Weak states afford organized crime the opportunity to flourish. The longstanding institutional weaknesses of most states in Latin America and the Caribbean combined with the existence of a highly lucrative underground drug trade in the Western hemisphere, make the countries in that corner of the world targets for transnational criminal enterprises or organized crime. In most of Latin America and the Caribbean, the dynamics of globalization over the last 2 decades have resulted in almost ideal conditions for the rapid penetration and spread of transnational organized crime. The two common elements of transnational organized crime are money laundering and proliferation. The international community will need to design and institutionalize effective systems of multilateral coordination and cooperation over the long haul of which the states of Latin America and the Caribbean will be called upon to play major roles. This article considers the overall situation of transnational organized crime in Latin America. It particularly considers the scope and impact of the post-Cold War wave of Russian transnational organized crime to illustrate this phenomenon. Notes, references