From 1995 until 2010, there have been an average of 35 museum thefts occurring around the world each year.

Source: Doreen Carvajal, “Art Theft Underworld Frustrates France,” New York Times, August 26, 2010.

Every year, there are an average of 20 or more museum art thefts in Paris.

Source:  Doreen Carvajal, “Art Theft Underworld Frustrates France,” New York Times, August 26, 2010.

Robert Whitman, a Former FBI agent who created the art-theft team, believes that the $6 billion estimated losses from art theft is low.

Whitman writes, “The $6 billion a year figure is probably low because it includes statistics supplied by only a third of the 192 member countries of the United Nations.”

Source:  Milton Esterow, “How to catch an art theif,” ART News, Summer 2010.

Foreign citizens make up half of all arrests for organized crime activities in Spain, with many of them coming from Eastern Europe.

Source: “Spain’s Cocaine Trade Dominated by Bulgarians, Romanians,” Sofia News Agency, August 9, 2010.

Europol announced that organized crime groups in the European Union are able to purchase weapons such as rocket launchers and AK-47s for prices between 300 to 700 Euros ($398 to $929).

Source:  Stephen Fidler, “Going Cheap in the EU: AK-47s,” Wall Street Journal, Real Time Brussels Blog, July 15, 2010.

Organized crime groups were responsible for 138 homicides in Canada in 2008, an increase of 20 from the year before. There was a total of 611 homicides in Canada in 2008.

There are over 900 organized crime groups in Canada.

Source:  Douglas Quan, “Organized crime staying a step ahead,” Vancouver Sun, July 16, 2010.

From the book review by the Associated Press:

“Authoritative and superbly crafted, “Priceless” is absolutely, hands down, the best book ever written on art crime.”

Purchase the book from Amazon:

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the global illicit market in arms trafficking is valued between $170 Million to $320 Million per year ($245 Million Mean).

Source:  UNODC, “The Globalization of Crime,” Chapter 6: Firearms, June 2010.

Police in Italy reported that Chinese Organized Crime groups operating in the country laundered $3.3 Billion (2.7 Billion Euros) of revenue back to China between 2006 and 2010.

The proceeds were from black market activities such as the sale of counterfeit goods, prostitution and human smuggling.

Source: “Chinese gangs step into gap left by mafia,” Telegraph, June 29, 2010.

As a resource, Havocscope has listed the following books as a resource to those who are looking for additional information regarding black market activities. We will be updating this post as new books are released.

Books are linked to Amazon.com where they are available for purchase.

If you are aware of additional books that concern activities monitored by Havocscope, please included it in the comments section and we will update the list according.

Books about the Black Market:

Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures

Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature’s Bounty

Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy

McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld (Vintage)

A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery

Gomorrah: A Personal Journey into the Violent International Empire of Naples’ Organized Crime System

Gomorrah (The Criterion Collection) DVD

Seeds of Terror: How Heroin Is Bankrolling the Taliban and al Qaeda

Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market

Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia

The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece (P.S.)

Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World

Currency Wars: How Forged Money is the New Weapon of Mass Destruction

Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery

The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade

AK-47: The Weapon that Changed the Face of War