In the past, crime syndicates were traditionally involved in illegal activities such as drug trafficking, prostitution, illegal gambling, loan-sharking and extortion. These organizations generally controlled specific territories, did not usually attempt to operate outside their spheres of influence and only rarely cooperated with other syndicates. In the 1950s for instance, a Sicilian mafia family in Palermo would require permission to operate, however briefly, in another family's zone even if that zone were only a block away.
Today, organized crime is no longer limited to street-level activity. Contemporary organizations are adaptable, sophisticated, extremely opportunistic and immersed in a full range of illegal and legal activities. While still involved at the lower level with drug trafficking, prostitution, loan- sharking, illegal gambling and extortion, they have expanded their activities to a quasi-corporate level where they are active in large-scale insurance fraud, the depletion of natural resources, environmental crime, migrant smuggling, bank fraud, gasoline tax fraud and corruption. In addition, their frequent use of money earned from their illegal ventures to fund legitimate ones allows them to launder money and earn even more profits. They apply many of their criminal tactics in these legal business operations, never hesitating to use violence or murder to get ahead. By way of illustration, the media have taken note of the deaths of a "surprising number" of people who opposed a campaign by a company—believed to be affiliated with a Russian/Eastern European transnational criminal organization—to gain control of 40 per cent of Russia's aluminum trade. Transnational criminal syndicates are not afraid to work globally in any country where legal or bureaucratic loopholes allow them to take advantage of the system. As with international corporations, these organizations are quite willing to work together, often bartering for the use of each other's unique talents to accomplish specific tasks, or to make longer-term arrangements when it suits their needs.