Underground banking in the Netherlands

Abstract

In our recent publication on organized crime, to which Ernesto Savona contributed his insightful analysis of three Italian mafia groups, a range of authors address the ways in which criminal groups operate and make money in the 21st century. A question in this context that continues to fascinate criminologists concerns the international flows of criminal money. Underground banking, has two faces: the actors may be locally embedded, but they are also part of international cooperatives which enable them to arrange international money transfers. The money 'moves', but the bankers are stationary. They are available to their customers at regular hours and at fixed addresses. In this contribution, we examine underground banking in the light of several recent ethnographic and historical studies in the Netherlands.