...The term organized crime has become well known during recent years. Primarily through movies, television shows, and news reports. When a person hears the term organized crime, they think of the mob from movies like godfather, goodfellas, and scarface. However; those movies are just a glorified representation of what organized crime actually is and the reality of organized crime and its impact of society is much more disturbing than anything Hollywood or story writers can develop. The purpose of this paper is to define and discuss what organized crime is, why it develops and why members of society are drawn to engage in it. This paper will also discuss the problems related to organized crime’s impact on society and the limitations the government faces when trying to eradicate this type of criminal activity. In addition, the laws and tools law enforcement uses to combat organized criminal activity will be explored and how those laws and tools can be expanded on to offer a viable solution in controlling organized crime. Organized Crime Described The simplest definition of organized crime can be 1. Widespread criminal activities, such as prostitution, interstate theft, or illegal gambling, that occur within a centrally controlled formal structure. 2. The people and the groups involved in such criminal activities. (thefreedictionary.com). This definition is what makes the difference between criminal activity conducted by an individual and criminal activity conducted by a group...
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...Personal Perception of Organized Crime Personal Perception of Organized Crime Since the early 1900s, one organized crime groups have been coexisting here in the United States under legitimate businesses with the intention to gain money and power from unlawful crimes, the Italian mafia. This group would be the center of attention in many movies from the early 70s to today entertainment industry. The Italian mafia goes by different names the Mob, Mafia, or La Cos Nostra, is the umbrella names of several clandestine organizations in Sicily and the United States. These groups of organized criminals would form their own organization, before coming to the Unites States because they believe that they could not trust Span’s law enforcement. So the citizens of Sicily would organize their own protection of society would eventually would evolve into the Mafia. As the years go by many more organized crime groups would appear from Russia, Mexico, and African Americans groups. In this paper I will discuss the why I feel that these groups are assumed to break the laws of our government and compare the difference of my definition to what is actually read from the book” Organized Crimes”. I would also like to discuss the characteristics that might be associated with organized criminal behavior. WHAT IS ORGANIZED CRIME? When I think of organized crime, I think of Italian mafia, Russian Mob, Mexican Mafia, biker gangs like the Outlaws and Hell’s Angels willing to get what they...
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...Introduction………………………………………………………………………...2-3 Criminal Activity……………………………………………………………………3 Types of gangs…………………………………………………………………….4 Street gangs……………………………………………………………..…4 Prison gangs……………………………………………………………….5 Motorcycle gangs………………………………………………………….6 3 most feared gangs in the United States………………………………………6 Mara Salvatrucha………………………………………………………….6 Crips………………………………………………………………………...7 Bloods………………………………………………………………………7 Female involvement in gangs……………………………………………………8 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………8-9 Abstract 1 The word “ Gang” at one point in time was only used to describe a group of people, now days the word “Gang” is associated with negative groups who commit crime and violence. According to the FBI over 20,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs and prisoner gangs currently exist throughout the United States, with over one million members (Federal Bureau of, 2009). Gangs are made up of all types and kinds of human beings from men, to woman, and even children. A good amount of the crime in several communities around the U.S. is victimized by the gang related activity. Gang activity is higher in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Arizona and New York, with more than half of all homicides thought to be gang related homicides (Muhlhausen, 2007). Overall organized crime is anywhere and every where, this is a very difficult area for law enforcement to keep control...
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...Gangs The word “Gang” at one point in time was only used to describe a group of people, now days the word “Gang” is associated with negative groups who commit crime and violence. According to the FBI over 20,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs and prisoner gangs currently exist throughout the United States, with over one million members (Federal Bureau of, 2009). Gangs are made up of all types and kinds of human beings from men, to woman, and even children. A good amount of the crime in several communities around the U.S. is victimized by the gang related activity. Gang activity is higher in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Arizona and New York, with more than half of all homicides thought to be gang related homicides (Muhlhausen, 2007). Overall organized crime is anywhere and everywhere; this is a very difficult area for law enforcement to keep control over, a non ending battle against something that will always gain new members. These new members join for many reasons and come from many backgrounds, mainly from distress and un-oriented families. The word “Gang” at one point in time was only used to describe a group of people, now days the word “Gang” is associated with negative groups who commit crime and violence. A street gang is “an association of individuals who have a gang name and recognizable symbols, a geographic territory, a regular meeting pattern, and an organized, continuous course of criminality” (Kenneth J. Peak, 2009). When you walk out of...
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...When people think of organized crimes they think of gangs and mafias. Organized Crimes is a continuing, structured collectivity of persons who utilize criminality, violence, and a willingness to corrupt in order to gain and maintain power and profit .However organized crimes are global and can be hit by whomever, whenever. In the recent years organized crimes has become more difficult and the threat has widen. People are becoming smarter and technology plays a huge part within these acts. Today some of the organized crimes consist of La Cosa Nostra, Hispanic Crime Groups, Jamaican Posses, Asian Crime Groups, Russian Mafia, Street Gangs and Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. All of these groups are targeting the citizens of the United States or have presence in the U.S. These groups are using the internet and technology to get to the United States. The more these groups realize they have something in common and more to gain they cooperate with each other rather than compete with each other. The impact of organized crime is very important and easily measured. Organize crime rings are very manipulative. These groups bring drugs into the cities and raise the violence in the communities. They are willing to do whatever it takes to keep their operation going even committing murder. These groups are characteracterized as being ruthless. These groups also have underground businesses and some of these cons the United States out of millions of dollars. These businesses include trafficking, prostitution...
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...Controlling Organized Crime Rob Papagno CJA/384 03 September 2013 Daniel Barry Controlling Organized Crime Some people would say that organized crime has ruined the United States and allowed petty hoods to gain worldwide recognition. Others would disagree and say organized crime is no different than any major corporation in today’s global economy. Some people would say organized crime is the best thing to happen to neighborhoods which law enforcement will not come into. No matter what side of the fence a person falls on, some part of what they believe will be correct, and part will not. During the course of this paper, the author will look at organized crime, identify the problems presented and the various relationships established by organized crime, and describe the legal limitations associated with combating organized crime, including a critique of major federal laws and strategies that support this effort. Finally, the author will suggest a realistic solution to control organized crime by discussing and evaluating the effectiveness of organized crime prosecutions. Problems with Organized Crime The problem with organized crime is that it often infringes on people’s basic rights and destroys economic structure, and political and civil development, on a global scale. Transnational organized crime rears its ugly head in many different forms, ranging from the trafficking of drugs and people to illegal arms. This is often accomplished by using unsuspecting individuals...
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...Los Angeles and Aremenian Power Organized crime has gained success first in the prohibition era and through gambling, drug trafficking, and other criminal ventures. Organized crime groups have infiltrated into legitimate businesses as well to gain the biggest profit in the fastest way possible. The Armenian Power is prevalent in the Los Angeles area participating in mostly white collar-crime. This organized crime group is involved with kidnapping, bank fraud, credit card theft, and numerous other technology criminal acts. This group has proven to be a powerful and dangerous group, stopping at nothing to reach the goal they set out to obtain. Determine the group’s national and multination structure and operation methods, pertaining to the drug business. The organized crime group known as the Armenian Power or AP was “formed in the 1980s by Armenian immigrants and others from former Soviet-bloc countries as protections against other ethnic gangs in the neighborhood” (Kandel, 2011, para. 3). The AP crime organization began as a gang and still has gang affiliations that include individuals classified as Armenian Power Associates and not members. The criminal enterprise consists of approximately 200 members who include Armenian Americans, Armenian immigrants, Soviet-bloc immigrants, and Hispanic members. The AP’s list of criminal activities include; defrauding “patrons of 99 Cents Only stores out of millions of dollars (credit and debit card fraud), kidnapping, identity theft...
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...Chapter 1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY A fraternity is an organization, formed chiefly for social purposes having secret rites and name consisting of Greek letters. Fraternities get a lot of bad publicity as with that hazing problems at many colleges and universities, but there is another side to fraternities that many people do not see. Fraternities do have plenty of social events, service projects and other school and community related events. There are several factors such as personal, social, emotional and community factors that influence students to join fraternities. In order to join a fraternity, a neophyte has to undergo different rites or servicing in order to be accepted. The frequent reason that students join fraternity is for brotherhood and a place to belong. A special bond is formed between fraternity brothers. They will be there and will do almost anything for each other. Whether these set of friends make or break the student’s academic career, maybe hard to differentiate if a member is having too much fun. It sometimes depends on the individuals on how they will handle their selves as they join fraternities. But regardless, a fraternity is like any other group: what you get out of it depends on who you are and how you handle it .The problem focused on the involvement population/students in fraternities. Presently, the school/community does not recognize the presence of fraternities in the campus/population and have implied rules concerning this matter. But then...
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...ORGANIZED CRIME INVESTIGATION "Yes, Mr. Hoover, there is a Mafia" (Rudy Giuliani) Organized crime is in a class by itself. It's big, it's powerful, it's well-connected, and highly profitable. Mafia is the most common term used to describe the more profitable criminal organizations around the world, but other terminology exists, such as: international criminal organizations (military usage); transnational crime (United Nations usage); and enterprise crime (FBI usage). As the term is utilized in criminology, it refers to any (or all) of six (6) different types of crime: (1) crime as business, which includes white collar crime as well as various forms of corruption; (2) offenses involving works of art, counterfeiting, or other cultural artifacts; (3) crime associated with the distribution and sale of narcotics as well as other contraband substances; (4) crime associated with human migration or sex trafficking including various forms of prostitution; and (5) crime involving contract murder or for-hire use of force, mostly deadly force; and (6) various forms of computer crime involving identity theft and/or other large-scale financial frauds. No one-sentence conceptual definition exists, and a very useful webpage can be found on the Internet devoted to the Many Definitions of Organized Crime. There are known characteristics of organized crime, such as corruption, violence, sophistication, continuity, structure, discipline, ideology (or lack thereof), multiple enterprises...
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...Controlling Organized Crime James R. Wells 6/30/2013 CJA/384 Mr. Borton Organized crime has been around for a long time and has always been a huge problem. The Prohibition is what got organized crime started with everyone wanting to bootleg. It is a growing trend in today’s society. The Mafia was one of the first well known crime groups in the 1970’s and was one of the most powerful one at that. Gangs are getting smarter at keeping their criminal activities under the radar to law enforcement and to ordinary citizens. Business owners are starting to get involved in illegal activity over greed. Organized crime is taking over all over the world and drugs are a big factor. Identify the problems presented and the various relationships established by organized crime. 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 activities” (Organized Crime). Organized crime just does not affect those in a gang or those doing illegal activities. IT affects everyone as a whole, locales, region, or the entire country. The Tsarnaev brothers were part of the Al Qaeda group, they killed four people at one of the biggest marathon in the United States and it affected the nation. The various relationships established by organized crime are cargo theft, fraud, robbery, kidnapping for ransom, and the demanding of protection payments. Describe the legal limitations associated with combating organized...
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...Controlling Organized Crime CJA/384 April 16, 2012 Controlling Organized Crime When many people think of the problems related to organized crime, the stories shown on television or in movies about Sicilian or Italian mafia comes to mind. In reality, the threat of this type of crime is much more widespread. The following explores the problems presented by organized crime, the legal limitations associated with combating organized crime, and suggestions to control organized crime by discussing and evaluating the effectiveness of organized crime prosecutions. Organized Crime Organized crime is nothing new; these groups have been around since the 1900s when Italian immigrants organized into what they called families. These groups maintained strict loyalty and tight lips, discussing their business with no one outside the family. Soon they were involved in the labor unions and bootlegging at the inception of the Prohibition (Repetto, 2007). Some consider these families traditional organized crime groups. New versions are considered nontraditional organized crime groups. Since the rise of the Mafia, other criminal organizations have surfaced using their power to corrupt businesses for personal gain and political strength. Everyday society is under attack by smaller criminal organizations working pipelines for drugs and weapons. These nontraditional groups are outlaw motorcycle gangs, Chinese triads, Columbian cartels, and urban street gangs (Lyman & Potter, 2007)...
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...Television series such as Sons of Anarchy, focus on a violent biker gang committing indictable offences varying from theft, drug trafficking and even first degree murder but what many don’t consider is the idea that organized crime as seen in this series occur today in places not so far from home. What is organized crime? By definition in the Criminal Code of Canada, organized crime is “a group, however organized, that: (a) is composed of three or more persons in or outside Canada; and, (b) has as one of its main purposes or main activities the facilitation or commission of one or more serious offences, that, if committed, would likely result in the direct or...
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...Perception of Organized Crime Sergio L. Robles University of Phoenix Personal Perception of Organized Crime Many thoughts come to mind when the “organized crime” are mentioned. The perception that I have on organized crime is of those types of crimes that are well planned out. The term “organized” gives the crime a since of purpose, criminals organized themselves to carry out their plans. For a criminal, crime is a way of living. The individuals that are involved in the organized crime have goals that they must meet to achieve goals. Even though crime is seen as a wrong thing to do, for the individuals within the organized crime it is normal. Throughout the world there are many different ways to define organized crime. Because there are many definitions, it is important to understand the main key points that identify organized crime. According to Howard Abadinsky, the main attributes with organized crime: “1. has no political goals 2. Is hierarchical 3. Has a limited or exclusive membership 4. Constitutes a unique subculture 5. Perpetuates itself 6. Exhibits a willingness to use illegal violence 7. Is monopolistic 8. Is governed by explicit rules and regulations” (Von Lampe, 2010). Organized crime in the United States, the same standard of definition is used both by state and federal government agencies. The FBI considers organized crime structured as fearful, corrupted, and violent. Some example of organized crime according to...
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...Russian gangs are a major concern in the United States. They have become a threat after coming to the United States at the U.S expense. Beyond the general organized crime activities, Russian organized crime has been a threat economically and politically overall to the U.S because of their particular activities. Many Russian organizations have settled across the U.S. in various major states, such as New York and California, causing an overall issue to those states and the country. Law enforcers have made it their priority to target organized crime to reduce the threat to the country. In particular, these threats include: become alliances with countries and creating a threat to international peace and stability, drug trafficking, cybercrime, and fraud....
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...people are reported to have immigrated to the United States, due to the uncertain political and social conditions there. A big chunk of the refugees arrived and settled in the Rampart area of Los Angeles. They needed low cost housing and employment. That area was already afflicted with gangs and crimes. For the local population of Mexican-Americans, this was the most unwelcome development. The combustible youth immigrants from Salvador took the problem of their survival in response to the victimization at the hands of local gangs, as a serious challenge and formed a new gang by name Mara Salvatrucha, popularly known as MS-13. “Las-Mara” is a notorious street gang that engages in violent crimes in El Salvador. Salvatruchas, refers to the members of the political entity, styled Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. This is a group of Peasants from Salvador, trained in guerilla warfare. The number 13 refers to the California prison gang, the Mexican Mafia. A youth facing the unemployment problem, not getting support from the government and the society, when he is constantly nagged, abused, condemned and ostracized by the society, turns into a viler and bitter individual. With no authority to show heartfelt care and concern, and an understanding approach to the problems of teeming millions of refugees, the frustrated immigrant youth formed a new gang and began to engage in violent criminal acts. The founding members of the gang were guerilla warfare experts. The training...
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