Understanding The Way That Real Life Organized Crime Situations

Organized crime in America comes in many structures, yet it was the Mafia that developed with the most elevated profile and aided in various demonstrations of Congress to enable law authorities to deal with the threat. In the meantime, a significant part of the early history of organized crime is generally indistinguishable from political corruption. In the first half of the twentieth century, the law had regularly been known to choose not to see to illegal activity in light of personal involvement, the risk of striking back, or political weight. In spite of the fact that organized crime long originates before Prohibition, it was the illegal production and distribution of alcohol that made endless offenders extremely wealthy and started the

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

The only way to take down organized crime will be if the government is aware of the roots of why the syndicates form, because what would a country be without being aware of all of its citizens? Though the American Dream may be something that doesn’t reverberate with today’s generations, it should be kept in every American’s hearts. “The future will be determined by the young”, said Eleanor Roosevelt, “and there is no more essential task today, it seems, to me, than to bring before them once more, in all its brightness, in all its splendor and beauty, the American

Organized crime can be narrowed down to five unique areas of criminal activity. The first being racketeering, an umbrella term, meant to describe when any group or groups conduct one or more of the other criminal activities. One of the most successful ways the federal government has been able to hinder the actions of hardcore criminals is through the formation of the RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations). The second area of major criminal activity is vice, or vice operations. This has to do with victim-less crimes such as drugs, gambling, and prostitution. Again, these crimes are highly problematic because it is the public that decides whether or not they prosper. It’s all too easy to build a case against someone breaking a law by importing huge quantities of controlled substances across a border, but it becomes much more difficult to stem the sale or need for such drugs once they have reached their intended destinations.

Organized crime is found in the United States of America today and the law enforcement agencies are trying to find a way to curb its existence. Even though there are illegal businesses associated with organized crime, they are mixed in with legal businesses to portray a legal front. It also can be called a social institution because it is led by a boss and follows a chain of command much like a pyramid. Empirical and speculative theories have been developed through the years in order for the law enforcement agencies to better understand organized crime and how to deal with it. This paper will examine a social institution as it applies to

The characteristics defined above provide a basis for deciding if a specific group of criminals represent organized crime. This type of information is essential because organized crime has be handled in a different way from those of traditional offenders. Researchers can do a more comprehensive understanding could be acquired from the many empirical and speculative theories that contribute in the clarification of organized crime; this writer would it to be known that there is not one theory that can be applicable to the various groups of organized crime or its participants (Mallory & Mallory, 2012).

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 organized crime groups that I am most familiar with include terrorist groups, gangs, and mafias. As a result of living in a city in Florida, I have heard more about gangs compared to when I used to live in a rural town in Vermont. I’ve always heard about gang violence and the crime they commit, such as theft and murder (“Tampa Bay gangs,” n.d.). I also know that gangs can be represented by different colors, markings, and often members will have tattoos of the gang logo (“Tampa Bay gangs,” n.d.). Al Qaeda and ISIS are the two terrorist groups I have heard the most about because of how often the groups are committed crimes that are making national headlines. From the 9/11 terrorist attacks to the recent attach on Paris, terrorist groups are constantly committing crime and violence against society (Mallory, 2012). Lastly, I am not too familiar with the names of various mafias, I have only heard about the different types of crime they commit.

The FBI defines organized crime as any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal and immoral activities (fbi.gov). At one point in time only the mafia and other various crime organizations were thought to participate organized crime, but now there is a new crime organization on the rise.

The term “Organized Crime” first appeared during the Prohibition Era. Bootlegging gangs, centered mostly throughout Chicago, rose up and created crime throughout society. Throughout history the definition of “Organized Crime” has greatly evolved into different understandings, but still contain the basic characteristics: More than one individual committing at least one crime that is punishable by incarceration. As crime rates increased, the ‘United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime’ formed in 2003. Within this document, Transnational Organized Crime is depicted as:

Organized crime group’s further entrench themselves into the community by establishing legitimate business interests. These legitimate enterprises provide the organized crime group an opportunity to mask their true operations and offer covert means to launder money or hide illegal activities from detection. The criminal group can become imbedded within the community and provide further opportunities. Organized criminal groups can generate additional business for legitimate community institutions, jobs, income, and services. This can become so valuable to a community that the citizens actually accept the criminal organization and look the other way. A major reason organized crime is so successful within communities are the corrupt ties these groups form with political and social leaders often as a result of bribery or other favors. Organized criminal organizations become part of the social fabric of a community. Many individuals who consume illegal services provided by these groups do not view themselves as criminals, yet they directly support the group’s criminal activities (Lyman & Potter, 2007). Understanding how organized crime becomes part of a community’s social structure is valuable, but an examination of theories of organized crime is important to provide a deeper understanding.

A problem facing the common citizen regarding this problem is their perception of gangs, how they view gangs and how they think gangs operate. To the average person when they think of a gang, they think of some teenagers smoking on a street corner brandishing knives. And while that’s partially true, it’s very far from the whole truth. When it comes to organized crime, there is no one type of gang, there different types of gangs varying in their size, influence, and how dangerous they are. At the bottom of the food chain is the street gangs consisting of a few dozen members at most and, like the name implies, they

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.

There are few adults in this country who have not heard of the terms “Mafia”, the “Mob”, or “Organized Crime”. Hence, there are probably as many opinions of what these terms mean as there are people who know them. Over the years, my perceptions about organized crime came mainly through Hollywood productions or news accounts of criminal activity. Overall, I have had a disapproving opinion of organized crime. I would say that for the most part my perceptions prior to enrollment in this class have been verified by the realities presented in the text, other readings, and videos. However, there are of course significant disparities between my knowledge and the actual facts of the groups.

Organized crime has been around for many years. Since the first definition was written organized crime has grown into multiple different meanings. According to the text, Introduction to Criminology, organized crime refers to “organizations that use violence, provide illegal services, and have immunity of operation.” (Hagan) Organized crime is also used throughout the world within gangs and secret organizations. There are multiple types and definitions of organized crime. The basic four types are; Political-Social, Mercenary (Predatory), In-Group-Oriented, and Syndicate Organized Crime. When it comes to actually finding the meaning of organized crime, it can be difficult depending on which definition one