TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. I’m Terry Gross. When states started legalizing marijuana, one of the hopes was that it would cut down on crime because people could buy it legally from licensed sellers. But in some states, including Oklahoma, legalization inadvertently helped organized crime, especially the Chinese mafia, exploit new opportunities. Chinese organized crime has come to dominate much of the illicit marijuana trade in the nation, from California to Maine, according to a new series of investigative reports by a team of four journalists from two nonprofit news organizations, ProPublica and the Oklahoma-based The Frontier.
My guest, Sebastian Rotella, is the lead reporter on this series. For several years, he’s been investigating Chinese organized crime in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. He’s reported on the connection between Chinese organized crime and China’s authoritarian government and how that relationship is helping China expand its influence and power around the world. Rotella worked for almost 23 years for the Los Angeles Times before joining ProPublica in 2010. He covers international security issues, including terrorism, intelligence, organized crime, human rights, and migration.
Part one of the new series focuses on Chinese organized crime’s grip on America’s illegal marijuana market, which has led to increases in other crimes, including money laundering. Part one was published earlier this month. Part two emphasizes the ties between the Chinese mafia and the Chinese government and will be published tomorrow.
Sebastian Rotella, welcome back to FRESH AIR. I thought – and I think a lot of people thought that legal marijuana was supposed to cut down on crime. So how did legalizing it actually help organized crime expand in a state like Oklahoma?
SEBASTIAN ROTELLA: Thanks much, Terry. It’s a pleasure to talk to you. I think what happened was that you have this patchwork across the nation of laws as different…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply