For the purposes of this article the definition used will be the one made in a United Nations report entitled Larger Freedom on 17 March 2005:
"[any action] intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act." Notable criminal organizations They include the Italian Mafia (or Cosa Nostra), The Irish Mob, the Colombian drug cartels, the Japanese Yakuza, the Chinese Triads, the Russian Mafia, the Brazilian PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). Prisoners may also be involved in criminal organizations. Many terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, the Provisional IRA and the Ulster Defence Association also engage in criminal activity such as trafficking and money laundering as well as terrorism. The original Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was created after the end of the American Civil War on December 24, 1865, by six educated, middle-class Confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee.[6] It soon spread into nearly every southern state of the United States. The Klan has advocated what is generally perceived as white supremacy, antisemitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, and nativism. They have often used terrorism, violence and acts of intimidation such as cross burning to oppress African Americans and other groups. The name "Ku Klux Klan" has been used by many different unrelated groups, but they all seem to center on the belief of white supremacy. >From its creation to the present day, the number of members and influence has varied greatly. However, there is little doubt that, especially in the southern United States, it has at times wielded much political influence and generated great fear among African Americans and their supporters. At one time the KKK controlled the governments of Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Oregon, in addition to some of the Southern U.S. legislatures. moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
