Matt Peskin is executive director of the National Association of Town Watch, a nonprofit crime prevention organization that works with law enforcement and crime watch groups around the country.

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In 1995, Mafia superboss Salvatore "Toto" Riina and 47 other suspected members of the crime organization went on trial on charges of complicity in 48 murders in Sicily.

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He took the chief's job about a year before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and oversaw the agency's evolution from a traditional crime-fighting organization to one that embraced an anti-terror mission.

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In January, it said it is important for the organization to be involved in the fight against organized crime.

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In addition it alleges that they were victims of seedy Peruvian advisers and is voluntarily offering itself to the subjective scopes of The Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime and Transparency International to clear their organization of any wrong doings.

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Mark Potok, of the hate crime-monitoring Southern Poverty Law Center, says his organization gave up quantifying bias as a fruitless pursuit years ago.

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The Organization of American States will lead a study of the region's approach to fighting organized crime, he said.

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As well as the eight Westerners, 16 Afghan aid workers working for the same organization -- Shelter Now International, based in Germany -- have also been arrested and charged with the same crime.

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