Organized crime is a term generally used to define any group working together in activities that violate criminal laws. These activities may include such crimes as arson , bribery , counterfeiting , extortion , gambling , kidnapping , money laundering , murder , obstruction of justice, prostitution , and robbery . Extortion is the practice of obtaining money or property through threats or force. Money laundering is the process of obtaining money illegally while making it appear as though it is lawful income.
The term organized crime has traditionally been used when referring to the Mafia , the secret criminal society that developed in Sicily , Italy. Members of the Mafia typically refused to cooperate with authorities and took the law into their own hands, often by using violence. By the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the term Mafia came to be used more generally to refer to the network of crime families that formed and operated in the United States and other nations, based on the ideas of the original Sicilian organization. Although this type of organized crime is widely known, it began to decline in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
Contemporary organized crime involves a vast array of criminals and criminal activities. It is often transnational (extending across national borders) and may involve the use of such technologies as the dark web (hidden portions of the internet) or cryptocurrency to accomplish its goals. According to the United Nations (UN) Office on Drugs and Crime, transnational organized crime involves three or more persons acting together to commit at least one serious crime in order to obtain a financial or other material benefit. Worldwide, the yearly proceeds of organized crime are estimated to be in the trillions of dollars.
Some organized criminal groups have a hierarchy (order of authority) in which different participants play controlling or leadership roles. These organizations often are involved in multiple criminal activities and have extensive supporting networks. They maintain their position through the use of violence or threats of violence, the corruption of public officials, extortion, or other illegal means. Smaller and less organized groups, such as youth gangs or street gangs, can also take part in organized crime, however.
Organized criminal groups can have ties to legal businesses and organizations. These ties can range from infiltration by a few of the group’s members to total control of the company. Such associations allow organized criminal groups to more easily launder and reinvest money earned from illegal activities, gain political power, and profit from white-collar crime. White-collar crime is nonviolent illegal activity carried out within a legitimate business.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) , organized crime in the United States today includes Russian mobsters who fled the Soviet Union after its collapse in 1991; groups from such African countries as Nigeria and Liberia that engage in drug trafficking and financial scams; Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian criminal organizations involved in counterfeiting; Middle Eastern groups that form automobile theft and cigarette-smuggling rings; and criminal enterprises based in such eastern European countries as Albania and Romania.
The major tool to fight organized crime in the United States has been the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, passed in 1970. This statute allows law enforcement organizations to target criminal groups and associations for organizing federal criminal schemes. Such schemes may include the smuggling of aliens (noncitizens), drug trafficking, embezzlement of union funds, interstate transportation of stolen property, mail and wire fraud, murder for hire, sexual exploitation of children, sports bribery, theft from interstate shipment, and trafficking in counterfeit goods, along with other criminal activities.
Organized crime is often carried out under the cover of secrecy. As a result, law enforcement forces have used confidential informants; cooperating witnesses , such as gangsters who implicate others; and electronic surveillance, such as wiretapping , to build cases against it. Wiretapping involves the interception of information over telephone lines or other communication systems. In some cases, witnesses must be moved into protection programs, relocated out of state, and required to obtain and assume new identities for their own safety. Efforts to eliminate organized crime are often hampered by victims’ or informants’ fear of harm or retaliation. It is also common for organized criminals to bribe and corrupt law enforcement and other government agents.
