Gangsters, Criminal Armed Groups, and Jihadists: Assessing the Crime-Terror Nexus

Authors

  • John P Sullivan
  • Dr. Irina A. Chindea

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56331/ijps.v4i2.15577

Keywords:

Crime-Terror Nexus, Organized Crime, Gangsters,, Jihadis,, Terrorism,, Criminal Insurgents

Abstract

This paper reviews the nexus between criminal activity and terrorism. This interaction is often called the ’crime-terror nexus’ because of the links between criminal enterprises—including gangs and criminal cartels. Transnational organized crime, terrorism, irregular warfare waged by criminal armed groups, and ‘intelligence-led’ state responses to their interactions are discussed.

Author Biographies

John P Sullivan

Dr. John P. Sullivan was a career police officer, now retired. He is an Instructor in the Center on National Defense and Public Safety (formerly Safe Communities Institute (SCI)) at the University of Southern California, Research Fellow at Future Security Initiative at Arizona State University, Senior Fellow at the Urban Warfare Institute, Senior El Centro Fellow at Small Wars Journal, and Contributing Editor at Homeland Security Today. He served as a lieutenant with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Sullivan received a lifetime achievement award from the National Fusion Center Association in November 2018 for his contributions to the national network of intelligence fusion centers. He has a PhD from the Open University of Catalonia, an MA in urban affairs and policy analysis from the New School for Social Research, and a BA in Government from the College of William & Mary. He is a member of the network of experts at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC).

Dr. Irina A. Chindea

Dr. Irina A. Chindea is a Senior Political Scientist at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Her research interests include strategic competition, U.S. foreign policy and grand strategy, security cooperation, NATO and alliance politics, and irregular warfare. The regional focus of her work covers Latin America, Europe, and the Arctic. Dr. Chindea has a PhD in international relations and an MA in law and diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. She is an El Centro Fellow at Small Wars Journal.

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Published

2025-11-03

How to Cite

Sullivan, John P, and Dr. Irina A. Chindea. 2025. “Gangsters, Criminal Armed Groups, and Jihadists: Assessing the Crime-Terror Nexus”. International Journal of Police Science 4 (2). https://doi.org/10.56331/ijps.v4i2.15577.

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2025): Better Policing and the Challenges of the Future

Section

Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 John P Sullivan, Dr. Irina A. Chindea

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license.