Editing Organized crime (section)

===Drug trafficking===
[[File:Drug traffic routes in Mexico.svg|thumb|upright=1.05|Drug trafficking routes in Mexico]]
There are three major regions that center around [[drug trafficking]], known as the [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]] (Burma, Laos, Thailand), [[Golden Crescent]] (Afghanistan) and Central and South America. There are suggestions that due to the continuing decline in opium production in South East Asia, traffickers may begin to look to Afghanistan as a source of heroin."<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/topics/pods/opioid-trafficking-routes|title=Heroin|website=Opioid Trafficking routes from Asia to Europe|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110402040501/http://www.aic.gov.au/crime_types/drugs_alcohol/drug_types/heroin.aspx|archive-date=2011-04-02|access-date=2019-11-01}}</ref>

With respect to organized crime and accelerating synthetic drug production in East and Southeast Asia, especially the [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]], [[Sam Gor]], also known as The Company, is the most prominent international crime syndicate based in [[Asia-Pacific]]. It is made up of members of five different triads. [[Sam Gor]] is understood to be headed by Chinese-Canadian [[Tse Chi Lop]]. The Cantonese Chinese syndicate is primarily involved in drug trafficking, earning at least $8 billion per year.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Nicola |title=Drugs investigators close in on Asian 'El Chapo' at centre of vast meth ring |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/14/drugs-investigators-close-asian-el-chapo-centre-vast-meth-ring/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/14/drugs-investigators-close-asian-el-chapo-centre-vast-meth-ring/ |archive-date=2022-01-11 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Telegraph |date=14 October 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Sam Gor is alleged to control 40% of the Asia-Pacific [[methamphetamine]] market, while also trafficking [[heroin]] and [[ketamine]]. The organization is active in a variety of countries, including Myanmar, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China and Taiwan. Sam Gor previously produced meth in Southern China and is now believed to manufacture mainly in the [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]], specifically [[Shan State]], [[Myanmar]], responsible for much of the massive surge of crystal meth in recent years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2019/10/14/inside-the-hunt-for-the-man-known-as-asias-el-chapo/|title=Inside the hunt for the man known as 'Asia's El Chapo'|date=October 14, 2019}}</ref> The group is understood to be headed by [[Tse Chi Lop]], a Chinese-Canadian gangster born in [[Guangzhou]], China.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last1=Mavrellis |first1=Channing |last2=Cassara |first2=John |date=October 27, 2022 |title=Made in China: China's Role in Transnational Crime and Illicit Financial Flows |url=https://gfintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GFI-China-TOC-IFF-Report-FINAL-OCT-22.pdf |access-date=2022-12-21 |website=[[Global Financial Integrity]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Tse is a former member of the Hong Kong-based crime group, the [[Big Circle Gang]]. In 1988, Tse immigrated to Canada. In 1998, Tse was convicted of transporting heroin into the United States and served nine years behind bars. Tse has been compared in prominence to [[Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán]] and [[Pablo Escobar]].<ref name=el>{{cite news |last1=Allard |first1=Tom |title=The hunt for Asia's El Chapo |url=https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/meth-syndicate/ |publisher=Reuters |date=14 October 2019}}</ref>

The U.S. supply of heroin comes mainly from foreign sources which include Southeast Asia's [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]], Southwest Asia, and Latin America. Heroin comes in two forms. The first is its chemical base form which presents itself as brown and the second is a salt form that is white.<ref name=":3" /> The former is mainly produced in Afghanistan and some south-west countries while the latter had a history of being produced in only south-east Asia, but has since moved to also being produced in Afghanistan. There is some suspicion white Heroin is also being produced in Iran and Pakistan, but it is not confirmed. This area of Heroin production is referred to as the Golden Crescent. Heroin is not the only drug being used in these areas. The European market has shown signs of growing use in opioids on top of the long-term heroin use.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/node/68371|title=The International Heroin Market|website=The White House|language=en|access-date=2019-11-01}} {{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Drug traffickers produce drugs in [[Clandestine chemistry|drug laboratories]] and drug farms. A drug lab can range in size from small [[workshop]]s to the size of small towns (such as [[Tranquilandia]]). A drug farm is a place where drug crops are grown before being made into illegal narcotics. A drug farm can range in size from [[smallholding]]s to large plantations. In addition to drug crops, it is also not uncommon for drug farms to also host [[livestock]], both to have a legal source of revenue to help disguise the dirty money and so that the livestock can provide a source of [[organic fertilizer]] (such as [[manure]]) for the drug crops.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://leafwell.com/blog/best-fertilizer-for-marijuana/#:~:text=Instead%2C%20utilize%20organic%20fertilizers%20like,lime%20for%20calcium%20or%20magnesium. | title=The 6 Best Fertilizers You Can Buy to Help Grow Marijuana }}</ref> There are multiple instances where traffickers set up some of their drug farms, [[safe house]]s and drug labs in remote [[wilderness]] areas.<ref name="Narco-deforestation">{{cite journal|last1=McSweeney|first1=Kendra|last2=Nielsen|first2=Erik|last3=Taylor|first3=Matthew|last4=Wrathall|first4=David|last5=Pearson|first5=Zoe|last6=Wang|first6=Ophelia|last7=Plumb|first7=Spencer|title=Drug Policy as Conservation Policy: Narco-Deforestation|journal=Science|date=January 31, 2014|volume=343|issue=6170|pages=489–490|url=http://raisg.socioambiental.org/system/files/Science-2014-McSweeney-489-90.pdf|doi=10.1126/science.1244082|pmid=24482468|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222082809/http://raisg.socioambiental.org/system/files/Science-2014-McSweeney-489-90.pdf|archive-date=December 22, 2015|bibcode=2014Sci...343..489M|s2cid=40371211}}</ref> Once produced, the fully processed narcotics are then transported to more populated areas to be sold. Oftentimes the traffickers stationed in these remote criminal settlements, sustain themselves with a combination of [[survival skills]] and with food, supplies and workers being brought to them by associates. The reason that traffickers have been known to establish such remote compounds is so that the surrounding area can help to provide varying degrees of natural cover. Additionally the traffickers may also hope, that the surrounding terrain and local [[wildlife]] might serve to deter or impede either investigative authorities or rival gangs if the location of the clandestine compound were revealed. While usually thought of as an urban issue, drug trafficking is also known to be a problem in both [[suburb]]an and [[rural area]]s as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/human-trafficking-americas-schools/trafficking-in-urban-suburban-rural-areas|title=Trafficking in Urban, Suburban, and Rural Areas &#124; National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE)|website=safesupportivelearning.ed.gov}}</ref>