It’s tough to go even a few months without seeing the effects of organized crime on the economy and everyday life. The most salient example these days is the rash of thefts of credit card data from big-name retail chains like Home Depot and Target.
集团犯罪对经济和日常生活造成的影响，时不时地就会跃入我们的视线当中。而近些时日最突出的例证，莫过于知名连锁店家得宝（Home Depot）和塔吉特百货(Target)的信用卡数据接连遭窃了。

While these threats are headline-grabbing and particularly frightening because e-commerce is a relatively new phenomenon and businesses and consumers aren’t totally sure how to protect themselves from hackers, it’s still a drop in the bucket in terms of overall organized crime earnings.
这些网络安全事件往往占据新闻头条，而且由于电子商务是个相对新鲜的事物，商家和顾客都不太清楚要如何防卫黑客的攻击，因此它们显得十分恐怖。其实相比起有组织犯罪的全部收入，这不过是沧海一粟罢了。
A 2013 survey from Javelin Strategy and Research estimates that the annual total loss to Americans due to identity theft was roughly $20 billion. But much of those costs comes from efforts to prevent identity theft or recover from its effects, rather than what thieves earn from their crimes. Compare that to estimates of pure revenue from other forms of organized crime like the drug trade and human trafficking: the Organization of American States estimates that the revenue for cocaine sales in the U.S. has reached $34 billion annually. When you add the market for other illicit drugs and revenue generators like human trafficking and extortion, it becomes clear that organized crime is still making most of its money from its legacy businesses, despite the fact that criminals are always looking for new ways to make a buck.
研究公司Javelin Strategy and Research在2013年的调查中估计，身份盗用每年给美国人造成的损失大约为200亿美元。但这其中大部分都花在阻止或挽回身份盗用的损失上，而不是流进小偷的口袋里。再来看看毒品贸易和人口贩卖等其他有组织犯罪的纯收益：据美洲国家组织（Organization of American States）估算，美国每年仅可卡因销售额就高达340亿美元。再把其他毒品贸易、人口贩卖、敲诈等收入加起来看，你就能很明显地发现，尽管犯罪团伙总是在寻找新的生财之道，但他们的大多数收入还是来自那些传统行当。
So, who are the biggest organized crime gangs around the world and how do they make their money? Organized crime revenues are very difficult to estimate, as criminals often spend a significant amount of time trying to hide what they make. Also, “organized crime” is a loosely defined concept. Anything from a vast drug smuggling ring to a handful of car thieves can be classified as organized crime groups, and the cohesiveness of organized crime organizations around the world varies widely. Some groups, like Japan’s Yakuza, are highly organized and hierarchical, allowing economists and crime fighters in Japan to attribute much higher revenue totals to Yakuza groups than others around the world. Here are the top five criminal gangs, ranked by revenue estimates:
那么，全球最大的有组织犯罪集团究竟是哪些？他们是怎么挣钱的？我们很难估计团伙犯罪的收入，因为罪犯通常会花大量时间来隐藏他们的所得。而且，“有组织犯罪”也是个定义不太明确的概念。从大型的毒品走私集团到小规模的偷车贼，都可以被归为有组织犯罪，而且全球范围内，不同犯罪集团的内部凝聚力也大相径庭。日本极道（Yazuka）等一些团伙组织有序、层级森严，因此日本的经济学家和打黑斗士们算出的极道组织总收入要远远高于世界其他犯罪组织。以下是根据预估收入排名列出的全球五大有组织犯罪集团：
1. Yamaguchi Guri—Revenue: $80 billion
1、山口组(Yamaguchi Guri) 收入：800亿美元
The largest known gang in the world is called the Yamaguchi Guri, one of several groups collectively referred to in Japan as “Yakuza,” a term that is roughly equivalent to the American use of “mafia.” The Yamaguchi Guri make more money from drug trafficking than any other source, according to HiromitsuSuganuma, Japan’s former national police chief. The next two leading sources of revenue are gambling and extortion, followed closely by “dispute resolution.”
全球已知的最大黑帮名为山口组，它与其他几个日本团伙被统称为“日本极道”，意思类似于美国的“黑手党”。根据前日本国家警察局长菅沼宏光的介绍，山口组的最大收入来源是毒品贸易，其次是赌博和敲诈，“摆平纠纷”紧随其后。
The Yakuza date back hundreds of years, and according to Dennis McCarthy, author of An Economic History of Organized Crime, Yakuza groups are among the most centralized in the world. While other East Asian gangs like Chinese Triads, which are a loose conglomeration of criminals bonded together mostly by familial relations, Yakuza are bound together by “elaborate hierarchies,” and members, once initiated, must subvert all other allegiances in favor of the Yakuza. Even with the Japanese government cracking down on Yakuza in recent years, this centralized structure has made it easy to attribute a massive amount of revenue to this single gang.
日本极道的历史可以追溯到好几百年前。《集团犯罪的经济史》（An Economic History of Organized Crime）的作者丹尼斯o麦卡锡表示，极道团伙是全球最为集权的组织之一。其他东亚团伙如中国的三合会（Triads）等，罪犯大多数是由家庭关系维系在一起，组织较为松散。而极道则有“精心设立的阶层”，成员一旦入伙，就必须抛弃其他效忠对象，一心一意忠于极道。尽管近年来日本政府大力打击极道，但这种集权化的结构使得山口组可以轻易攫取大量财富。
2. SolntsevskayaBratva—Revenue: $8.5 billion
2、松采沃兄弟会(SolntsevskayaBratva) 收入：85亿美元
Russian mafia groups sit on the other side of the organizational spectrum from Yakuza. Their structure, according to Frederico Varese, a professor of criminology at the University of Oxford and an expert on international organized crime, is highly decentralized. The group is composed of 10 separate quasi-autonomous “brigades” that operate more or less independently of each other. The group does pool its resources, however, and the money is overseen by a 12-person council that “meets regularly in different parts of the world, often disguising their meetings as festive occasions,” Varesi says.
俄罗斯黑帮采用的组织结构与日本极道迥然不同。根据牛津大学（University of Oxford）犯罪学教授和国际集团犯罪研究专家弗雷德里克o瓦雷泽的介绍，俄罗斯黑帮是高度分散化的。松采沃兄弟会由10个不同的半自治“大队”组成，运作时相对独立。然而，瓦雷泽表示，该组织确实会整合他们的资源，组织的财产由一个12人委员会管理，他们“定期在全球不同的地方会面，会议通常会伪装成节庆活动。”
It’s estimated that the group claims upwards of 9,000 members, and that it’s bread and butter is the drug trade and human trafficking. Russian organized crime in general is heavily involved in the heroin trade that originates in Afghanistan: it’s estimated that Russia consumes about 12% of the world’s heroin, while it contains just 0.5% of the world’s population.
据估计，该组织有不少于9,000名成员，主要收入来源是毒品贸易和贩卖人口。通常情况下，俄罗斯犯罪团伙会大量涉足来自阿富汗的海洛因贸易：据估计，俄罗斯消费了全球12%的海洛因，而该国人口仅占全球的0.5%。
3. Camorra—Revenue: $4.9 billion
3、克莫拉(Camorra) 收入：49亿美元
While the Italian-American mafia has been severely weakened in recent decades by law enforcement, the Italian mafia in the old country is still running strong. Despite years of efforts from citizens, journalists, and government officials, the local governments in Italy remain linked to and protective of various mafia groups, to the point where a 2013 study from the UniversitàCattolica and the Joint research Centre on Transnational Crime estimated that mafia activities generate revenue of $33 billion dollars, mostly divided among Italy’s four major mafia gangs.
美国的意大利裔黑手党最近几十年来受到了执法机关的严厉打击，不过意大利国内的黑手党依旧十分强势。尽管意大利的公民、记者和政府官员努力了多年，但该国的地方政府依旧与许多黑帮团伙保持联系，并为他们提供保护。米兰圣心天主教大学（UniversitàCattolica）和跨国犯罪联合研究中心（Joint research Centre on Transnational Crime）2013年的研究估计，意大利的黑手党总共赚取了330亿美元的收入，其中大部分由四大黑手党瓜分。
Camorra is the most successful of these groups, raking in an estimated $4.9 billion per year on everything from “sexual exploitation, firearms trafficking, drugs, counterfeiting, gambling … usury and extortion,” according to the report. And Camorra has been at it a long time. Based in Naples, the group’s history dates back to the 19th century, when it was formed initially as a prison gang. As members were released, the group flourished during the bloody political struggles in Italy during the 1800s by offering protection services and as a force for political organization among Italy’s poor.
克莫拉是这些团伙中最为成功的一个，估计每年能够攫取49亿美元的收入。这份研究报告显示，他们涉足的领域丰富多样：“性剥削、军火交易、毒品、制假、赌博……高利贷以及敲诈。”而克莫拉已经这样经营了很长时间。该组织总部位于那不勒斯，历史可以追溯到19世纪，最早是一个监狱里的团伙。这个团伙的成员在19世纪初获释之际，正赶上意大利血雨腥风般的政治斗争。通过提供安全保护，该团伙迅速壮大，俨然成为一支代表意大利贫困阶层的政治力量。
4. ‘Ndrangheta—Revenue: $4.5 billion
4、光荣会(‘Ndrangheta)收入：45亿美元
Based in the Calabria region of Italy, the ‘Ndarangheta is the country’s second largest mafia group by revenue. While it is involved in many of the same illicit activities as Camorra, ‘Ndrangheta has made its name for itself by building international ties with South American cocaine dealers, and it controls much of the transatlantic drug market that feeds Europe. It has also been expanding its operations in the U.S. and has helped prop up the Gambino and Bonnano crime families in New York. In February, Italian and American police forces arrested dozens of ‘Ndrangheta and Gambino family members and charged them with crimes related to the transatlantic drug trade.
总部位于意大利卡拉布里亚的光荣会，是该国收入第二多的黑手党组织。尽管他们的许多非法勾当与克莫拉类似，但真正让光荣会名声大噪的，却是他们同南美可卡因经销商建立起来的国际关系。该组织还在向欧洲供货的跨大西洋毒品市场上占有很大份额。此外，光荣会还在美国拓展业务，为纽约的甘比诺（Gambino）和波纳诺（Bannano）两个犯罪家族提供支持。今年2月，意大利和美国警方逮捕了数十名光荣会和甘比诺家族的成员，并以跨大西洋毒品贸易的罪名对他们发起指控。
5. Sinaloa Cartel—Revenue $3 billion
5、西纳罗亚集团(Sinaloa Cartel) 收入：30亿美元
Sianola is Mexico’s largest drug cartel, one of several gangs that has been terrorizing the Mexican population as it serves as the middleman between South American producers of illegal drugs and an unquenchable American market. The White House Office of Drug Control Policy estimates that Americans spend $100 billion on illegal drugs each year, and the RAND Corporation says that about $6.5 billion of that reaches Mexican cartels. With an estimated 60% market share, Sinola cartel is raking in approximately $3 billion per year.
西纳罗亚是墨西哥最大的贩毒集团。作为南美非法毒品的生产商和难以遏制的美国毒品市场的中间人，他们是让墨西哥人十分恐惧的几个团伙之一。白宫毒品控制政策办公室（Office of Drug Control Policy）估计，美国人每年要消费1,000亿美元的非法毒品，而兰德公司（RAND Corporation）表示，其中的65亿美元流入墨西哥贩毒集团。西纳罗亚在其中大概有60%的市场占有率，因此以每年大约30亿美元的收入上榜。
Despite the fact that Sinaloa’s leader was arrested February, the cartel seems to have avoided the sort of bloody—and costly—succession battle that has plagued some groups when a leader is taken out of commission.
西纳罗亚的头目在今年2月遭到逮捕。当领导人不在后，许多组织都会受到内部权利斗争的困扰。但西纳罗亚似乎已经避免了血腥且代价高昂的继承权之争。