Put your money with the real criminals

duncan campbell is fascinated by a book on organised crime, which now accounts for 20 per cent of the global economy

With shares plunging, credit crunching and markets in crisis, where can investors put their money with any degree of confidence? How about Canadian cannabis futures? Or a flutter on Nigerian advance fee frauds?

The Albanian stolen car market looks robust and Cantonese triads offer a reasonable return. And what about this rather intriguing Colombian-Bulgarian cocaine enterprise? Worth adding to the portfolio?

According to the IMF and the World Bank, the 'shadow economy' now accounts for between 15 and 20 per cent of the global economy and appears unstoppable. Misha Glenny, the journalist who distinguished himself with his coverage of eastern Europe and the Balkan conflict, has provided a very handy and perfectly timed basic guide to the

sturdiest of our multinational businesses: crime.

Drugs may seem like the most obvious and profitable of criminal economies, but everything from cigarette-smuggling to internet scams, from cross-border prostitution rings to old-fashioned protection rackets, are now offering the kind of tax-free high returns for which the markets yearn.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellites is the engine that has driven much of the latest expansion in unfettered, international crime. When secret policemen found themselves out of work, where better to employ their talents than in crime?

But nations both developed and undeveloped are playing their parts in its expansion.

One of the most absorbing passages in McMafia is the history of the cannabis industry in British Columbia. Or should that be Colombia? By 2001, the marijuana business there was reckoned to be worth $4bn and providing employment for 100,000 people. No wonder the lumberjacks always seem to