NCJ Number
191886
Journal
Deviant Behavior Volume: 22 Issue: 6 Dated: November-December 2001 Pages: 517-540
Date Published
November 2001
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article examines the emergence of Russian emigre crime in the United States to determine whether it is representative of organized crime in the classic understanding of that term.
Abstract
The prior development of organized crime theory based upon the criminal progression of Italian-American organized crime families guides the analysis of criminal activity by Russian emigres in order to maintain some sense of boundary maintenance between events and issues pertinent to the phenomenon of organized crime. The article examines the underlying characteristics of the emergent Russian criminality to determine which theoretical model, if any, this social system of criminality fits best. The article contains case studies of recent motor fuel tax frauds perpetrated in the metropolitan New York City and Los Angeles areas which serve as examples from which Russian emigre crime is examined, studied, and compared. The criminality of Russian emigre crime groups is characteristic of organized crime as this concept has developed and come to be identified and defined by American society. Notes, references, cases