Organized Crime

It is important to be clear about the precise definition of organized crime, because it is broader in scope than popular images suggest. The term brings to mind visions of career criminals in ethnic neighborhoods comprised of recent immigrants. In the United States, the vision of Italian-American gangsters predominates due to the success of those groups and popular media portrayals in books and films such as The Godfather, which is still the most popular book ever written about crime and one of the highest-grossing movies ever made. Even though it is a work of fiction, most people believe The Godfather is real because it corresponds to their image of organized crime 

In fact, organized crime is both more diverse and more complicated than popular portrayals would have us believe. This is due to its universality and the kinds of people who commit it. First, all societies report problems with organized crime at some level, and the ethnicity of the participants is not controlling. In the same way that armed robbers are not explained effectively by their ethnicity, organized crime is committed by persons of all backgrounds. The "ethnicity trap" occurs when the idea is promoted that some ethnic groups are somehow more crime-prone than others, and that ethnicity can in some way shed light on the causes of crime. There is no evidence that this is the case.  

 Accordingly, the committers of organized crime may include corrupt business executives, members of the professions, public officials, or members of any other occupational group, in addition to the conventional racketeer element. 

 Therefore, organized and white-collar crime overlap when they involve the important elements of organization, multiple participants), rational criminal motive, and the use of corruption and or violence to maintain immunity.  

 Types of Organized Crime

The definition of what constitutes an organized crime group is broad, but the specific types of illegal activities can be clearly categorized into three major types: provision of illicit goods, provision of illicit services, and infiltration or abuse of legitimate business. Within each of these categories are more specific crimes, which constitute what we know as organized crime. 

 The provision of illicit services involves an attempt to satisfy the public demand for money, sex, and gambling that legitimate society does not fulfill. The specific crimes involved include: loansharking, prostitution, and gambling. Loansharking is the lending of money to individuals at an interest rate in excess of that permitted by law. Organized prostitution offers sex for pay on a systematic basis. Gambling is games of chance where money is wagered in violation of the law. Each of these crimes occurs as a continuing enterprise due to the failure of a sizable portion of the public to obtain money, sex, or gambling in a legitimate way, such as through bank loans, marriage, or government sponsored lotteries. 

 The provision of illicit goods is a category of organized crime that offers particular products that a segment of the public desires but cannot obtain through legitimate channels. The sale and distribution of drugs and the fencing and distribution of stolen property are examples of specific crimes in this category. There is a great demand for drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, that are either illegal or are distributed under very strict regulations imposed by a government. Needless to say, these regulations do not diminish the demand for these drugs and, as a result, some people attempt to obtain them illegally. In a similar way, a significant portion of society desires to obtain attractive products, regardless of where the seller originally obtained them. Due to this demand, organized criminals have arisen who "fence" stolen merchandise by buying stolen property, or trafficking in humans, and then selling them customers who do not care from where it came. 

 The third category of organized crime is the infiltration or abuse of legitimate business. Labor racketeering and the takeover of waste disposal companies are two examples of infiltration of legitimate business. Labor racketeering involves the use of force or threats to obtain money for insuring jobs or labor peace. This often entails the threat to employers or employees that if money is not paid, there will be no job, or that violence, strikes, and or vandalism will occur at the business. In a similar way, some waste disposal companies have been taken over through the use of coercion to intimidate legitimate owners to sell the business or to have it operated by an outsider by means of intimidation.  

 
The Factors of Organized Crime 

The factors that explain the existence of organized crime are of three kinds: opportunity factors, the criminal environment, and special access or skills. It will be shown that distinguishing the important aspects of each of these factors enables the identification of high-risk activities and businesses at high risk of organized crime involvement.

Opportunity Factors
Opportunity factors for organized crime are of four types: economic, governmental, law enforcement, and social or technological changes. Changing combinations of these factors help determine the nature and extent of organized crime in a specific area. 

 Special Skills or Access
Given the existence of certain opportunity factors and knowledge of the criminal environment, special skills or access also might be needed in order to exploit these criminal opportunities.  

Exacerbating Factors
In addition to the factors described in the risk assessment model, there are exacerbating factors that contribute to the risk of the presence of organized crime. These “background” factors affect the likelihood of organized crime by creating a context, which promotes its existence. These factors include geographic location, local history, and cultural traditions or beliefs.