Editing Organized crime (section)

===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.