Organized crime
Organized crime is
crime carried out systematically by formal criminal
organizations. The
Organized Crime Control Act (
U.S.,
1970) defines organized crime as "The unlawful activities of ... a highly organized, disciplined association...".
Some
criminal organizations, such as
terrorist organizations, are
politically motivated.
Mafias are criminal organizations whose primary motivation is
profit.
Gangs sometimes become "disciplined" enough to be considered "organized". The act of engaging in criminal activity as a structured group is referred to in the
United States as
racketeering. In the U.S., organized crime is often prosecuted federally under the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), Statute (
18 U.S.C. Part I Chapter 96 ยงยง 1961-1968).
Organized crime, however defined, is characterized by a few basic qualities including durability over time, diversified interests, hierarchical structure, capital accumulation, reinvestment, access to political protection and the use of violence to protect interests.
Such criminal organizations flourish throughout the world by supplying services the legitimate economy cannot provide.
Criminal organizations keep illicit actions secret, and members communicate by word of mouth or telephone. Many organized crime operations have substantial legitimate businesses, such as licensed
gambling, building construction, trash hauling, or dock loading enterprises, which operate in parallel with and provide cover for
drug trafficking,
money laundering,
prostitution,
extortion,
hijacking,
fraud, and
insider trading, among many other possible criminal activities.
In order for a criminal organization to prosper, some degree of support is required from the
society in which it lives. Thus, it is often necessary to corrupt some of its respected members, most commonly achieved through
bribery,
blackmail, and the establishment of symbiotic relationships with legitimate
businesses.
Judicial and
police officers and
legislators are especially targeted for control by organized crime via bribes, threats, or a combination.
Financing is made easier by the development of a customer base inside or outside the local population, as occurs for instance in the case of drug trafficking.
In addition, criminal organizations also benefit if there is social distrust of the
government or the
police. As a consequence, criminal organizations sometimes arise in closely-knit immigrant groups who do not trust the local police. Conversely, as an immigrant group begins to integrate into the wider society, this generally causes the organized crime group to weaken.
Lacking much of the paperwork that is common to legitimate organizations, criminal organizations can usually evolve and reorganize much more quickly when the need arises. They are quick to capitalize on newly-opened markets, and quick to rebuild themselves under another guise when caught by authorities.
Globalization occurs in crime as much as it does in business. Criminal organizations easily cross boundaries between countries. This is especially true of organized groups that engage in
human trafficking.
The newest growth sectors for organized crime are
identity theft and online
extortion. These activities are troubling because they discourage
consumers from using the
Internet for
e-commerce.
e-commerce was supposed to level the playing ground between small and large businesses, but the growth of online organized crime is leading to the opposite effect; large businesses are able to afford more
bandwidth (to resist
denial-of-service attacks) and superior
security. Furthermore, organized crime using the
Internet is much harder to trace down for the
police (even though they increasingly deploy
cybercops) since
policeforces and
law enforcement agencies in general operate on a national level while the
Internet makes it even more simple for criminal organizations to cross boundaries and even to operate completely remotely.
In addition to what is considered traditional organized crime involving direct crimes of fraud swindles, scams, racketeering and other
RICO predicate acts motivated for the accumulation of monetary gain, there is also non-traditional organized crime which is engaged in for political or ideological gain or acceptance. Such crime groups are often labeled
terrorist organizations and include such groups as
Al Qaeda.
Organized crime can be categorized:
*Theft and Fraud:
**Victimizing business:
***
hijacking of cargo trucks
***
robbery***
bankruptcy fraud (also known as "
bust-out")
***
insurance fraud***stock fraud (
inside trading)
**Victimizing individual persons:
***
car theft (either for dismantling at "
Chop shops" or for export)
***
burglary***
credit cards***stock fraud ("
pump and dump" scam)
**Victimizing state:
***bid-rigging public projects
***money
counterfeiting***
smuggling, manufacturing illegally (counterfeiting) or trading in untaxed
alcohol (bootlegging) or
cigarettes (buttlegging)
***providing immigrant workers to avoid taxes
*Providing illegal services and goods:
**
loansharking**
bookmaking**
gambling**
prostitution**
pornography**
drug trafficking**
arms dealing**
murder for hire**
toxic waste dumping**
people smuggling**
trafficking in human beings*Business and labor racketeering:
**
casino skimming
**setting up monopolies in rigid market low-tech industries (e.g. garbage collecting, cement pouring)
**bid-rigging
**abusing
labor unions ***
extortion (e.g. construction, transport, garment industry, longshoremen)
***getting "no-show" and "no-work" jobs
***using non-union labor and pocketing the wage difference
**monopolizing the supply of immigrant workers with the associated
people smuggling*
Money laundering*
List of Criminal organization*
Bratva*
Corruption*
Kleptocracy*
Mafia*
Mexican Mafia*
National Crime Syndicate*
Piracy*
Russian Mafia*
Indian mafia*
Thuggee*
Triad*
Yakuza*
Irish Mob*
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)*
Timeline of organized crime*
Tony Soprano*Criminal Justice Resources: Organized Crime [
1]
*http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/global_crime_report/radioseries/ BBC radio series on global crime (including audio files)
*
UN Office on Drugs and Crime - Has sub-section dealing with organised crime worldwide
*[
2]- organised crime fight initiative in South Eastern Europe of the Stability Pact
*
Organized Crime Research - Has a vast collection of definitions of organized crime, reviews of books on organized crime, research papers, and other material
*
GangRule.com*
Illinois Police & Sheriff's News*
Laborers for JUSTICE provides court decisions, articles, hearings on organized crime in labor unions*
Extensive page of links relating to organized crime*
Links and news relating to organized crime on the Internet*http://web4.maximonline.com/articles/index.aspx?a_id=5015
Combating Organised Crime: A Case Study of Mumbai City Sumita Sarkar & Arvind Tiwari [
3]
*
http://markgribben.com/?page_id=24 An alternative definition of organized crime and derivation of that definition
