Russian Emigre Crime in the United States: Organized Crime or Crime That Is Organized?

• NCJ Number: 173238
• Journal: Transnational Organized Crime Volume: 2 Issue: Dated: Summer/Autumn 1996
• Author(s): J Finckenauer; E Waring
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 15 pages
• Grant Number(s): 93-I-CX-0019
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

This article examines Russian emigre crime in the United States.

Abstract

In recent years there has been much media, scholarly, and law enforcement attention to organized crime involving emigres from the former Soviet Union, particularly in cities and States with concentrated populations of Russian emigres (New York City, Philadelphia, and parts of Florida and California). This article attempts to determine the nature of the organization of Russian emigre "organized crime," the nature of the harm caused by Russian crime networks, the areas of potential development of other types of harm by these networks in the United States, and whether use of the term "organized crime" to describe the criminal activities of Russian emigres is appropriate. The article assumes that a criminal organization can be usefully examined in terms of its structure and the activities in which it engages; criminal organization is not synonymous with organized crime; and the nature and extent of harm caused is an essential dimension for characterizing a criminal organization. Notes