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From California to Maine, Chinese organized crime has come to dominate much of the nation’s illicit marijuana trade. Along with the explosive growth of this criminal industry, the gangsters have unleashed lawlessness: violence, drug trafficking, money laundering, gambling, bribery, document fraud, bank fraud, environmental damage and theft of water and electricity.
Chinese organized crime has taken over marijuana in Oklahoma and the US.
The mobsters operate in a loose but disciplined confederation overseen from New York by mafias rooted in southern China. These criminal groups — the triads — wield power at home and throughout the diaspora and allegedly maintain an alliance with the 
state.
State investigators have found links between foreign mafias and over 3,000 illegal grows — and more than 80% of the criminal groups are of Chinese origin.
The expansion into the cannabis market is propelling the rise of Chinese organized crime as a global powerhouse. During the past decade, Chinese mafias became the dominant money launderers for Latin American cartels dealing narcotics including fentanyl, which has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. The huge revenue stream from marijuana fuels that laundering apparatus, which is the most extensive network of underground banking in the world.
The profits from the marijuana trade allow the Chinese organized criminal networks to expand their underground global banking system for cartels and other criminal organizations.
The power of the underworld grew, and the shadow of the Chinese state hovers over it all. The authoritarian regime and the mafias allegedly maintain an alliance that benefits both sides. In exchange for government protection, Chinese mobsters deliver services such as illegally moving money overseas for the Communist Party elite and helping to spy on and intimidate Chinese immigrant communities.
Because China has emerged as the top geopolitical rival of the US, carrying out brazen espionage and influence activities in this country, the spread of Chinese mafias in Oklahoma and elsewhere also poses a potential national security threat.
Leaders of Chinese cultural associations in Oklahoma and other states are allegedly connected to both the illegal marijuana trade and to government officials. A number of influential leaders have been charged with or convicted of crimes ranging from drug offenses to witness intimidation.
“You’d be very naive to sit and say the Chinese state doesn’t know what Chinese organized crime is doing in the US, or that there is not a connection between the Chinese state and organized crime.”
US law enforcement struggles to respond to this multifaceted threat.
propublica.org/article/chinesポストを翻訳
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