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NKVD

(Encyclopedia)NKVD: see secret police.

OGPU

(Encyclopedia)OGPU: see secret police.

(Encyclopedia)Interpol, acronym for the International Criminal Police Organization, a worldwide clearinghouse for police information. Conceived in 1914, Interpol was formally established in 1923 with headquarters a...

Vidocq, Eugène François

(Encyclopedia)Vidocq, Eugène François ûzhĕnˈ fräNswäˈ vēdôkˈ [key], 1775–1857, French detective. After a career of crime for which he had been imprisoned, he joined the Paris Sûreté (security police)...

Black Hand

(Encyclopedia)Black Hand, symbol and name for a criminal and terroristic secret society, and especially associated with the Mafia and the Camorra. The Black Hand flourished in Sicily in the late 19th cent., and in ...

Regina

(Encyclopedia)Regina rĭjīˈnə [key], city (1991 pop. 179,178), provincial capital, S Sask., Canada, on Wascana Creek. The city is the distribution and service center for one of the world's largest wheat-growing ...

Mounties

(Encyclopedia)Mounties: see Royal Canadian Mounted Police. ...

intendant

(Encyclopedia)intendant ĭntĕnˈdənt [key], French administrative official who served as the chief royal representative in the provinces under the ancien régime. The intendants first gained importance under Card...

cabildo

(Encyclopedia)cabildo käbēlˈdō [key], autonomous municipal council, the lowest administrative unit in the Spanish government. The institution was especially influential in Spanish America, where it was set up i...