# Mafia state

In politics, a mafia state is a state system where the government is tied with organized crime to the degree when government officials, the police, and/or military became a part of the criminal enterprise.

## Quotes

* The United States is a failed democracy and a mafia state, the natural result of what happens when capitalism is deregulated.
** Chauncey DeVega, "Gangster capitalist’... is running a ‘mafia state’ — and things are about to get worse: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Chauncey DeVega", Alternet and Salon July 16, 2020
* As Castro’s swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 27 approaches, the new president faces a daunting question: How do you rebuild democratic institutions in a mafia state?
** Will Freeman, "Castro Will Have Her Hands Full Cleaning Up Honduras’ Mafia State",World Politics Review, Jan. 5, 2022.
* Is Russia a fascist state? A totalitarian one? A dictatorship? A cult of personality? A system? An autocracy? An ideocracy? A kleptocracy? The best description of the Russian state is a mafia state.
** Masha Gessen, "Putin: The Rule of the Family", The New York Review of Books, March 14, 2016.
* The term “mafia state” was pioneered by Bálint Magyar, a sociologist in Hungary, Russia’s closest ally in Europe. Magyar and his colleagues have elaborated on the concept in the last decade, as Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán has amassed power, eliminated political and economic rivals, and turned the institutions of his state into instruments of personal power.
** Masha Gessen, "Putin: The Rule of the Family", The New York Review of Books, March 14, 2016.
* Grinda stated that he considers Belarus, Chechnya, and Russia to be virtual "mafia states" ... One cannot differentiate between the activities of the government and OC [organized crime] groups.
** Spanish prosecutor José Grinda Gonzalez, 13 January 2010, as cited in Luke Harding's Mafia State: How One Reporter Became an Enemy of the Brutal New Russia (2011).
* Litvinenko’s theory was that Putin and the intelligence services have taken over, manipulated and absorbed the criminal groups... We had accepted the idea that the world of the Russian mafia was like that. But it’s true that the case made other people think this gentleman [Alexander Litvinenko] had told the truth, because now he was dead.
** Spanish prosecutor José Grinda Gonzalez, quoted by "A Gangster Place in the Sun: How Spain’s Fight Against the Mob Revealed Russian Power Networks", ProPublica, Nov 10, 2017.
* [Litvinenko's thesis] said the Kremlin, its well-resourced spy agencies, and the Russian mafia had merged. In effect, they formed a single criminal entity, a mafia state. Litvinenko's reward was a radioactive cup of tea, delivered to him by two Russians in a London hotel bar.
** Luke Harding, "Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and how Russia Helped Donald Trump Win". 2017.
* Systems of governance that are seized by a tiny cabal become mafia states. The early years —Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton in the United States—are marked by promises that the pillage will benefit everyone. The later years—George W. Bush and Barack Obama — are marked by declarations that things are getting better even though they are getting worse. The final years — Donald Trump — see the lunatic trolls, hedge fund parasites, con artists, conspiracy theorists and criminals drop all pretense and carry out an orgy of looting and corruption. The rich never have enough.
** Chris Hedges, "The Mafia State", TruthDig, December 05, 2016
* Yet we are concerned with more than just the financial impact. These groups may infiltrate our businesses. They may provide logistical support to hostile foreign powers. They may try to manipulate those at the highest levels of government. Indeed, these so-called “iron triangles” of organized criminals, corrupt government officials, and business leaders pose a significant national security threat.
** Sixth FBI Director Robert S. Mueller in "The Evolving Organized Crime Threat", archives.fbi.gov, January 27, 2011
* Given the volume, international scope, financial implications, and extraordinarily complex logistical requirements of today's illicit markets, it is illogical to assume that governments are not more deeply involved in these criminal activities than ever before. What is more, some of these governments are not merely accomplices but the actual leaders of criminal enterprises. (Text is part of Moisés Naím's reply to Peter Andreas comments in the first part of this article)
** Moisés Naím & Peter Andreas, "Measuring the Mafia-State Menace", Foreign Affairs, July 1, 2012

## See also

* Corruption
* Crime
* Rule of law