Part 10/13:
The speaker references philosopher Moisés Naím, who observed that the first beneficiaries of globalization were criminal organizations. Modern cartels operate like multinational corporations, with diversified portfolios that include agriculture, real estate, and illicit activities that blend seamlessly into legitimate economies across North America, Europe, and beyond.
Their embeddedness within national economies ensures their resilience, making it nearly impossible to dislodge them through conventional law enforcement alone. They are now so intertwined with legal industries that dismantling them would require a fundamental overhaul of economic and political systems.