NCJ Number
192663
Date Published
2000
Length
557 pages
Annotation
This book provides an understanding of the concept of organized crime, its historical foundation, and the various groups involved in it.
Abstract
The problems caused by organized crime include uncollected tax revenue, increased costs of law enforcement, and citizens becoming victims of violence, extortion or intimidation. The attributes that describe organized crime groups are: non-ideological (no political goals), hierarchical, limited or exclusive membership, self-perpetuating, threat of illegal violence and bribery, specific division of labor, monopolistic, and governed by explicit rules and regulations which include a code of secrecy. The organization most commonly associated with organized crime is the Mafia. The categories of organized criminal behavior are provision of illicit services, provision of illicit goods, conspiracy, penetration of legitimate business, extortion, and corruption. The history of organized crime can be gleaned from the well-known commissions investigating it. The Chicago Commission of Inquiry in 1915 attempted to define “institutionalized crime.” The Wickersham Commission in 1931 studied the impact of prohibition on criminal activity. In 1950, the Kefauver Committee investigated organized crime involvement in interstate commerce. The McClellan Committee in 1963 persuaded low-level gangster Joseph Valachi to testify about life in organized crime. In 1983 the President’s Commission on Organized Crime studied the nature and extent of organized crime in the United States. The organizational model of organized crime includes the criminal group of core members, the protectors who are lawyers, bankers, and business persons, specialized support (contract services), user support such as drug users, prostitute patrons, and buyers of stolen goods, and social support such as community leaders, business leaders, and the entertainment industry. Organized crime groups include the Colombian cartels, Cuban groups, Asian groups, the Shining Path, and Jamaican Posses. References