Terrorist and criminal organizations are international actors. Terrorism may be defined as violent action undertaken against a civilian target for the purpose of achieving a political objective. It's the political objective that separates terrorism from mere criminal activity.A criminal organization involves the association of two or more people engaged in a criminal enterprise. Transnational criminal organizations are criminal organizations that engage in criminal activities that affect more than one country. Major transnational criminal organizations include the Italian mafia, the Chinese triads, Russian mafia, South American drug cartels and African criminal organizations.