A Brief History Of Organized Crime

Organized Crime is an underground operation that profits from the sale of illegal products or services based on the public's demand. Organized crime came about as a way for incoming immigrants to the United States to make a profit throughout the 19th century. When they were discriminated against and turned away from employment because of their ethnicity, they banded together to make a profit so that they could one day live the “American Dream.” However, organized crime really takes over and starts to become a problem in the 1920s with the introduction of the 18th Amendment on January 16, 1920 which outlawed the production, distribution, and consumption of alcoholic beverages.

3. Characterize the initiation ritual. How do you think it compares to the “real” ritual – if such a ritual exists?

Organized crime today differs a lot from the past. For example, during the 1920’s organized crime was primarily a domestic concern and today it is a transnational concern. Before, organized crime was all about having power and looking up for their location and rarely never go beyond there. Today they are just everywhere, per say one group can be in multiple locations at the same time. Today is all about money and controlling licit and illicit enterprises. This new form of organized crime started during the 1970’s and forward, this changed was due to the new era of globalized world, soft borders, and the revolution of technology. All of this opened the doors to a creative and powerful transnational organized crime. How this all started anyways?

After World War I, the attitude of Americans in the United States changed drastically. For the first time, more people lived in cities than in rural areas (Danzer 640). Trends including superficial fads, professional sports, new types of music, and the idea of celebrities represented the establishment of pop culture during the “Roaring 20s” (Fagnilli 46). Challenging the values and practices of the traditional American, many individuals, usually young people, introduced casual dating, more revealing clothing, birth control, and new styles of dancing (Fagnilli 45-46). Although the 1920s were considered the “good times,” there was a darker side to this era, including a rise in unemployment, organized crime, and an irrational fear of communism.

Organized Crime The 1920’s in America was a change from the past; soldiers were coming home, innovation was everywhere, and life was changing. Due to all these positive changes, this time in America’s history is known as the Roaring Twenties. Unfortunately, the Roaring Twenties had an ugly side. With the Eighteenth Amendment ratified, a ban on the production and distribution of liquor, it left a hole in a popular and booming industry.

Adrian Cobb Cobb 1 Coach Croley AP Language/Composition 6 March 2015 Period: 5 Organized Crime and its Influences Organized crime became extremely popular in the 1920s with the prohibition of alcohol; it prompted would-be gangsters to begin illegally making it and smuggling it. The Volstead Act enforced the ban on importing, sale, and production of alcohol which opened up money possibilities for gangsters. It became not only a source of money for the mob bosses, etc. but for politicians and other authority figures through bribes, blackmails, and so on. Society changed for the better and worse – better after years that this occurred and it was combat, but worse for the people of the society that had nothing to do with the mob’s dealings, etc.

During the early 1900s, specifically the 1920s, organizations involved in sophisticated crime arose and lived on for decades, influencing American progress and culture. These organizations came to be known as the American Mafia, the Italian Mafia, or the Italian Mob. These “families”, as they were called, sprung up in large cities all across the United States. The mob progressed quickly in America, developing from the simplest of crimes to methodical, organized illegal activity. The method of structure and the emphasis of loyalty and secrecy made insiders of the mob very susceptible to exploitation by the local police and federal government agencies, many instances of which were eventually revealed to the public. The mafia, while still around today, fell in prominence and importance in the eyes of the American government and its people. The major time frame of relevance for the American Mafia is about 1920-2001.

Many could argue that organized crime takes place in our society because of the circumstances in which our society has chosen to exist. It could have been started because of rules, regulations, and laws that we have placed upon ourselves that not every person agrees with. It could be a problem because several of the people within our society choose to live differently because they feel they can. Whatever the logic behind the choice organized crime does exist in our society and has for quite some time. In this paper will take a look at the perspective of social organized crime. We will discuss and explain the term social institution and how it applies to organized crime. We will discuss empirical

Organized crime was popular in the 1920s. There were people like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, and Arnold Rothstein taking over the illegal sale of liquor industry. Places like speakeasies were also apart of it. People made lots of money from illegally marketing alcohol. Most organized crime groups focused on smuggling alcohol.

Organized crime is often committed by highly controlled criminal groups that participate in illegal activities for financial benefits. Indeed, organized crimes terrorize multiple facets of the American nation, which include the US’ economy as well as national security. The FBI assigns the costs of organized crime globally at one trillion dollars per year.

The topic of this paper is gangsters in organized crime can either work alone or work with other gangsters. When people commit crimes with other criminals, their personal ties to each other become strong when there is especially trust or there could be no trust, however, those ties can become strong at some point.

During the Soviet era even when Stalin was in control, crime organizations were growing in the shadows of the Russian economy to later on surpass the government. Even though the Soviet state had a strong control of the economy, Russian mafia gangs were still able to twist and turn the law to get things their way. In addition, during Stalin’s rule he mainly “focused on heavy industry and neglected consumer goods” (Goldman, 1996, p.40). As a consequence, organized crime groups created the black market where it mainly focused on providing goods and services for the people that were considered unimportant and sold without the consent of the government, as mentioned before this is called the shadow economy in Russia.

During the period in which capitalism started to take place, middle class business owners turned to the Russian Mafia for private protection. Making a connection between the citizens of Russia and the Russian Mafia is difficult. We must make a connection between the social contract of the people of Russia and the Russian Mafia. We must also figure out why the citizens turn to the Russian Mafia for protection. There was a period in Russia when private property was ubiquitous in the modern days, so there was a large demand of trust and protection, which in fact wasn't being provided by the state. The state was not providing the citizens with enough protection and the crime rates in Russia showed proof of that. In 1989, the crime rate increased by 32 %, and the total report crimes rose by 70.5 % from 1989-1992. The citizens of Russia began to grow fearful of something happening to their property. This is where the Russian Mafia comes in for the citizens of Russia. Therefore, the demand for the protection of the Russian Mafia rose, especially from business owners. As business would continue to grow and expand, the state, specifically, the law enforcement agencies were unable to provide protection and security, which would lead to the creation of the Mafia organizations. Beccaria believed that the role of law should be prescribing specific punishment for specific crimes. The foundation for

The Russian Mafia: Protectionism in the New Capitalist Russia The Russian Mafia has always exercised an important role in the Russian economy. The contemporary mafiosi are descendents of the seventeenth Century highwaymen and Cossack robbers. These men occasionally murdered families prior to raids preventing them from being captured. The Russia mafiosi made a point to remain aloof from the state. Mob men were actually spurned when returning home from fighting in the Great Patriotic War. The gangs begin to dominate markets such as car sales, spare parts, cigarettes, food distribution, and other markets that the Communist Party failed to provide under the Bolsheviks (Remnick196). Since the collapse of Communism and the

The Russian mafia, like other organized crime groups have committed several crimes. The Russian mafia did not begin as drug trafficking, murdering, kidnapping, and other terrible crimes. At the beginning of the Russian mafia it was simply people rebelling against the government in a Robin-Hood type of way (2017). However, it has changed since then and today it is mainly known for the horrible crimes the people that are a part of this mafia have committed.