David M. Luna
Former U.S. diplomat and senior national security official. Decades of relationships across law enforcement, intelligence communities, and international organizations: UN, INTERPOL, OECD, WCO.
About Illicit Shadows
Two perspectives.
One field of vision.
Diplomatic credibility meets deep-tech innovation. Field investigations, public knowledge, and intelligence converge under one roof.
The institutionSee the connections.
See the connections.
Make them matter.
Illicit Shadows, LLC brings together the reach of documentary journalism, the depth of a knowledge institution, and the foresight of a modeling system.
That convergence has a name: Illicit Shadows Media, Technology, & Innovation Convergence (MISTIC).
The foundersDifferent disciplines.
Different disciplines.
Shared purpose.
Sam Rad
Samantha Radocchia
Futurist, anthropologist, deep-tech entrepreneur, and bestselling author of Radical Next. Media-platform expertise, emerging-technology leadership, and a global audience.
One platform
Three ways in.
01 / Media
Watch
Field investigations
Follow the drugs, money, and people moving through the global shadow economy.
Illicit Shadows films02 / Knowledge
Explore
Public knowledge
Discover how illicit markets connect, and what they leave behind.
Museum of Illicit Shadows03 / Intelligence
Model
Predictive convergence system
Examine how criminal, political, and economic networks adapt under pressure.
Project HelixWhy nowThe threats
The threats
are converging.
Our understanding needs to connect as quickly as the networks do.
Crime crosses categories.
Cartels, kleptocrats, and state-linked actors operate through shared supply chains, banks, and platforms.
Trade routes carry more than trade.
Ports, free-trade zones, e-commerce, and shipping networks are exploited at scale.
Intelligence remains fragmented.
Data held across institutions can miss the consequences that travel between them.
Clarity has a public purpose.
People need to understand the systems affecting their communities and economies.
Who we serveAcross sectors.
Across sectors.
Across borders.
The institutions and industries our work is built for.
Industry
- Pharmaceuticals
- Luxury retail
- Automotive
- Food, alcohol, tobacco
- Electronics and e-commerce
- Media and entertainment
- Sports and frontier tech
- Industry associations
- Chambers of commerce
International organizations
- United Nations
- World Bank · IMF
- OECD · WTO · WCO
- INTERPOL
- APEC · ASEAN · GCC
- OAS · EU · NATO
- ICC
- World Economic Forum
- Munich Security Conference
Government
- National security agencies
- Law enforcement
- Customs authorities
- Financial intelligence units
- Diplomatic missions
Civil society
- NGOs
- Think tanks
- Universities
- Academic centers
- Foundations
PartnersBuilt with
Built with
ICAIE and RADOC.
Work at the intersection.
Advisory, intelligence access, museum partnerships, and film collaborations.