strongholds in the rural area hanover braman and here in berlin for decades with little intervention from the police the clans were able to build their own criminal networks but now politicians are looking at whether integration policy has had a hand in helping these groups prosper many of the kurdish arabic families that came to germany in the one nine hundred seventy s. and eighty s weren t allowed to work they received only modest social welfare payments and topped up their income with criminal activities such as robbery drug dealing and racketeering now though police are cracking down carrying out frequent raids in an attempt to disrupt the scene they call it the strategy of one thousand pricks a reporter mark a route that examines its potential for success. a large scale raid in berlin s my cone district investigators are mainly targeting shisha bars where they suspect