While some crimes involved known criminal hierarchies in the city, criminal activity was not subject to central administration by these hierarchies or other control groups, and activity was not limited to a finite number of targets. The networks of criminals involved in the crimes have shown no organizational cohesion. Too much emphasis has been placed on the mafia as the controlling CO. The Mafia was certainly powerful, but it “was part of a heterogeneous underworld, a network characterized by complex networks of relationships.” The CBO groups were violent and aimed to make money, but due to the lack of structure and fragmentation of targets, they were “disorganized”. [175] [176] Ianni, Francis A.J. (back to index) Criminologists have generally used the term “organized crime” to distinguish the professional from the crime enthusiast and to emphasize that criminal activity is structured by a cooperative association of a group of individuals. Thus, any gang or group of criminals organized formally or informally to extort money, shoplift, steal cars or rob banks is part of organized crime, regardless of its size or whether it operates locally or nationally. In recent years, however, government commissions and agencies have used a different definition of organized cries based on the notion of a national conspiracy involving thousands of criminals, mostly Italian-American, organized to take over entire sectors of legitimate and illegitimate corporations in order to accumulate huge profits. In both cases, the definitions focus on the criminals themselves and differ mainly in terms of the size and complexity of the organisation (relatively small local groups as opposed to a national Syn15 figure) and the nature of the offences involved (offences where there is a perpetrator and a victim and offences where illegal goods and services are provided to them, who are willing to pay for it). In my own work, I preferred not to focus on the collection of individuals who band together to commit certain criminal acts or types of crimes. Rather, I have defined organized crime as an integral part of the American social system that brings together a public that demands certain goods and services defined as illegal, an organization of people who produce or provide those goods and services, and corrupt officials who protect those individuals for their own profit or profit.
Finckenauer, James O. (back to index) I hope I have convinced you that a clear and focused definition of organized crime is important. This is important as a legal definition and for public policy purposes, but it is also particularly important for research purposes. After all, it is the fruits of this latest research that will influence previous definitions. In the context of the general definition, distinctions between key concepts such as organised and organised crime, between organised crime and the mafia, between criminal organisations and other types of criminal groups, and between organised and cross-border crime are crucial. So what is organized crime? I want to repeat that the difficulty lies in the word organized. The attributes of criminal organizations that commit the crimes they commit include criminal sophistication, structure, self-identification and reputation authority, as well as their size and continuity. These criminal organizations exist largely to profit from the provision of illegal goods and services at the request of the public or the illegal supply of legal goods and services.
But they can also penetrate the legitimate economy or, in the case of the mafia, assume quasi-state roles. Whichever way they decide to do it, and whatever they want to do, their goal remains the same: to make as much money as they can. Sometimes this may mean striving for political power to facilitate their greed, but the end result is the same. Members of a criminal organization may include a criminal family, gang, cartel or criminal network, but these designations are not important to the definition. These members may also share certain ethnic or racial identities; But even this is not essential to defining it as a criminal organized crime organization. The ability to use force or threats of violence to facilitate criminal activity and, in some cases, to acquire or maintain monopoly control over certain criminal markets is essential to the definition of organized crime. It is also important that organised crime uses the corruption of officials to guarantee immunity from its operations; and/or protect its criminal enterprises from competition. It is the defining characteristics of organised crime that best answer the question of what organised crime is. (Finckenauer, 2005: 81-82) Canada: Schulte-Bockholt, Alfried (back to index) Organized crime is identified here as a group that generally operates in a form of obfuscation, with a structure that reflects the cultural and social claims of the societies that produce them; and whose main objective is to gain access to wealth and power by participating in economic activities prohibited by State law. Organized crime is a form of gross accumulation based on the use or threat of physical violence that occurs and has arisen in various socio-economic formations across time and space, and that is generated by the specific conditions of that time and place. (Schulte-Bockholt, 2001: 238-239) Italy: Adamoli et al.
(back to index) Legal and international definitions of “organized crime” tend to converge, so that the term refers to a method of conducting criminal operations that differs from other forms of criminal behaviour. Its distinguishing features are violence, corruption, ongoing criminal activity and the primacy of the group over each individual member. Organized crime groups are characterized by their continuity over time, regardless of the mortality of their members. They do not depend on the continued participation of one person. (Adamoli et al. 1998, 9) with the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Convention) with a similar definition: This theory treats all individuals as rational actors who commit criminal acts after weighing all associated risks (detection and punishment) against rewarding crimes (personal, financial, etc.). [191] Little importance is given to the emotional state of the perpetrators. This approach prioritizes the role of criminal organizations in reducing the perception of risk and increasing the likelihood of personal gain, with the structure, purpose and activity of organizations indicative of the rational decisions of criminals and their organizers. [192] CPS will work closely with its law enforcement colleagues at home and abroad to successfully combat and prosecute drug traffickers and suppliers.
We will provide investigators with strategic advice at an early stage so that investigative opportunities are fully exploited.
