The sole source of income for the newer criminal groups involved in South and North America is drug-related criminal activity involving the manufacture, refinement, distribution, and sale of illegal narcotics. These traffickers are not self-contained; they are marked by a significant degree of violence and corruption. Mexico's distribution of narcotics is an international problem that uses corruption and large sums of money to entice law-abiding citizens to take huge risks on the behalf of criminals. The Mexican cartels have changed traditional organized crime to an activity focusing on drug trafficking. As a result, cargo theft is at an all-time high in Mexico and the United States, drug smugglers are entering the trucking and shipping industries, and organized crime runs the docks and the other entities essential to the distribution of goods in the world. The world financial market relies on a banking system and stock market that is flooded with narco-dollars. Finally, money-laundering schemes can enable one person to financially ruin an entire country. Footnotes and 28 references