Last month, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) released a report authored by
CEP Senior Advisor Alexander Ritzmann along with 11 other researchers from CEP
and other institutions in the U.S. and Europe exploring the connections between
right-wing extremists and organized crime. Their work, which was commissioned
by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, is the first critical analysis of its
kind.





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CEP Report Examines Ties Between Right-Wing Extremism And Organized Crime



(New York, N.Y.) — Last month, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) released a
report
<[link removed]>
authored by CEP Senior AdvisorAlexander Ritzmann
<[link removed]> along with 11
other researchers from CEP and other institutions in the U.S. and Europe
exploring the connections between right-wing extremists and organized crime.
Their work, which was commissioned by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, is
the first critical analysis of its kind.



To read the CEP report, Transnational Linkages Between Violent Right-Wing
Extremism, Terrorism And Organized Crime, please click here
<[link removed]>
.



The report identified that in the U.S. and several European countries
including Austria, Poland, Germany, and Sweden, violence-oriented right-wing
extremists (VRWEs) are cooperating with organized crime (OC) actors. Key actors
include VRWE football hooligan groups, prison gangs, and neo-Nazi organizations
as well as outlaw motorcycle gangs like the Bandidos or Hells Angels.



In many instances, researchers found examples of cross-border activities such
as “the acquisition of illegal drugs for distribution or parallel memberships
in VRWE and transnational OC groups” though links “vary in intensity, ranging
from mere operational contacts to supply illegal materials to a full-scale
transformation of VRWE structures into OC structures that follow a [right-wing
extremist] ideology.”



Ritzmann, who explained the key findings and recommendations of the report in a
CEP Webinar on March 29 <[link removed]>, said
that “the existing law enforcement strategies in Europe and the United States
often miss out on identifying connections between VRWE and organized crime
actors or networks. Law enforcement should consider reframing their approaches
to not miss out on this component of extremist and terrorist financing.”



Law enforcement and policymakers are currently ill-equipped to fully
understand the financial strategies employed by VRWE groups and individuals in
many countries. A statistical category which could display linkages between
VRWE and OC would be a first step. Data collection, analysis, and sharing
practices related to OC activities and strategies by VRWE actors should be
improved on the international, European, and national levels.



The report’s authors further observe that the Financial Action Task Force is
ideally placed to explore transnational VRWE and OC cooperation. Also, national
and regional Joint VRWE-OC Task Forces should be created to investigate the
existing linkages between VRWE and OC further. Broader criminal networks and
strategies could be exposed and mitigated as a result. The financial industry
should be included in this effort as well.



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