the Netherlands. Drawing from various studies, this presentation examines the risk and protection factors that influence the transmission of criminal activities across generations. While the transfer of criminal leadership to the next generation is not always apparent, understanding these dynamics is crucial for developing strategies to prevent the perpetuation of organized crime.

The Importance of Family Ties in Organized Crime

Hans Moors, EMMA, Experts in Media & Society

This presentation underscores the importance of examining criminal family networks and clans as alternative power structures that challenge state authority. Using the concept of ‘criminal clans,’ Hans Moors highlights how extended family networks engage in criminal collaborations, particularly in contexts where state structures are weak. Reflecting on Dutch research, this study emphasizes the need for focused investigations into ‘criminal clans’ to understand their role in organized crime fully.

The Hidden Hand: Women's Impact on ‘Clan Crimes’

Mahmoud Jaraba, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Mahmoud Jaraba’s presentation sheds light on the significant yet often overlooked role of women in ‘clan crime.’ Through ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with both male and female clan members in Germany, the study explores how women contribute to clan criminal activities. Although women do not typically hold leadership positions, their influence in the generational transmission of criminal behavior is crucial. This presentation argues that understanding women's roles is essential for comprehending the full scope of clan criminality.