The Global Initiative has reviewed the biggest developments, publications and new tools on organized crime for the last month and is pleased to share the “Analyzing Organized Crime” brief for July 2013.  This tool, which from now on will be published monthly in the first week of each month, is intended to help policy makers, practitioners and interested analysts to keep abreast of the major policy developments, publications and events around organized crime.

The big news in July were the high profile arrests of two infamous Mexican cartel leaders, and the debate on how this will affect Mexico’s drug war.  We also look at how two West Africa elections in Mali and Guinea Bissau will be impacted by organized crime and ask whether enough is being done to hold the governments to account for delinking crime from governance?

We pick up debates on cybercrime after the indictment of six men for almost $300 million in illicit profits from identity fraud, whilst a new report from CSIS explores the cost of cyber espionage and IOSCO probes for vulnerabilities in the securities market.

Finally, we look at a growing meth culture in Asia, and its implications for local culture, the economy and the fight against transnational organized crime.

You can download the inaugural Analyzing Organized Crime Brief – June 2013 here, and we hope you find our briefs interesting and useful.  We are grateful for any feedback on how to make the next edition more so, so please do email the Secretariat (secretariat@globalinitiative.net) with your comments and suggestions.  See you next month!