The Unlawful Activity: How Organized Is Organized Crime? (Essay Sample)

How Organized Is Organized Crime
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How Organized Is Organized Crime
Crime is any act or omission which violates the law resulting in punishment by the government. A wide range of crime is reported all over the world daily including thuggery, violent robbery, narcotics, arms and human trafficking and cyber crime. Criminals keep on changing their tactics in order to evade the mechanisms that have been put in place by authorities to deter their activities. Governments around the world keep on changing the laws to criminalize the new crimes. However, criminals seem to have become more emboldened and no longer fear being jailed. Earlier, petty criminals could be easily netted by the laws of the day; this gave rise to organized crime which is giving crime busters a headache in their work.
Organized crime is described in the us-history-com website as systematically unlawful activity for profit on a city-wide, interstate, and even international scale. Over the past decades, academics have conceptualized ‘organized crime’ in terms of groups, networks as well as ‘enterprise crime’ (Levi, 1998) According to Van Duyne & Van Dijck (2007) the lack of clear and accepted criteria in defining the term has led to serious debates in the field. Organized crime combines the concepts of traditional organized crime like drugs, illegal prostitution and vehicle theft and white collar crime which constitute financial tax, VAT, real estate frauds and embezzlement ( Phillip and Tihomir, 2010) . Crime organizations operate in secrecy and members communicate by word of mouth when they are in the same area or by phone, email or social media when they are far apart. In the case of mafias leaders live in secluded places to hide from authorities and mostly communicate through their subjects. The organizations have a defined structure with leaders who give orders to their followers. Disciplinary measures are taken on members who defy the instructions of their superiors, give out secrets or betray fellow members to the police. In countries like Mexico where violent drug criminals exist members who defect from their group are killed.
New organized groups can emerge when people with criminal traits migrate within a country, to a neighboring state or continent. Migration to the United States of Italians, some with mafia skills, at the turn of nineteenth century gave rise to a set of a powerful mafia groups in New York City (Federico, 2011). American scholar Donald Cressey (1970), maintained that organized crime was led closely-knit families who had set up a criminal parallel government that was ‘substituting the state’ enforcing its own rules and regulations. He identified organized crime as conspiracy of ethnic Italians and as a lineal descendant not a branch of the Sicilian mafia. Another reason for the emergence of criminal groups is limited resources and constraints which exist in the social structure. German criminologist Henner Hess who studied Silican mafia refers to it a system stabilizer.
A major characteristic that is observed across all organized crime groups is secrecy in their activities and decision making. They display some likeness to secret societies and will thus share certain characteristics with other secretal societies (Alfredo, 2006). Historically, secret societies have forms of communication, membership rules, initiation rites which distinguish members from the rest of the society and aim to conceal their activities ( Mackenzie, 1971). Secrecy is part of the organization and parcel of the mythology as the former engender the latter ( Alfredo, 2006). It also occurs to every one of us, if criminals run their in the open the authorities will ultimately catch up with them. Intelligence officials will have easy time gathering evidence and arresting the culprits to kill the activity even before it kicks off.
In the U.S, prohibition era of 1920s gave rise to the organized crime syndicate. Federal efforts to enforce prohibition were met by well-organized counter operation with support both on the national and international levels. Al Capone’s mob of Chicago, gangs in Detroit and other US cities gave the FBI and police sleepless night as they planned how to tackle the emerging crime. Even politician were part of the syndicate but inquiry by Wickersham Commission of 1930 resulted in temporary decrease of political corruption. This shows there is usually a connection between criminal underworld and politics. Study of crime in Italy reveals corruption and organized crime are closely related. Investigators usually discover some criminal organization involvement when corrupt activities are launched. Involvement of politicians and entrepreneurs also comes to light (Phillip & Tihomir, 2010). Lucky Luciano and Louis Kepke set up a syndicate in 1930s comprising numerous crime leaders around the country. The organization had geographical boundaries, distributed crime profits, and enforced its edicts with the help of murder , Inc.
Traditional organized crime includes trade in narcotics, labor racketeering and gambling. Trade in narcotics involves a large ring of drug lords that stretches from Colombia, US, Africa to Asia and Europe. Colombia, Afghanistan and Myanmar are the major sources of illicit drugs. United Nations studies shows world heroin consumption is 340 tons and 100 tons are seized while in transit. The fact that only 5 tons out of 380 tons produced in Afghanistan is seized indicates trafficking web is well organized and involves even the law enforcers. The cocaine is transported through Balkan and Northern routes to the huge markets of the Russian Federation and Western Europe. Both routes pass through several countries with drug lord in each country ensuring safe transition. Cocaine originates from the South and Central America countries of Colombia and Mexico. In both countries, drug lords are protected by their own armies and corrupt government officials who receive money in return. Some drug lords engage in charity activities in their area of operation to entice the public and protect their illegal activities. According to United Nations Drug Report of 2010, between 30 and 34 million individuals consumed cocaine and heroin in 2007 and 2008. North America accounted for more than 40% of the consumers and European Union a quarter of total users. The two regions do not produce the two types of drugs and thus have to source them from the producing areas of Asia and Central America.
In modern day organized crime, criminals use loopholes in the computer worlds to rob corporate and individuals. Cyber crime is grabbing the headlines these days, but the largest criminal gangs are still making most of their money from drugs, sex and extortion (Chris, 2014). He goes on to say credit card data is stolen from big retail chains and businesses and consumers do not know how to protect themselves from hackers. Top 5 organized groups are Solntsevskaya Bratva of Russia, Yamaguchi Gumi of Japan, Camorra of Italy-America, Ndrangheta of Italy and Sinaloa of Mexico. According to Frederico Varese, a professor of criminology the Russian ...