Drug entrepreneurs are frequently portrayed as being violent, secretive, and only willing to work with trusted “equals.” However, these images often contrast with the social reality of drug dealing and dealers, which is more mundane, consensual, and public than imagined. Moreover, Colombian drug traffickers are either pushed to perform in accordance with such perceptions or simply to exploit their violent or secretive reputations. In addition to the actual use of violence, secrecy, and trust, drug entrepreneurs often use these resources strategically as a form of manipulation to either defend themselves, to gain power, or to construct their social or ethnic identities. While these resources serve as essential tools for business performance, they also constitute obstacles for success. The time is past for guns and killings and massacres. We have to be cunning like the business people, there's more money in it and it's better for our children and grandchildren. Mario Puzo, The Godfather

and KeywordsBetween organized crime and the legitimate societal context, there are usually all sorts of "interfaces," and the relationships between legality and illegality are by no means necessarily antagonistic or aimed at avoiding one another. Instead of operating in a social vacuum, organized crime has a habit of interacting with its social environment. This contribution aims to develop the perspective of the social embeddedness of organized crime. It focuses on the embeddedness of organized crime with regard to gender relations, ethnic minorities, and occupations. We also show here that the relations between the environment and organized crime are constantly changing.

While the trade in human organs remains largely in the darkness as it is hardly reported, detected or scientifically researched, a range of key institutional stakeholders, professionals, policy-makers and scholars involved in this field show remarkable high levels of moral condemnation and share a rather unanimous prohibitionist line. Some have equated this phenomenon to genocide or talk about 'neo-cannibalism', others present it as dominated by mafias and rogue traders. However, organ trafficking takes very different shapes, each one with their own ethical dilemmas. Simplistic formulaic responses purely based in more criminalisation should be critically evaluated. Based on a qualitative study conducted on the demand for kidneys (transplant tourism) in and from the Netherlands, we present in this article some of the main empirical results and discuss their implications. But before doing that, this contribution briefly describes the global patterns of contemporary organ trade and the way the problem has been framed and constructed by international policy bodies, professional (transplant) organisations and some scholars.

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Background. Transplant tourism is a phenomenon where patients travel abroad to purchase organs for transplants. This paper presents the results of a fieldwork study by describing the experiences of Dutch transplant professionals confronted by patients who allegedly purchased kidney transplants abroad. Second, it addresses the legal definition and prohibition of transplant tourism under national and international law. The final part addresses the legal implications of transplant tourism for patients and physicians. Methods. The study involved seventeen interviews among transplant physicians, transplant coordinators and policy-experts and a review of national and international legislation that prohibit transplant tourism. Results. All Dutch transplant centers are confronted with patients who undergo transplants abroad. The estimated total number is four per year. Transplant tourism is not explicitly defined under national and international law. While the purchase of organs is almost universally prohibited, transplant tourism is hardly punishable because national laws generally do not apply to crimes committed abroad. Moreover, the purchase of organs (abroad) is almost impossible to prove. Conclusions. Transplant tourism is a legally complex phenomenon that warrants closer research and dialogue. The legal rights and obligations of patients and physicians confronted with transplant tourism should be clarified.