Gangs of Papuans: the most dangerous organized crime groups in the world
Naive and good-natured Papuans today can be found only in the depths of the island of New Guinea. The cities have long been wielded by ruthless gangs that instill fear not only on the local population, but also on law enforcement officers.
Poor but democratic
Papua New Guinea is an extremely poor state. Out of 120 developing countries, its economy, based mainly on agriculture, ranks 91st. 25% of the inhabitants of the island are unemployed, among young people under 30, the unemployment rate reaches 80%.
Australia annually allocates $ 240 million to help its impoverished neighbor, but where these funds go in a thoroughly corrupt state is not difficult to guess. In 2003, the Australian Center for Independent Research published a report acknowledging that economic aid only corrupts Papua’s ruling circles and creates dependents.
New Guinea is also one of the most crime-prone countries in the world. Thus, the main city of the island of Port Moresby takes the penultimate 197th place in the ranking of the world’s safe capitals. For example, there are 23 times more premeditated murders than in London.
This is provoked by the extremely low standard of living with the aggressive imposition of consumer values, the complete lack of opportunities for self-realization and the extremely ineffective work of the law enforcement forces. At the same time, as a former dominion of Britain, Papua is part of the Commonwealth of Nations and is de jure ruled by parliamentary democracy.
Nobody is insured
The first Raskol gangs (from the English raskol — rogue, rogue, wretch) appeared in Port Moresby in the late 60s. These were informal youth associations like hippies or rockers who were involved in hooliganism and petty theft. In just a couple of decades, they grew into well-organized criminal groups that did not disdain armed robbery, kidnapping and murder.
Despite the fact that all categories of the population get it from the Raskolists, they find sympathy and support among the masses. Many see them as fighters against the tyranny of the police and officials who oppress the common people. And the members of the Raskol groups themselves are not averse to comparing themselves to movie heroes who rob the rich and share with the poor.
It is practically impossible to protect yourself from Raskol gangs: neither high fences, nor alarms, nor the armed police, which are very eager to go into a direct confrontation with the underworld, are not saved. Tourists also suffer from Raskolists.
It is no coincidence that the Lonely planet says, “If you enter a hotel and you get the impression that you are in a maximum security prison, this is a good hotel.”
Formidable force
Today the tone in the Papua criminal world is set by four large criminal groups — Bomai, Koboni, Mafia and Brigade 585, which include small gangs. The names of the latter are quite eloquent: Hell’s Angels, Blood, Ku Klux Klan, Black Power, Triad, Melbourne Assassins.
Reskol groups try not to be at enmity among themselves: only by rallying together, they represent a formidable force capable of opposing themselves to the police.
However, the spheres of influence and areas of activity between the gangs are clearly delineated. Groups are formed according to the principle of neighborhood, joining and leaving a gang is not strictly regulated, so the leaders sometimes do not know the exact number of their charges.
The average age of a raskolist is 20–21 years. Women, as a rule, are not included in the gang, although they may be allowed to perform some functions — observation, organization of sorties, delivery of food and drink, as well as the sale of stolen goods.
Recently, Papuan gangs have been actively involved in the field of international crime. The leading positions in the development of the New Guinea criminal space belong to the Chinese mafia structure “Triad”.
By generously sponsoring local police officers, the Chinese drug trafficking through the Raskol gangs is unimpeded, which then travels to Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada.
Communism in Papuan
According to criminologists, Raskolism in New Guinea is due to the traditions of Melanesian society, which until recently was at the stage of a primitive communal system.
Having begun to actively experience the influence of civilization in the second half of the 20th century, the Papuans, in fact, did not go beyond the limits of “communal communism”. This is also inherent in Raskol gangs, in which the principle of distribution of benefits — housing, food, weapons and even looted property — has been preserved.
Another feature of Papuan Raskolism, which has national roots, is the initiation rite. When a Papuan youth brought his first prey from a hunt, he became a man.
To become a full-fledged member of the Raskol gang, a sacrifice is also needed, but among modern Papuans, a raped woman takes the place of an animal. According to international organizations, every third woman in New Guinea has been sexually abused at one time or another.
However, researchers call the pernicious influence of Western culture, which, falling on the Papuan soil, gives completely unpredictable, sometimes bizarre shoots, is the real culprit of the rampant Raskolism in Papua. So the idols of Papuan youth in American cinema invariably become bad guys, and the cruelty shown by them is perceived as a manifestation of heroism.
Some Papuans believe that the products of Western civilization that have fallen into their hands — food, alcohol, clothing, all sorts of trinkets — grow on trees in the countries of newcomers.
This was most clearly manifested in the “cargo cult” — a mixture of Christianity and local beliefs, according to which the full abundance that exists in the West, the “evil whites” appropriated for themselves unfairly, and the main task of the Papuans is to make sure that the illegally taken away was returned to the people of Papua. …
