Editing Organized crime (section)

==Historical origins==
===Pre-nineteenth century===
Today, crime is sometimes thought of as an urban phenomenon, but for most of human history it was the rural interfaces that encountered the majority of crimes (bearing in mind the fact that for most of human history, rural areas were the vast majority of inhabited places). For the most part, within a village, members kept crime at very low rates; however, outsiders such as [[piracy|pirates]], [[Highwayman|highwaymen]] and [[banditry|bandits]] attacked trade routes and roads, at times severely disrupting commerce, raising costs, insurance rates and prices to the consumer. According to criminologist Paul Lunde, "[[Piracy]] and [[banditry]] were to the pre-industrial world what organized crime is to modern society."<ref name="ReferenceA">Paul Lunde, ''Organized Crime'', 2004.</ref>
{{blockquote|If we take a global rather than a strictly domestic view, it becomes evident that even crime of the organized kind has a long if not a necessarily noble heritage. The word 'thug' dates back to early 13th-century [[Indian subcontinent|India]], when [[Thuggee|Thugs]], or gangs of criminals, roamed from town to town, looting and [[pillaging]]. Smuggling and drug-trafficking rings are as old as the hills in Asia and Africa, and extant criminal organizations in Italy and Japan trace their histories back several centuries...<ref>Sullivan, Robert, ed. ''Mobsters and Gangsters: Organized Crime in America, from [[Al Capone]] to [[Tony Soprano]].'' New York: Life Books, 2002.</ref>}}

As Lunde states, "[[Barbarian]] conquerors, whether [[Vandals]], [[Goths]], the [[Norsemen|Norse]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]] or [[Mongols]] are not normally thought of as organized crime groups, yet they share many features associated with thriving criminal organizations. They were for the most part non-ideological, predominantly ethnically based, used violence and intimidation, and adhered to their own codes of law."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In [[Ancient Rome]], there was an infamous outlaw called [[Bulla Felix]] who organized and led a gang of up to six hundred bandits. Terrorism is linked to organized crime, but has political aims rather than solely financial ones, so there is overlap but separation between terrorism and organized crime.

==== Fencing in Ming and Qing China ====
A fence or receiver (銷贓者), was a [[merchant]] who bought and sold [[Possession of stolen goods|stolen goods]]. Fences were part of the extensive network of accomplices in the criminal underground of [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] China. Their occupation entailed criminal activity, but as fences often acted as liaisons between the more respectable community to the underground criminals, they were seen as living a "precarious existence on the fringes of respectable society".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Unruly People: Crime, Community, and State in Late Imperial South China|last=Antony|first=Robert|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|date=2016|isbn=978-988-8390-05-2|location=Hong Kong|page=174}}</ref>

A fence worked alongside [[banditry|bandits]], but in a different line of work. The network of criminal accomplices that was often acquired was essential to ensuring both the safety and the success of fences.

The path into the occupation of a fence stemmed, in a large degree, from necessity. As most fences came from the ranks of poorer people, they often took whatever work they could – both legal and illegal.<ref name=":1" />

Like most bandits operated within their own community, fences also worked within their own town or village. For example, in some satellite areas of the capital, military troops lived within or close to the commoner population and they had the opportunity to hold illegal trades with commoners.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bandits, Eunuchs and the Son of Heaven: Rebellion and the Economy of Violence in Mid-Ming China|last=Robinson|first=David|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|date=2001|isbn=978-0-8248-6154-4|location=Honolulu|page=58}}</ref>

In areas like [[Baoding]] and [[Hejian]], local peasants and community members not only purchased military livestock such as horses and cattle, but also helped to hide the "stolen livestock from military allured by the profits". Local peasants and community members became fences and they hid [[Crime|criminal activities]] from officials in return for products or money from these soldiers.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bandits, Eunuchs and the Son of Heaven: Rebellion and the Economy of Violence in Mid-Ming China.|last=Robinson|first=David|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|date=2001|isbn=978-0-8248-6154-4|location=Honolulu|page=58}}</ref>

===== Types of fences =====
Most fences were not individuals who only bought and sold stolen goods to make a living. The majority of fences had other occupations within the "polite" society and held a variety of official occupations. These occupations included laborers, coolies, and peddlers.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Unruly People: Crime, Community, and State in Late Imperial South China.|last=Antony|first=Robert|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|date=2016|location=Hong Kong|page=175}}</ref> Such individuals often encountered criminals in markets in their line of work, and, recognizing a potential avenue for an extra source of income, formed acquaintances and temporary associations for mutual aid and protection with criminals.<ref name=":2" /> In one example, an owner of a tea house overheard the conversation between Deng Yawen, a criminal and others planning a robbery and he offered to help to sell the loot for an exchange of spoils.

At times, the robbers themselves filled the role of fences, selling to people they met on the road. This may actually have been preferable for robbers in certain circumstances, because they would not have to pay the fence a portion of the spoils.

Butchers were also prime receivers for stolen animals because of the simple fact that owners could no longer recognize their livestock once butchers slaughtered them.<ref name=":2" /> Animals were very valuable commodities within Ming China and a robber could potentially sustain a living from stealing livestock and selling them to butcher-fences.

Although the vast majority of the time, fences worked with physical stolen property, fences who also worked as itinerant barbers also sold information as a good. Itinerant barbers often amassed important sources of information and news as they traveled, and sold significant pieces of information, often to criminals in search of places to hide or individuals to rob.<ref name=":2" /> In this way, itinerant barbers also served the role as a keeper of information that could be sold to both members of the criminal underground, as well as powerful clients in performing the function of a spy.

Fences not only sold items such as jewelry and clothing but was also involved in [[human trafficking|trafficking]] hostages that bandits had kidnapped. Women and children were the easiest and among the most common "objects" the fences sold. Most of the female hostages were sold to fences and then sold as [[Prostitution|prostitutes]], wives or [[concubinage|concubines]]. One example of human trafficking can be seen from Chen Akuei's gang who abducted a servant girl and sold her to Lin Baimao, who in turn sold her for thirty parts of silver as wives.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Unruly People: Crime, Community, and State in Late Imperial South China|last=Antony|first=Robert|publisher=Hong Kong University|date=2016|location=Hong Kong|page=156}}</ref> In contrast to women, who required beauty to sell for a high price, children were sold regardless of their physical appearance or family background. Children were often sold as servants or entertainers, while young girls were often sold as prostitutes.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Unruly People: Crime, Community, and State in Late Imperial South China.|last=Antony|first=Robert|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|date=2016|location=Hong Kong|page=160}}</ref>

===== Network of connections =====
Like merchants of honest goods, one of the most significant tools of a fence was their network of connections. As they were the middlemen between robbers and clients, fences needed to form and maintain connections in both the "polite" society, as well as among criminals. However, there were a few exceptions in which members of the so-called "well-respected" society became receivers and harborers. They not only help bandits to sell the stolen goods but also acted as agents of bandits to collect protection money from local merchants and residents. These "part-time" fences with high social status used their connection with bandits to help themselves gain social capital as well as wealth.

It was extremely important to their occupation that fences maintained a positive relationship with their customers, especially their richer gentry clients. When some members of the local elites joined the ranks of fences, they not only protected bandits to protect their business interests, they actively took down any potential threats to their illegal profiting, even [[government officials]]. In the [[Zhejiang|Zhejiang Province]], the local elites not only got the provincial commissioner, Zhu Wan, dismissed from his office but also eventually "[drove] him to suicide".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Murakami, Ei. "The Rise and Fall of the Chinese Pirates: from Initiators to Obstructors of Maritime Trade." The Sea in History - The Early Modern World, edited by Christian Buchet and Gérard Le Bouëdec|last=Murakami|first=Ei|publisher=The Boydell Press|date=2017|isbn=978-1-78327-158-0|location=Woodbridge, UK|page=814}}</ref> This was possible because fences often had legal means of making a living, as well as illegal activities and could threaten to turn in bandits to the authorities.<ref name=":1" />

It was also essential for them to maintain a relationship with bandits. However, it was just as true that bandits needed fences to make a living. As a result, fences often held dominance in their relationship with bandits and fences could exploit their position, cheating the bandits by manipulating the prices they paid bandits for the stolen property.<ref name=":1" />

===== Safe houses =====
Aside from simply buying and selling stolen goods, fences often played additional roles in the criminal underground of early China. Because of the high floating population in public places such as inns and tea houses, they often became ideal places for bandits and gangs to gather to exchange information and plan for their next crime. Harborers, people who provided safe houses for criminals, often played the role of receiving stolen goods from their harbored criminals to sell to other customers.<ref name=":1" /> Safe houses included inns, tea houses, brothels, opium dens, as well as gambling parlors and employees or owners of such institutions often functioned as harborers, as well as fences.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Unruly People: Crime, Community, and State in Late Imperial South China.|last=Antony|first=Robert|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|date=2016|location=Hong Kong|page=171}}</ref> These safe houses were located in places with high floating populations and people from all kinds of social backgrounds.

Brothels themselves helped these bandits to hide and sell stolen goods because of the special Ming Law that exempted brothels from being held responsible "for the criminal actions of their clients." Even though the government required owners of these places to report any suspicious activities, lack of enforcement from the government itself and some of the owners being fences for the bandits made an ideal safe house for bandits and gangs.

Pawnshops were also often affiliated with fencing stolen goods. The owners or employees of such shops often paid cash for stolen goods at a price a great deal below market value to bandits, who were often desperate for money, and resold the goods to earn a profit.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Unruly People: Crime, Community, and State in Late Imperial South China.|last=Antony|first=Robert|publisher=Hong Kong University Press|date=2016|location=Hong Kong|page=177}}</ref>

===== Punishments for fences =====
Two different Ming Laws, the ''Da Ming Lü'' 大明律 and the ''Da Gao'' 大诰, drafted by the [[Hongwu Emperor]] Zhu Yuanzhang, sentenced fences with different penalties based on the categories and prices of the products that were stolen.

In coastal regions, illegal trading with foreigners, as well as smuggling, became a huge concern for the government during the middle to late Ming era. In order to prohibit this crime, the government passed a law in which illegal smugglers who traded with foreigners without the consent of the government would be punished with exile to the border for military service.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://roger.ucsd.edu/search~S9?/Xming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ/Xming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ&extended=1&SUBKEY=ming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+/1,70,70,E/frameset&FF=Xming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ&1,1,|title=Ming dai li fa yan jiu|last=Yang|first=Yifan|date=2013|publisher=Zhongguo she hui ke xue chu ban she|isbn=9787516127179|edition=Di 1 ban|series=Zhongguo she hui ke xue yuan xue bu wei yuan zhuan ti wen ji = Zhongguoshehuikexueyuan xuebuweiyuan zhuanti wenji|location=Beijing|page=42|oclc=898751378|access-date=2021-12-31|archive-date=2021-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306025533/http://roger.ucsd.edu/search~S9?%2FXming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ%2FXming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ&extended=1&SUBKEY=ming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+%2F1%2C70%2C70%2CE%2Fframeset&FF=Xming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ&1%2C1%2C|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In areas where military troops were stationed, stealing and selling military property would result in a more severe punishment. In the Jiaqing time, a case was recorded of stealing and selling military horses. The emperor himself gave direction that the thieves who stole the horses and the people who helped to sell the horses would be put on [[cangue]] and sent to labor in a border military camp.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://roger.ucsd.edu/search~S9?/Xming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ/Xming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ&extended=1&SUBKEY=ming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+/1,70,70,E/frameset&FF=Xming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ&1,1,|title=Ming dai li fa yan jiu|last=Yang|first=Yifan|date=2013|publisher=Zhongguo she hui ke xue chu ban she|isbn=9787516127179|edition=Di 1 ban|series=Zhongguo she hui ke xue yuan xue bu wei yuan zhuan ti wen ji = Zhongguoshehuikexueyuan xuebuweiyuan zhuanti wenji|location=Beijing|page=326|oclc=898751378|access-date=2021-12-31|archive-date=2021-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306025533/http://roger.ucsd.edu/search~S9?%2FXming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ%2FXming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ&extended=1&SUBKEY=ming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+%2F1%2C70%2C70%2CE%2Fframeset&FF=Xming+dai+li+fa+yan+jiu+&searchscope=9&SORT=DZ&1%2C1%2C|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the [[Salt in Chinese history|salt]] mines, the penalty for workers who stole salt and people who sold the stolen salt was the most severe. Anyone who was arrested and found guilty of stealing and selling government salt was put to death.

===Nineteenth century===
During the [[Victorian era]], criminals and gangs started to form organizations which would collectively become London's criminal underworld.<ref name="Victoria 1">{{cite web|url=http://surrey-shore.freeservers.com/VicCrime.htm|title=MENACE, MAYHEM, AND MORIARTY! CRIME IN VICTORIAN LONDON|publisher=Surrey Shores|author=Barton, William A.}}</ref> Criminal societies in the underworld started to develop their own ranks and groups which were sometimes called ''families'' and were often made up of lower-classes and operated on pick-pocketry, prostitution, forgery and counterfeiting, commercial burglary and even money laundering schemes.<ref name="Victoria 1"/><ref name="Victoria 2">{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/The-Victorian-Roots-of-Organized-Crime-2954000.php|title=THE VICTORIAN UNDERWORLD|newspaper=SF Gate|author=Thomas, Donald}}</ref> Unique also were the use of slang and argots used by Victorian criminal societies to distinguish each other, like those propagated by street gangs like the [[Peaky Blinders]].<ref name="Halls">{{cite news|url=http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/peaky-blinders-real-story|work=GQ|title=The Peaky Blinders are a romanticised myth|last=Halls|first=Eleanor|access-date=30 December 2017}}</ref><ref name="Peak">{{cite news|author=Larner, Tony|title=When Peaky Blinders Ruled Streets with Fear|work=Sunday Mercury|date= 1 August 2010|page= 14}}</ref> One of the most infamous crime bosses in the Victorian underworld was [[Adam Worth]], who was nicknamed "the Napoleon of the criminal world" or "the Napoleon of Crime" and became the inspiration behind the popular character of [[Professor Moriarty]].<ref name="Victoria 1"/><ref>Macintyre, Ben (1997). ''The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth'', Master Thief. Delta. p. 6-7. {{ISBN|0-385-31993-2}}</ref>

Organized crime in the United States first came to prominence in the [[Old West]] and historians such as Brian J. Robb and Erin H. Turner traced the first organized crime syndicates to the [[Cochise County Cowboys|Coschise Cowboy Gang]] and the [[Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch|Wild Bunch]].<ref>Robb, Brian J. ''A Brief History of Gangsters''. Running Press (January 6, 2015). Chapter 1: Lawlessness in the Old West. {{ISBN|978-0762454761}}</ref><ref>Turner, Erin H. ''Badasses of the Old West: True Stories of Outlaws on the Edge''. TwoDot; First edition (September 18, 2009). p. 132. {{ISBN|978-0762754663}}</ref> The Cochise Cowboys, though loosely organized, were unique for their criminal operations in the Mexican border, in which they would steal and sell cattle as well smuggled contraband goods in between the countries.<ref>Alexander, Bob. ''Bad Company and Burnt Powder: Justice and Injustice in the Old Southwest (Frances B. Vick Series)''. University of North Texas Press; 1st edition (July 10, 2014). p. 259-261. {{ISBN|978-1574415667}}</ref> In the Old west there were other examples of gangs that operated in ways similar to an organized crime syndicate such as the [[Innocents (gang)|Innocents gang]], the [[Jim Miller (outlaw)|Jim Miller gang]], the [[Soapy Smith|Soapy Smith gang]], the [[Belle Starr|Belle Starr gang]] and the Bob Dozier gang.

===Twentieth century===
[[File:Yakuza at Sanja Matsuri.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Tattooed [[yakuza]] gangsters]]
[[Donald Cressey]]'s [[Cosa Nostra]] model studied [[American Mafia|Mafia]] families exclusively and this limits his broader findings. Structures are formal and rational with allocated tasks, limits on entrance, and influence on the rules established for organizational maintenance and sustainability.<ref name="Cressey & Finckenauer 2008">{{cite book|last=Cressey & Finckenauer|title=Theft of the Nation: The Structure and Operations of Organised Crime in America|date=2008|publisher=Transaction Publishers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5TaAAAAMAAJ|isbn=9781412807647}}</ref><ref name="Cressey & Ward 1969">{{cite book |last=Cressey & Ward|title=Delinquency, crime, and social process|date=1969|publisher=Harper & Row|url=https://archive.org/details/delinquencycrime00cres|url-access=registration|quote=DELINQUENCY, CRIME, AND SOCIAL PROCESS'.}}</ref> In this context there is a difference between organized and professional crime; there is well-defined hierarchy of roles for leaders and members, underlying rules and specific goals that determine their behavior and these are formed as a social system, one that was rationally designed to maximize profits and to provide forbidden goods. Albini saw organized criminal behavior as consisting of networks of patrons and clients, rather than rational hierarchies or secret societies.<ref name="Albini 1995">{{cite journal|last=Albini|title=Russian Organized Crime: Its History, Structure and Function|journal=Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice|date=1995|volume=11|issue=4|pages=213–243|doi=10.1177/104398629501100404|s2cid=142455283  | issn = 1043-9862 }}</ref><ref name="Albini 1988">{{cite journal|last=Albini|title=Donald Cressey's Contributions to the Study of Organized Crime: An Evaluation|journal=Crime and Delinquency|date=1988|volume=34|issue=3|pages=338–354|doi=10.1177/0011128788034003008|s2cid=143949162 | issn = 0011-1287 }}</ref><ref name="Albini 1971">{{cite book|last=Albini|title=The American Mafia: genesis of a legend|date=1971|publisher=Appleton-Century-Crofts |isbn=9780390015204|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A6bsAAAAIAAJ&q=albini+patron+client}}</ref>

The networks are characterized by a loose system of power relations. Each participant is interested in furthering his own welfare. Criminal entrepreneurs are the patrons and they exchange information with their clients in order to obtain their support. Clients include members of gangs, local and national politicians, government officials and people engaged in legitimate business. People in the network may not directly be part of the core criminal organization. Furthering the approach of both Cressey and Albini, Ianni and Ianni studied Italian-American crime syndicates in New York and other cities.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ianni|first = FAJ|title=The search for structure: a report on American youth today|date=1989|publisher= [[Free Press (publisher)|Free Press]]|url=https://archive.org/details/searchforstructu00iann|url-access=registration|quote=ianni ianni gang.|isbn = 9780029153604}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ianni & Ianni|title=The Crime society: organized crime and corruption in America|date=1976|publisher=New American Library|isbn=9780452004504|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KwhBAAAAIAAJ&q=ianni+ianni+crime}}</ref>

Kinship is seen as the basis of organized crime rather than the structures Cressey had identified; this includes fictive godparental and affinitive ties as well as those based on blood relations and it is the impersonal actions, not the status or affiliations of their members, that define the group. Rules of conduct and behavioral aspects of power and networks and roles include the following:
* family operates as a social unit, with social and business functions merged;
* leadership positions down to middle management are kinship based;
* the higher the position, the closer the kinship relationship;
* group assigns leadership positions to a central group of family members, including fictive god-parental relationship reinforcement;
* the leadership group are assigned to legal or illegal enterprises, but not both; and,
* transfer of money, from legal and illegal business, and back to illegal business is by individuals, not companies.
Strong family ties are derived from the traditions of southern Italy, where family rather than the church or state is the basis of social order and morality.

====The "disorganized crime" and choice theses====
One of the most important trends to emerge in criminological thinking about OC in recent years is the suggestion that it is not, in a formal sense, "organized" at all. Evidence includes lack of centralized control, absence of formal lines of communication, fragmented organizational structure. It is distinctively disorganized. For example, Seattle's crime network in the 1970s and 80s consisted of groups of businessmen, politicians and of law enforcement officers. They all had links to a national network via [[Meyer Lansky]], who was powerful, but there was no evidence that Lansky or anyone else exercised centralized control over them.<ref>{{cite book|last=Chambliss|title=ON THE TAKE - FROM PETTY CROOKS TO PRESIDENTS|date=1978|publisher=Indiana University Press |url= https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/take-petty-crooks-presidents-second-edition |isbn=9780253342447|id={{NCJ|50101}} }}</ref>

While some crime involved well-known criminal hierarchies in the city, criminal activity was not subject to central management by these hierarchies nor by other controlling groups, nor were activities limited to a finite number of objectives. The networks of criminals involved with the crimes did not exhibit organizational cohesion. Too much emphasis had been placed on the Mafia as controlling OC. The Mafia were certainly powerful but they "were part of a heterogeneous underworld, a network characterized by complex webs of relationships." OC groups were violent and aimed at making money but because of the lack of structure and fragmentation of objectives, they were "disorganized".<ref>{{cite book |last=Reuter|title=Disorganized Crime - The Economics of the Visible Hand|date=1983|publisher=MIT Press|url=http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=88708|isbn=9780262680486   |id={{NCJ|88708}}  }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Reuter|title=Disorganized Crime Illegal Markets and the Mafia|date=1985|publisher=MIT Press|url=http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?tid=9465&ttype=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060911013602/http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=9465|url-status=dead|archive-date=2006-09-11|isbn=978-0-262-68048-6|accessdate=2011-06-10}}</ref>

Further studies showed neither bureaucracy nor kinship groups are the primary structure of organized crime; rather, the primary structures were found to lie in partnerships or a series of joint business ventures.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Haller|title=Bureaucracy and the Mafia: An Alternative View|journal=Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice|date=1992|volume=8|issue=1|pages=1–10|doi=10.1177/104398629200800102|s2cid=144764530}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Haller|journal=Criminology|date=1990|volume=28|issue=2|pages=207–236|doi=10.1111/j.1745-9125.1990.tb01324.x|title=Illegal Enterprise: A Theoretical and Historical Interpretation}}</ref> Despite these conclusions, all researchers observed a degree of managerial activities among the groups they studied. All observed networks and a degree of persistence, and there may be utility in focusing on the identification of organizing roles of people and events rather than the group's structure.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Weick|title=Organizational culture as a source of high reliability|journal=California Management Review|date=1987|volume=29|issue=2|pages=112–127|url=http://www.mendeley.com/research/organisational-culture-source-high-reliability/|doi=10.2307/41165243|jstor=41165243|s2cid=153521217|access-date=2013-03-10}} {{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Jablin & Putnam|title=The new handbook of organizational communication: advances in theory, research, and methods|date=2001|publisher=SAGE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_VMrf5JRUp8C&q=F.+M.+Jablin,+L.+L.+Putnam,.+K.+H.+Roberts,+%26+L.+W.+Porter+%28Eds.%29,+Handbook+of|isbn=9780803955035}}</ref>  There may be three main approaches to understand the organizations in terms of their roles as social systems:<ref>{{cite book|last=Scott|first=W|title=Organizations. Rational, natural, and open systems.|date=1992|publisher=Prentice-Hall|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7S1HAAAAMAAJ&q=Scott%2C%20W.%20R.%20%281992%29.%20Organisations%3A%20Rational%2C%20Natural%2C%20and%20Open%20Systems|isbn=9780136388913}}</ref>
* organizations as rational systems: Highly formalized structures in terms of bureaucracy's and hierarchy, with formal systems of rules regarding authority and highly specific goals;
* organizations as natural systems: Participants may regard the organization as an end in itself, not merely a means to some other end. Promoting group values to maintain solidarity is high on the agenda. They do not rely on [[profit maximization]]. Their perversity and violence in respect of relationships is often remarkable, but they are characterized by their focus on the connections between their members, their associates and their victims; and,
* organizations open systems: High levels of interdependence between themselves and the environment in which they operate. There is no one way in which they are organized or how they operate. They are adaptable and change to meet the demands of their changing environments and circumstances.
Organized crime groups may be a combination of all three.

====International governance approach====
International consensus on defining organized crime has become important since the 1970s due to its increased prevalence and impact. e.g., UN in 1976 and EU 1998. OC is "...the large scale and complex criminal activity carried on by groups of persons, however loosely or tightly organized for the enrichment of those participating at the expense of the community and its members. It is frequently accomplished through ruthless disregard of any law, including offences against the person and frequently in connection with political corruption." (UN) "A criminal organization shall mean a lasting, structured association of two or more persons, acting in concert with a view to committing crimes or other offenses which are punishable by deprivation of liberty or a detention order of a maximum of at least four years or a more serious penalty, whether such crimes or offenses are an end in themselves or a means of obtaining material benefits and, if necessary, of improperly influencing the operation of public authorities." (UE) Not all groups exhibit the same characteristics of structure. However, violence and corruption and the pursuit of multiple enterprises and continuity serve to form the essence of OC activity.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Maltz|title=On Defining "Organized Grime" The Development of a Definition and a Typology|journal=Crime & Delinquency|date=1976|volume=22|issue=3|doi=10.1177/001112877602200306|s2cid=145393402}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Maltz|title=Measuring the effectiveness of organized crime control efforts|date=1990|publisher=University of Illinois|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKLyAAAAMAAJ&q=Maltz,+1976+crime|isbn=9780942511383}}</ref>

There are eleven characteristics from the European Commission and Europol pertinent to a working definition of organized crime. Six of those must be satisfied and the four in italics are mandatory. Summarized, they are:
* ''more than two people'';
* their own appointed tasks;
* activity over a ''prolonged or indefinite period of time'';
* the use discipline or control;
* perpetration of ''serious criminal offense''s;
* operations on an international or transnational level;
* the use violence or other intimidation;
* the use of commercial or businesslike structures;
* engagement in money laundering;
* exertion of influence on politics, media, public administration, judicial authorities or the economy; and,
* ''motivated by the pursuit of profit or power,''
with the [[Convention against Transnational Organized Crime]] (the ''Palermo Convention'') having a similar definition:
* organized criminal: structured group, three or more people, one or more serious crimes, in order to obtain financial or other material benefit;
* serious crime: offense punishable by at least four years in prison; and,
* structured group: Not randomly formed but does not need formal structure,
Others stress the importance of power, profit and perpetuity, defining organized criminal behavior as:
* nonideological: i.e., profit driven;
* hierarchical: few elites and many operatives;
* limited or exclusive membership: maintain secrecy and loyalty of members;
* perpetuating itself: Recruitment process and policy;
* willing to use illegal violence and bribery;
* specialized division of labor: to achieve organization goal;
* monopolistic: Market control to maximize profits; and,
* has explicit rules and regulations: Codes of honor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Abadinsky|title=Organized Crime|date=2009|publisher=Cengage|url=https://archive.org/details/organizedcrime00howa|url-access=registration|quote=abadinsky organised crime.|isbn=978-0495599661}}</ref>

Definitions need to bring together its legal and social elements. OC has widespread social, political and economic effects. It uses violence and corruption to achieve its ends: "OC when group primarily focused on illegal profits systematically commit crimes that adversely affect society and are capable of successfully shielding their activities, in particular by being willing to use physical violence or eliminate individuals by way of corruption."<ref>{{cite book|last=Fijnaut|title=Organized Crime in the Netherlands|date=1998|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QgqaJ6OgOHUC&q=fijnaut+1998|isbn=9041110275}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Fijnaut & Paoli|title=Organized crime in Europe: concepts, patterns, and control policies in the European Union and beyond|date=2004|publisher=Springer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iegCkMlnI_UC&q=Maltz,+1976+crime|isbn=9781402026157}}</ref>

It is a mistake to use the term "OC" as though it denotes a clear and well-defined phenomenon. The evidence regarding OC "shows a less well-organized, very diversified landscape of organizing criminals…the economic activities of these organizing criminals can be better described from the viewpoint of 'crime enterprises' than from a conceptually unclear frameworks such as 'OC'." Many of the definitions emphasize the 'group nature' of OC, the 'organization' of its members, its use of violence or corruption to achieve its goals and its extra-jurisdictional character...OC may appear in many forms at different times and in different places. Due to the variety of definitions, there is "evident danger" in asking "what is OC?" and expecting a simple answer.<ref name="Van Duyne1996">{{cite journal|last=Van Duyne|title=Organized crime, corruption and power|journal=Crime, Law and Social Change|date=1997|volume=26|issue=3|pages=201–238 |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/cris/1997/00000026/00000003/00125105|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024022932/http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/cris/1997/00000026/00000003/00125105|archive-date=October 24, 2012|doi=10.1007/BF00230862 |s2cid=144058995 | issn = 0925-4994 }}</ref>

====The locus of power and organized crime====
Some espouse that all organized crime operates at an international level, though there is currently no international court capable of trying offenses resulting from such activities (the International Criminal Court's remit extends only to dealing with people accused of offenses against humanity, e.g., genocide). If a network operates primarily from one jurisdiction and carries out its illicit operations there and in some other jurisdictions it is 'international,' though it may be appropriate to use the term 'transnational' only to label the activities of a major crime group that is centered in no one jurisdiction but operating in many. The understanding of organized crime has therefore progressed to combined internationalization and an understanding of social conflict into one of power, control, efficiency risk and utility, all within the context of organizational theory. The accumulation of social, economic and political power<ref>{{cite journal|last=Reed|journal=Organization Studies|date=2001|volume=22|issue=2|doi=10.1177/0170840601222002|title=Organization, Trust and Control: A Realist Analysis|pages=201–228|s2cid=145080589}}</ref> have sustained themselves as a core concerns of all criminal organizations:

[[File:KWC - 1989 Aerial.jpg|thumb|From the 1950s to the 1970s, the [[Kowloon Walled City]] in British Hong Kong was controlled by local [[triad (organized crime)|Chinese triads]].]]
* social: criminal groups seek to develop social control in relation to particular communities;
* economic: seek to exert influence by means of corruption and by coercion of legitimate and illegitimate praxis; and,
* political: criminal groups use corruption and violence to attain power and status.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wang|first=Peng|title=The rise of the Red Mafia in China: a case study of organised crime and corruption in Chongqing|journal=Trends in Organized Crime|date=2013|volume=16|issue=1|pages=49–73|doi=10.1007/s12117-012-9179-8|s2cid=143858155}}</ref><ref name="Van Duyne1996"/>

Contemporary organized crime may be very different from traditional Mafia style, particularly in terms of the distribution and centralization of power, authority structures and the concept of 'control' over one's territory and organization. There is a tendency away from centralization of power and reliance upon family ties towards a fragmentation of structures and informality of relationships in crime groups. Organized crime most typically flourishes when a central government and [[civil society]] is disorganized, weak, absent or untrustworthy.

This may occur in a society facing periods of political, economic or social turmoil or transition, such as a change of government or a period of rapid economic development, particularly if the society lacks strong and established institutions and the [[rule of law]]. The [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] and the [[Revolutions of 1989]] in [[Eastern Europe]] that saw the downfall of the [[Communist Bloc]] created a breeding ground for criminal organizations.

The newest growth sectors for organized crime are [[identity theft]] and online [[extortion]]. These activities are troubling because they discourage consumers from using the [[Internet]] for [[e-commerce]]. E-commerce was supposed to level the playing ground between small and large businesses, but the growth of online organized crime is leading to the opposite effect; large businesses are able to afford more [[Bandwidth (computing)|bandwidth]] (to resist [[denial-of-service attack]]s) and superior security. Furthermore, organized crime using the Internet is much harder to trace down for the police (even though they increasingly deploy [[cybercrime|cybercop]]s) since most police forces and [[list of law enforcement agencies|law enforcement agencies]] operate within a local or national jurisdiction while the Internet makes it easier for criminal organizations to operate across such boundaries without detection.

In the past criminal organizations have naturally limited themselves by their need to expand, putting them in competition with each other. This competition, often leading to violence, uses valuable resources such as manpower (either killed or sent to prison), equipment and finances. In the United States, [[Whitey Bulger|James "Whitey" Bulger]], the [[Irish Mob]] boss of the [[Winter Hill Gang]] in [[Boston]] turned [[informant]] for the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI). He used this position to eliminate competition and consolidate power within the city of Boston which led to the imprisonment of several senior organized crime figures including [[Gennaro Angiulo]], [[underboss]] of the [[Patriarca crime family]]. Infighting sometimes occurs within an organization, such as the [[Castellamarese war]] of 1930–31 and the Boston Irish Mob Wars of the 1960s and 1970s.

Today criminal organizations are increasingly working together, realizing that it is better to work in cooperation rather than in competition with each other (once again, consolidating power). This has led to the rise of global criminal organizations such as [[Mara Salvatrucha]], [[18th Street gang]] and [[Barrio Azteca]]. The [[American Mafia]], in addition to having links with organized crime groups in Italy such as the [[Camorra]], the [['Ndrangheta]], [[Sacra Corona Unita]] and [[Sicilian Mafia]], has at various times done business with the [[Irish Mob]], [[Jewish-American organized crime]], the Japanese [[yakuza]], [[Organised crime in India|Indian mafia]], the [[Russian mafia]], [[Thief in law]] and Post-Soviet Organized crime groups, the Chinese [[triad (organized crime)|triads]], Chinese [[Tong (organization)|Tongs]] and Asian street gangs, [[Outlaw motorcycle club|Motorcycle Gangs]] and numerous White, Black and Hispanic prison and street gangs. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that organized crime groups held $322 billion in assets in 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.havocscope.com/market-value-of-organised-crime-322-billion/|title = Market Value of Organised Crime-Havocscope Black Market|access-date = 2013-03-10}} {{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

This rise in cooperation between criminal organizations has meant that law enforcement agencies are increasingly having to work together. The FBI operates an organized crime section from its headquarters in [[Washington, D.C.]] and is known to work with other national (e.g., [[Polizia di Stato]], [[Federal Security Service (Russia)|Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)]] and the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]]), federal (e.g., [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives]], [[Drug Enforcement Administration]], [[United States Marshals Service]], [[Immigration and Customs Enforcement]], [[United States Secret Service]], US [[Diplomatic Security Service]], [[United States Postal Inspection Service]], [[U.S. Customs and Border Protection]], [[United States Border Patrol]], and the [[United States Coast Guard]]), state (e.g., [[Massachusetts State Police]] Special Investigation Unit, [[New Jersey State Police]] organized crime unit, [[Pennsylvania State Police]] organized crime unit and the [[New York State Police]] Bureau of Criminal Investigation) and city (e.g., [[New York City Police Department]] Organized Crime Unit, [[Philadelphia Police Department]] Organized crime unit, [[Chicago Police]] Organized Crime Unit and the [[Los Angeles Police Department]] Special Operations Division) law enforcement agencies.