Episode One: How Albania became a hotbed of organised crime, and gave rise to the Albanian mafia.
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Sign up here to gain access to our forthcoming report on Albanian organised crime, to be released at the end of this video series: https://hubs.ly/Q01zB8yY0
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The Albanian mafia is now one of Europe’s biggest organised crime groups, conquering the European drug market and playing significant roles in human trafficking and Europe’s arms trade. But how did this happen? In this video series we’ll cover the leading role Albanian organised crime plays in Europe’s cocaine, cannabis and human trafficking trades, with Albanian gangs operating in cities across Western Europe and beyond.

But first, we’ll look at how the Albanian mafia began to emerge, and how a period of turmoil in the 1990s created the perfect conditions for organised crime to thrive in Albania, and then led to its spread across the continent.

From the collapse of communism and the secret service creating black markets and opportunities for Albanian mafia groups to infiltrate the emerging state – and former members of the state becoming part of these mafia groups, too – to failed pyramid schemes leading to the looting of arms, collapse of the state and the formation of armed gangs across the country, the Albanian mafia developed during a period of significant instability and violence in Albania.

Watch now to learn more about how Albania became the ideal place for organised crime groups to take root in the country, form relationships with some of the world’s biggest mafia groups, and gain a foothold in lucrative criminal trades.
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Chapters:

Intro: 00:00-00:50
The fall of Communism: 00:50-03:45
Collapse of Pyramid Schemes: 03:45-05:12
The revival of the Kanun: 05:12-06:21
Rising violence: 06:21-07:50
Coming soon: Our in-depth report on Albanian organised crime: 07:50-08:20
Spreading diaspora and War in Kosovo: 08:20-10:32
Links with foreign mafia groups: 10:32-14:19
What comes next: 14:19-15:14

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