‘The refugees of the eighties became a dreaded phenomenon’

The young Arab is extremely self-confident when questioned by a reporter: “People know that if they treat us with disrespect, it will have serious consequences.” He is a member of the extended Miri clan, one of those featuring in the report.

For the Criminal Police Office in North Rhine-Westphalia, Arab clans are the structure within Organised Crime, “which worries us the most,” says a senior official in the documentary. “The refugees of the eighties became a dreaded phenomenon,” the authors state.

These families became so dangerous and powerful because they lived in complete isolation of the outside world and demanded fierce loyalty. “Family means everything to me, family is the most important thing you have in life,” says the young man from the Miri clan. He speaks quite frankly: “If something happens to me, my cousins ​​will come.”

The secluded world of clans with their parallel justice system is, according to the RBB journalists’ research, no longer limited to notorious areas such as Berlin-Neukölln or the northern city of Dortmund.

Similar clans operate in the Westphalian province, in places like the tranquil Oer-Erkenschwick. And in the capital, the extended families with their business activities have now penetrated bourgeois districts such as Charlottenburg or Wilmersdorf.

The reporters also traveled to Turkey to visit the areas where the clans originated from. The relatives back home are happy about their criminal activities in Germany: “Thank goodness”, they say because they are living well on money from Germany. “Social assistance, money from drug trafficking, protection racketeering – all available in a Turkish village.”

The fact that the clans can operate so blatantly open is because they issue threats to potential witnesses, but also because the German state has continuously had a weak response to their criminal activities.

Authorities have confiscated real estate belonging to gangs and strengthened controls in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia, and the problem now seems to be getting under control. “But how long will the government be able carry on with this labor-intensive strategy; its an open question”, the authors say.

The report “The Clans – How Large Arab Families Rule in Germany” was presented by the RBB politics magazine “Contrasts”.