A Social Network Analysis of the Structure and Leadership Roles of a Drug Trafficking Group in China: A Case Study

Abstract

Despite the proliferation of social network analysis (SNA) in criminological research, our understanding of criminal leadership remains heavily skewed toward Western organized crime group models. This study contributes a descriptive case study of an underrepresented context by examining the structure and leadership of a domestic drug trafficking group in China ( N = 27), using data from a publicly available court verdict. Unlike the insulated shot-callers often found in Western literature, the leadership in this “cafeteria-style” drug trafficking group remained highly active. Exploratory bivariate analyses showed that leaders occupied significantly more central positions across all four centrality measures and had significantly higher educational attainment than other members, while also engaging in a marginally wider variety of criminal acts. These findings suggest that leaders act as “hands-on” organizers rather than distant commanders in such a loosely structured Chinese drug trafficking group, although the single-case, court-documented design precludes generalization.