The Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force is a well organized crime gang that has become a key player in the world's most strategically important industry -- oil. The vast Niger Delta holds an estimated three percent of the world's oil, and to the U.S. it's a vital alternative to the oilfields of the Middle East - worth $30 billion per year.

The Force wants a share of this oil revenue for the people of the Niger Delta. As their leader, Al Haji Asari Dokubo, admitted in the film, the gang has brazenly stolen oil straight out of pipelines owned by some of the world's biggest multinationals. Called "bunkering", the practice is costing Western oil companies hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue each year. If gangs like the Force are threatened, they can disrupt Nigeria's oil supply with ease. This could lead to economic repercussions around the world.

Not that the government of Nigeria seems overly concerned about cleaning up the industry, or using its massive oil wealth to help the people - some believe that they are the biggest gang of all. "People have now gotten to the point where they don't believe anything that the government stands for", Nigerian human rights lawyer Ledum Mittee says. "Instead of the oil becoming a blessing, it now becomes a curse".

African Studies Association, 2006