Organized crime is a problem around the world. There are the drug cartels of Mexico and Colombia, the Russian mafia, Asian triads, and Eastern European crime syndicates, to name a few. Organized crime is estimated to generate more than a trillion dollars in profits per year.1 An organized crime syndicate functions much like a government or corporation. There are several income streams from drug and human trafficking, weapons trafficking, prostitution, blackmail, extortion, and legitimate businesses. It also provides similar protection to that of the police and military.2 Much of the money they collect must be "cleaned" before it can be seized by law enforcement, and many legitimate companies will not touch this money if it can be traced. If this money were to be rendered unusable by freezing the accounts or if the money were to be seized, this would cripple the organization because without money they could not pay off their debts if they purchased drugs on credit, bought weapons or ammunition, paid off their debts. associates or bribe officials. One of the biggest problems in dealing with organized crime is that many often launder their money outside of the United States to avoid laws put in place to prevent money laundering. Some of the major countries are Bahamas, Cook Islands, Dominica, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Panama, Philippines, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent, Russia, Israel, Cayman Islands and the Grenadines.3 People, companies and criminal organizations use these countries to keep money out of the jurisdiction of local authorities. It also makes it difficult to track the money once it passes through a different count…half of the card…INTERPOL. May 13, 2010. http://www.justice.gov/usncb/whoweare/mission.php (accessed May 13, 2010). Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Department of Justice. Public reporting of financial crimes. May 2005. http://www.fbi.gov/publications/financial/fcs_report052005/fcs_report052005.htm#h1 (accessed May 17, 2010). “Countries that launder money.” National Center for Policy Analysis (2000): 1. Web. May 23, 2010. .Muth, Mike. CALEA Online. http://www.calea.org/online/newsletter/No76/interpol.htm (accessed 14 May 2010).Organized Crime - Structure. http://law.jrank.org/pages/1627/Organized-Crime-Structure.html (accessed May 20, 2010). The Times of India. May 12, 2010. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Indian-man-on-Interpol-list-arrested-in-US/articleshow/5922743.cms (accessed May 14, 2010).