In todays Cyberpunk 2077 and cyberpunk lore video we are talking about organized crime and crime organizations in the world of Cyberpunk and how they run their operations and underground activities in throughout the world.
Organized crime groups are disciplined groups of criminals who run criminal businesses and enterprises with the goal of control, power and notoriety. They can operate anywhere from locally all the way up to internationally. Groups can have members that are all part of the same ethnic group, region, clan, or they can also involve people from various groups. These organized crime conglomerates can be called syndicates, mobs, cartels, families, clans, mafias and so on.
The most powerful organized crime crime groups of the 21st century are the Chinese triads, the Japanese Yakuza, The Russian Organitskaya and the Italian Mafia. There are other crime syndicates including drugs lords of peru, Colombia and southeast asia amongs others.
Let’s look at the big 4 global criminal networks in the world of Cyberpunk as well as the organized crime within the Unites States of America.
Within the big 4 we first have the Chinese Triads. The triads originated in the 17th century and were founded by several monks who despite their loyalty to Manchu emperors were betrayed when their monastery was destroyed and their fellow monks were slaughtered by imperial forces. They vowed to overthrow corrupt regimes and established a secret anti-Manchu society.
In the Cyberpunk Era the triads benefited greatly through overseas expansion into Canada, the US and New Zealand, where their participation in a war led to them becoming allies of corporations based in Hong kong.
Triads vary greatly on how they are structured as some are loosely organized and some are a structured hierarchy. The dragonheads which are the triad leaders usually lead a low key low profile life where they run a small business or restaurant to keep the façade of humility as they are running their operations in the shadows.
The triads are into a wide variety of criminal activities.
Within china there is a massie black market in weaponry, satellite dishes, cyberware, imported food and Japanese braindance, and they often dip into the vices of gambling and prostitution. They run smuggling operations, designer drugs manufacturing and house invasions amongst other things. In the United States the triads are the most brutal of organized crime groups, terrorizing or killing entire families as warnings to others. The big hitters of the Triads usually have cyber modifications and a wide variety of combat drugs to give them the edge in combat.
Next we have the Japanese Yakuza, a word which comes from Sammai Karuta a Japanese gambling game, in which getting 19 points is the ideal. Now I’m not sure if this is a mistake in the Wiki, but in real life the goal is to get 9 points. The worst hand is the cards of 8-9-3 pronounced ya-ku-sa hence the name.
The yakuza is spread globally in the same rate and scope as some of the most successful Japanese corporations. In the Yakuza, you choose two paths, death or prison.
The leader of a Yakuza clan is called the Oyabun who has his powere granted by the chief of the Osaka Clan. These chiefs are the alliance of Yakuza bosses overseeing worldwide Yakuza operations.
The Yakuza are into extensive body tattooing which is used to identify their clan affiliations.
Next we have the Organitskaya the Russian mafia from the new USSR. Organized crime is so deeply ingrained in the Soviet Union that law enforcement doesn’t take action unless mob wars break out.
The organitskaya are into smuggling and dealing weaponry, technology, food, aeroydynes, computers and western cyberware. The Organitskaya are not united and usually have internal conflict over control of military-grade weaponry.
In Russia the Organistkaya collect proctection money from 80% of the business in Russia, and have over 8000 syndicates with more than 180,000 members.
Next up we have the Mafia, an organized crime network of Italian origin in North America and Europe.
In Europe there is the Sicilian Mafia, The Neopolitan Camorra and the youngest faction the Nuovo Mafia. In the state of Italy, both the Sicilian Mafia and Camorra have become legitimate political parties.
The American Mafia’s origins trace back to the Sicilian clan-families known as the Coas Nostra. Due to the myth that the Mafia were non-existent, they were able to consolidate their power and adopt a cloak of secrecy.
The American Mafia is organized into families each of which owns a specific city. They are lead by a Capo or godfather who is always male, and his successor is always male. the mafia provides their community with services, goods and desperately needed loans.
Finally we have the sudams, who consist of Colombians and other south American drug cartels and their western offshoots.