![Luca Giommoni](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/3134?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Mr Luca Giommoni
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Teams and roles for Luca Giommoni
Overview
I'm a Reader in Criminology at Cardiff University's School of Social Sciences, and my research centres on organised crime and illicit markets — with a particular focus on illegal drug markets, human trafficking, and human smuggling. A strand of this work examines how digital technologies are reshaping these criminal economies, opening new opportunities for those who exploit them and new challenges for those who seek to dismantle them.
My research has been funded by the ESRC, EPSRC, the European Commission, the British Academy, and the Home Office, generating over £1.5 million in income. But what drives my research is real-world impact. I work closely with government and law enforcement — including the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Home Office, and the National Crime Agency — turning findings into policy and practice that have real operational impact.
I also sit on the Scientific Committee of the European Union Drugs Agency, one of just 15 members drawn from across Europe, appointed to advise the Management Board and Director on scientific matters central to the agency's work.
My academic journey began in Milan, where I completed my PhD at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and worked as a researcher at Transcrime between 2011 and 2015, contributing to EU-funded projects on organised crime.
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in illicit markets, drug trafficking, human trafficking, human smuggling, organised crime, or online criminal networks. If these areas align with your research interests, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
Publication
2025
- Giommoni, L. , Stuart Jepsen, K. and Murray, S. 2025. Does regulating drug precursors affect illicit Drug markets? An expanded and updated systematic review. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 276 112900. (10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.112900)
- Giommoni, L. 2025. The impact of precursor regulations on illicit drug markets: An analysis of Cunningham et al.ʼs studies. International Journal of Drug Policy 138 104498. (10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104498)
2024
- Giommoni, L. 2024. Why we cannot identify human trafficking from online advertisements. Journal of Human Trafficking (10.1080/23322705.2024.2435198)
- Giommoni, L. and Ikwu, R. 2024. Identifying human trafficking indicators in the UK online sex market. Trends in Organized Crime 27 , pp.10-33. (10.1007/s12117-021-09431-0)
- Giommoni, L. 2024. How to improve the surveillance of the Taliban ban's impact on European drug markets. International Journal of Drug Policy 124 104320. (10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104320)
2023
- Giommoni, L. et al. 2023. Online and offline determinants of drug trafficking across countries via cryptomarkets. Crime, Law and Social Change (10.1007/s10611-023-10106-w)
- Cook, S. et al., 2023. Fear of economic cybercrime across Europe: a multilevel application of routine activity theory. British Journal of Criminology 63 (2), pp.384-406. (10.1093/bjc/azac021)
- Ikwu, R. et al. 2023. Digital fingerprinting for identifying malicious collusive groups on Twitter. Journal of Cybersecurity 9 (1) tyad014. (10.1093/cybsec/tyad014)
2022
- Giommoni, L. , Berlusconi, G. and Aziani, A. 2022. Interdicting international drug trafficking: a network approach for coordinated and targeted interventions. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 28 , pp.545-572. (10.1007/s10610-020-09473-0)
- Javed, A. et al. 2022. Disrupting drive-by download networks on Twitter.. Social Network Analysis and Mining 12 (117)
- Alorainy, W. et al. 2022. Disrupting networks of hate: Characterising hateful networks and removing critical nodes. Social Network Analysis and Mining 12 27. (10.1007/s13278-021-00818-z)
- Bergeron, A. et al., 2022. The success rate of online illicit drug transactions during a global pandemic. International Journal of Drug Policy 99 103452. (10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103452)
2021
- Aziani, A. , Berlusconi, G. and Giommoni, L. 2021. A quantitative application of enterprise and social embeddedness theories to the transnational trafficking of cocaine in Europe. Deviant Behavior 42 (2)(10.1080/01639625.2019.1666606)
- Giommoni, L. , Berlusconi, G. and Melendez-Torres, G. J. 2021. Characterising the structure of the largest online commercial sex network in the UK: observational study with implications for STI prevention. Culture, Health and Sexuality 23 (12), pp.1608-1625. (10.1080/13691058.2020.1788725)
2020
- Bergeron, A. , Décary-Hétu, D. and Giommoni, L. 2020. Preliminary findings of the impact of COVID-19 on drugs crypto markets. International Journal of Drug Policy 83 102870. (10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102870)
- Giommoni, L. 2020. Why we should all be more careful in drawing conclusions about how COVID-19 is changing drug markets. International Journal of Drug Policy 83 102834. (10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102834)
- Giommoni, L. , Gundur, R. and Cheekes, E. 2020. International drug trafficking: past, present, and prospective trends. In: Oxford Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Oxford Research Encyclopedia Oxford University Press (OUP)(10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.470)
2018
- Giommoni, L. and Gundur, R. 2018. An analysis of the United Kingdom’s cannabis market using crowdsourced data. Global Crime 19 (2), pp.85-106. (10.1080/17440572.2018.1460071)
2017
- Giommoni, L. , Reuter, P. and Kilmer, B. 2017. Exploring the perils of cross national comparisons of drug prevalence: the effect of survey modality. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 181 , pp.194-199. (10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.09.027)
- Berlusconi, G. , Aziani, A. and Giommoni, L. 2017. The determinants of heroin flows in Europe: a latent space approach. Social Networks 51 , pp.104-117. (10.1016/j.socnet.2017.03.012)
- Giommoni, L. , Aziani, A. and Berlusconi, G. 2017. How do illicit drugs move across countries? A network analysis of the heroin supply to Europe. Journal of Drug Issues 47 (2), pp.217-240. (10.1177/0022042616682426)
- Décary-Hétu, D. and Giommoni, L. 2017. Do police crackdowns disrupt drug cryptomarkets? a longitudinal analysis of the effects of Operation Onymous. Crime, Law and Social Change 67 (1), pp.55-75. (10.1007/s10611-016-9644-4)
2016
- Calderoni, F. et al., 2016. The Italian mafias in the world: a systematic assessment of the mobility of criminal groups. European Journal of Criminology 13 (4), pp.413-433. (10.1177/1477370815623570)
- Giommoni, L. 2016. Illicit drugs market. In: Savona, E. and Riccardi, M. eds. From Illegal Markets to Legitimate Businesses: The Portfolio of Organised Crime in Europe. Transcrime. , pp.43-56.
2015
- Dugato, M. , Favarin, S. and Giommoni, L. 2015. The risks and rewards of organized crime investments in real estate. British Journal of Criminology 55 (5), pp.944-965. (10.1093/bjc/azv002)
- Kilmer, B. , Reuter, P. and Giommoni, L. 2015. What can be learned from cross-national comparisons of data on illegal drugs?. Crime and Justice 44 (1), pp.227-296. (10.1086/681552)
- Angelini, M. et al., 2015. Organised crime portfolio: illicit revenues and criminal investments in Europe. European Police Science and Research Bulletin 12 , pp.4-12.
- Giommoni, L. 2015. From the generation of illicit proceeds to investments in the legal economy. In: Savona, E. U. and Riccardi, M. eds. From Illegal Markets to Legitimate Businesses: The Portfolio of Organised Crime in Europe. Transcrime. , pp.144-148.
- Savona, E. U. , Giommoni, L. and Mancuso, M. 2015. Human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Italy. In: Leclerc, B. and Wortley, R. eds. Cognition and Crime. Offender Decision Making and Script Analyse. Crime Science Series London: Routledge. , pp.140-163.
2014
- Giommoni, L. 2014. The retail value of the illicit drug market in Italy: a consumption-based approach. Global Crime 15 (1-2), pp.27-50. (10.1080/17440572.2013.875893)
2013
- Giommoni, L. 2013. Caulkins Jonathan P., Hawken Angela, Kilmer Beau and Kleiman Mark A. R. 'Marijuana legalization: what everyone needs to know' [Book Review]. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 19 (4), pp.419-421. (10.1007/s10610-013-9217-3)
Articles
- Giommoni, L. , Stuart Jepsen, K. and Murray, S. 2025. Does regulating drug precursors affect illicit Drug markets? An expanded and updated systematic review. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 276 112900. (10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.112900)
- Giommoni, L. 2025. The impact of precursor regulations on illicit drug markets: An analysis of Cunningham et al.ʼs studies. International Journal of Drug Policy 138 104498. (10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104498)
- Giommoni, L. 2024. Why we cannot identify human trafficking from online advertisements. Journal of Human Trafficking (10.1080/23322705.2024.2435198)
- Giommoni, L. and Ikwu, R. 2024. Identifying human trafficking indicators in the UK online sex market. Trends in Organized Crime 27 , pp.10-33. (10.1007/s12117-021-09431-0)
- Giommoni, L. 2024. How to improve the surveillance of the Taliban ban's impact on European drug markets. International Journal of Drug Policy 124 104320. (10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104320)
- Giommoni, L. et al. 2023. Online and offline determinants of drug trafficking across countries via cryptomarkets. Crime, Law and Social Change (10.1007/s10611-023-10106-w)
- Cook, S. et al., 2023. Fear of economic cybercrime across Europe: a multilevel application of routine activity theory. British Journal of Criminology 63 (2), pp.384-406. (10.1093/bjc/azac021)
- Ikwu, R. et al. 2023. Digital fingerprinting for identifying malicious collusive groups on Twitter. Journal of Cybersecurity 9 (1) tyad014. (10.1093/cybsec/tyad014)
- Giommoni, L. , Berlusconi, G. and Aziani, A. 2022. Interdicting international drug trafficking: a network approach for coordinated and targeted interventions. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 28 , pp.545-572. (10.1007/s10610-020-09473-0)
- Javed, A. et al. 2022. Disrupting drive-by download networks on Twitter.. Social Network Analysis and Mining 12 (117)
- Alorainy, W. et al. 2022. Disrupting networks of hate: Characterising hateful networks and removing critical nodes. Social Network Analysis and Mining 12 27. (10.1007/s13278-021-00818-z)
- Bergeron, A. et al., 2022. The success rate of online illicit drug transactions during a global pandemic. International Journal of Drug Policy 99 103452. (10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103452)
- Aziani, A. , Berlusconi, G. and Giommoni, L. 2021. A quantitative application of enterprise and social embeddedness theories to the transnational trafficking of cocaine in Europe. Deviant Behavior 42 (2)(10.1080/01639625.2019.1666606)
- Giommoni, L. , Berlusconi, G. and Melendez-Torres, G. J. 2021. Characterising the structure of the largest online commercial sex network in the UK: observational study with implications for STI prevention. Culture, Health and Sexuality 23 (12), pp.1608-1625. (10.1080/13691058.2020.1788725)
- Bergeron, A. , Décary-Hétu, D. and Giommoni, L. 2020. Preliminary findings of the impact of COVID-19 on drugs crypto markets. International Journal of Drug Policy 83 102870. (10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102870)
- Giommoni, L. 2020. Why we should all be more careful in drawing conclusions about how COVID-19 is changing drug markets. International Journal of Drug Policy 83 102834. (10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102834)
- Giommoni, L. and Gundur, R. 2018. An analysis of the United Kingdom’s cannabis market using crowdsourced data. Global Crime 19 (2), pp.85-106. (10.1080/17440572.2018.1460071)
- Giommoni, L. , Reuter, P. and Kilmer, B. 2017. Exploring the perils of cross national comparisons of drug prevalence: the effect of survey modality. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 181 , pp.194-199. (10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.09.027)
- Berlusconi, G. , Aziani, A. and Giommoni, L. 2017. The determinants of heroin flows in Europe: a latent space approach. Social Networks 51 , pp.104-117. (10.1016/j.socnet.2017.03.012)
- Giommoni, L. , Aziani, A. and Berlusconi, G. 2017. How do illicit drugs move across countries? A network analysis of the heroin supply to Europe. Journal of Drug Issues 47 (2), pp.217-240. (10.1177/0022042616682426)
- Décary-Hétu, D. and Giommoni, L. 2017. Do police crackdowns disrupt drug cryptomarkets? a longitudinal analysis of the effects of Operation Onymous. Crime, Law and Social Change 67 (1), pp.55-75. (10.1007/s10611-016-9644-4)
- Calderoni, F. et al., 2016. The Italian mafias in the world: a systematic assessment of the mobility of criminal groups. European Journal of Criminology 13 (4), pp.413-433. (10.1177/1477370815623570)
- Dugato, M. , Favarin, S. and Giommoni, L. 2015. The risks and rewards of organized crime investments in real estate. British Journal of Criminology 55 (5), pp.944-965. (10.1093/bjc/azv002)
- Kilmer, B. , Reuter, P. and Giommoni, L. 2015. What can be learned from cross-national comparisons of data on illegal drugs?. Crime and Justice 44 (1), pp.227-296. (10.1086/681552)
- Angelini, M. et al., 2015. Organised crime portfolio: illicit revenues and criminal investments in Europe. European Police Science and Research Bulletin 12 , pp.4-12.
- Giommoni, L. 2014. The retail value of the illicit drug market in Italy: a consumption-based approach. Global Crime 15 (1-2), pp.27-50. (10.1080/17440572.2013.875893)
- Giommoni, L. 2013. Caulkins Jonathan P., Hawken Angela, Kilmer Beau and Kleiman Mark A. R. 'Marijuana legalization: what everyone needs to know' [Book Review]. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research 19 (4), pp.419-421. (10.1007/s10610-013-9217-3)
Book sections
- Giommoni, L. , Gundur, R. and Cheekes, E. 2020. International drug trafficking: past, present, and prospective trends. In: Oxford Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Oxford Research Encyclopedia Oxford University Press (OUP)(10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.470)
- Giommoni, L. 2016. Illicit drugs market. In: Savona, E. and Riccardi, M. eds. From Illegal Markets to Legitimate Businesses: The Portfolio of Organised Crime in Europe. Transcrime. , pp.43-56.
- Giommoni, L. 2015. From the generation of illicit proceeds to investments in the legal economy. In: Savona, E. U. and Riccardi, M. eds. From Illegal Markets to Legitimate Businesses: The Portfolio of Organised Crime in Europe. Transcrime. , pp.144-148.
- Savona, E. U. , Giommoni, L. and Mancuso, M. 2015. Human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Italy. In: Leclerc, B. and Wortley, R. eds. Cognition and Crime. Offender Decision Making and Script Analyse. Crime Science Series London: Routledge. , pp.140-163.
Research
Innovation Fellowship. British Academy, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office & Home Office, £241,600, PI.
Impact Assessment Study on the Revision of the EU Drug Precursors Regulations. EU Commission
Systematic Evaluation of Precursor Regulation Impact on Drug Markets. Security, Crime and Intelligence Innovation Institute, £8,766. PI.
Understanding risk in unregulated markets: the case of men who purchase sex, £9,213 (CoI)
Serious and Organised Crime Nexuses, Security, Crime and Intelligence Innovation Institute, 9,292, PI.
Social Data Science Lab, ESRC, £1.5M (CoI)
Illicit financial flows and illegal markets estimates, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, USD 5,842, (PI)
How Online Technologies are Transforming Transnational Organised Crime (Cyber-TNOC), ESRC PaCCS, £449,957 (CoI)
Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research, National Cyber Security Centre, £81,965. (CoI)
HateLab (Centre for Cyberhate Research & Policy), ESRC, £1.8M (CoI)
A World of Trouble: Managing Terrorist and Major Violent Crime Using Open Source Communication Analytics and Research. ESRC GCRF, £7,000 (CoI).
Crowdsourcing crime-related data: A pilot study on the use of crowdsourcing for collecting data on illicit drug markets. Cardiff University Crime and Security Research Institute, £6,500 (PI).
Teaching
Undergraduate Teaching
- Offending and Victimisation (Yr 2)
- Drugs, Crime and Society (Yr 3)
Postgraduate Teaching
- Researching Crime, Safety and Justice
- International and Trasnational Crimes
Biography
Employment
2022 - present: Reader, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
2019 - 2022: Senio Lecturer, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
2015 - 2019: Lecturer, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University
2011 - 2015: Researcher at Transcrime
Education
2011 - 2015: PhD. (Criminology), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, Italy.
2013 - 2014: Visiting Scholar, University of Maryland (MD), USA.
2009 - 2011: MSc (Applied Social Sciences), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan, Italy.
Professional memberships
- American Society of Criminology,
- European Society of Criminology,
- International Society for the Study of Drug Policy
Supervisions
I welcome proposals from prospective Ph.D. students with an interest in illicit markets, human trafficking, organised crime, cybercrime and online illicit trafficking.
News articles
Contact Details
Specialisms
- Organised crime
- Drug Trafficking
- Illicit markets
- Human Trafficking
