Transnational 'crimebusters' agree on new action plan.

• Position: World Ministerial Conference on Organized Transnational Crime, Nov. 21-23, 1994 - Special Report

NAPLES, Italy--The new-style criminal organizations of the 1990s--termed "crime multinationals" by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali--were the subject of the World Ministerial Conference on Organized Transnational Crime (21-23 November, Naples), organized by the UN Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch. The meeting, attended by representatives of 142 nations, focused attention on the rapid growth, increasing financial sophistication and predominantly international character of today's crime syndicates. Estimated to bring in as much as $750 billion annually, the major transnational crime groupings are disrupting economic development in key countries and the entire regions, and often contend with Governments for political power.

In adopting the Naples Political Declaration and Global Action Plan, the Conference took a step towards realizing the idea of a legally binding international convention on transnational crime: national Governments will be asked their viewpoints on the advisability of establishing such a convention. At the close of the Conference, Italy announced plans to fund an international centre for training law enforcement personnel to combat transnational crime.

The idea for the Naples Conference was advanced in 1991 by Giovanni Falcone, the crusading Italian magistrate assassinated by the Mafia in 1992. His work and that of many of his colleagues--some of whom were also martyred--is credited with sharply curtailing the national influence of Italian crime syndicates.

In hosting the Conference in Naples and the preparatory committee meeting in Palermo--both cities are base areas for major crime organizations--the Italian Government...