New York’s Mafia 1948 negatives!!! original vintage Women of the + Robberies

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176270373000 New York’s Mafia 1948 negatives!!! original vintage Women of the + Robberies. SIX RARE VINTAGE 1948 WITH ORIGINAL 4 X 5 INCH NEGATIVES ENVELOPE AND PAPER. THE NEGATIVES ARE FROM 1948 DEPICTING BRONX ROBBERS AND ONE OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS WOMAN IN NEW YORK'S MAFIA FLORENCE GARRITY PHOTOGRAPHER: BERNIE AUMULLER DATE: DEC. 9, 1948 STORY: AN 18 YEAR OLD BRUNETTE AND FOUR MALE COMPANIONS WERE QUESTIONED THIS MORNING IN THE WEST 47TH ST. POLICE STATION IN CONNECTION WITH A SERIES OF BRONX ROBBERIES POLICE SAID THEY ADMITTED PARTICIPATING IN A HALF DOZEN BRONX CRIMES ....... GROUP SHOT L TO R -- DAVID PETRO -- JOHN PHILLIPS - FLORENCE GARRITY - PETER MONOHAN - GEORGE FOLEY --- THEY CAN BE IDENTIFIED IN OTHER SHOTS BY USING THE GROUP SHOT

    The roundup of the gang, all of whose members come from the Bronx, was as dramatic as it was swift and resulted from the suspicions of a patrolman who took three of the mob into custody as they left a restaurant on Sixth Ave., near 43d St. at 4:30 A. M. After the trio had been questioned, two other youths and the girl were arrested and identified as follows: Florence Garrity, 18, of 496 E. 164th St., who toted revolvers in her handbag for the gunmen, one of whom she described as her lover. George Foley, 22, of 413 E. 153d St., with whom the blue-eyed Florence said she has been living for the last three weeks and at whose home she was found. Two revolvers were in her pocketbook. Toy Gun Found on One of Youths. The others were: Peter Monahan, 17, of 278 St. Ann's Ave.; John Phillips, 18, of 2814 Morris Ave.;  David Petro, 20, also of 413 E. 153d St., and Henry Quail, 20, of 11 Gouveneur Place. Patrolman James A. Shea, 26, a war veteran with only two years on the force, was on post at Sixth Ave. and 43d St. when three youths drove up to a restaurant and went inside. Suspicious of their ap-pearence, Shea looked into the car and found two extra sets of license plates, one of which had been on a car for which an alarm had been sent out. The car also -contained five topcoats and several pairs -of shoes. Patrolman James McNulty, also of the W. 47th St. station, happened along and the three suspects were backed up against the wall of a building as they emerged from the restaurant. One of them carried a toy gun. At the station, the boys promntlv started to sinff. They identified themselves as Monahan, Petro and Phillips and gave information which resulted in the . arrest at their homes of Foley and the girl and Quail. All the Boys Involved In Robberies. Lieut. Walter Henning. who conducted the Grill ing, said Petro, Foley and Quail were the "big three" of the gang. They admitted, he said, sticking un the Mercury Auto Parts Co.. 170th St. and Jerome Ave., Bronx, three weeks ago and taking At the Alexander Ave. station in the Bronx. De tective Herbert Klein said Monahan and Phillips admitted robbing the Streat Coal Co.. 149th St. and Exterior Ave., Bronx, of $400 after locking seven men and women in a closet. That took place last Monday. Harry Girofsky, a Bronx tailor of 314 E. TremOnt mm ml (NEWS loto by Straus Florence Garrity. ve., identified Phillips and Monahan as the thugs who had mugged and robbed him of $16 at 8:15 Wednesday night. The gang also is suspected of having robbed a Household Finance Corp. office in the Bronx a month ago. Only Florence remained unaccused as far as the actual robberies were concerned. But she was carrying the guns a Sullivan Law violation. Life Was Fun After She Joined Foley. And of the six, Florence was the least concerned about being in jail Mob molls are tough dames. They put up with a lotta shit and a lotta bad juju. Not every broad has what it takes to hang with the Mob. Take bit-part actress Alice Granville (above) who was shot twice in the arm by her hitman husband Pete Donahue. Apparently, she didn’t even wince. Donahue was a trigger-happy lieutenant for mob boss Dutch Schultz. Granville said her mob beau only shot her to prove how much he loved her. Hate to think what he got her for Valentine’s Day. Or take fifteen-year-old Carmen Martinez (below)—who was willing to kill for her mob bf. That’s her struggling with cops on her way to Felony Court having been charged with the murder of seventeen-year-old Raul Banuchi in 1951. What says “I love you” more than whacking someone? Being a Mob moll takes a lotta guts, a lotta loyalty and a helluva lotta just plain dumb. Here’s a rogue’s gallery of some hardboiled Mob molls.     Mob moll Smitty White claims the fifth while getting the third degree from New York’s finest after her boyfriend Ralph Prisco was shot and killed during a failed holdup in 1942. The word “moll” comes from “molly” as in the old 17th century English term for prostitute—though like many English words when transposed to America (fanny being an obvious example) the word developed a different meaning—as in the girlfriend or female accomplice of a gangster.   Big Mama Virginia Hill—the so-called ‘Queen of Mob Molls’ looks like butter wouldn’t melt…. when testifying she knew nothing about her boyfriend Bugsy Siegel’s crime record and Mob connections after he was whacked in 1951.   Mob molls were often ‘gun molls’—women who carried ‘heaters’ (pistols) for their love interest. However, the term ‘gun’ as in ‘gun moll’ was actually derived from the Yiddish word meaning ‘thief’ rather than firearm—though the latter association has since stuck. Here Margo Donahue gets fingerprinted for carrying a loaded .38 caliber pistol for her ‘accomplice’ and henchman boyfriend William Matea in 1961.   Lottie Coll—wife of the infamous Irish mobster Vincent ‘Mad Dog’ Coll—hides her face when being arraigned in court in 1933. Being a moll meant paying the consequences when the bill was served.   Ninteen-year-old Virgina Ornmark couldn’t give a flying fuDGE as she stares down the camera after her boyfriend Fred Schmidt, 24, was arraigned for the murder of a lingerie merchant in 1944. Being a moll meant you stuck with your man—no matter what.   It’s best not to ask questions. Rita Rio knew how to keep schtum. When her beau Louis ‘Pretty Boy’ Amberg—another of Dutch Schultz’s men—was found burnt to death in his car the same day Schultz was whacked, when asked what her bf did for a living, Rio said she had no idea because she didn’t enquire.   Not all molls wanted the quiet life—Margaret Kelly chose to join beau Frank Palumbo in the holdup of a dance hall in 1932. The holdup failed. The pair were arraigned for robbery and murder.   Once you were accepted into a Mob family—you were in for life. Only way out was a bullet to the brain. Here Palma Vitale shows the ‘poker face’ molls should wear when up before the judge on charges. Difficult to tell if Vitale is happy or sad that her perjury trial has been postponed in 1961.   Florence Garrity claimed life was no fun until she met her hitman boyfriend George Foley. In 1948, Garrity was lifted along with five others in a police roundup.   Gun moll Lillian Stang, 23, plays all dumb to assistant DA James McGrattan’s questions after getting pinched for packing heat. ‘You mean that thing ain’t no cigarette lighter?’   With her arm bandaged after being shot by police during a bloody shootout, gun moll Mary Duke nonchalantly strides into Newark police department in 1943.   Jean Hantover wasn’t as innocent as she looked—here she’s being arrested for assisting mobster George Zeller in a Brooklyn holdup in 1935.   Seventeen-year-old Nancy Serville arrested for being a lookout for mob gang in Queens in 1936.   Marion ‘Kiki’ Roberts was the showgirl lover of Prohibition-era gangster John (Legs) Diamond. Roberts was in bed with the mobster when he was shot.   Janice Drake being taken in for questioning after one of her mob lovers was whacked in 1952. Drake had a beauty queen who spent much of her spare time hanging out with mobsters—even though she was married to comedian Alan Drake.   But sticking with the Mob didn’t always mean a happy ending. This is what happened to Janice Drake—shot in the head alongside her boyfriend Little Augie Pisano in 1959.   Margaret Kane on her way via court to jail in 1932.   The Five Families are the five major New York City organized crime families of the Italian American Mafia. The term was first used in 1931, when Salvatore Maranzano formally organized the previously warring gangs into what are now known as the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese crime families, each with demarcated territory, organizationally structured in a now-familiar hierarchy, and having them reporting up to the same overarching governing entity. Initially Maranzano intended each family’s boss to report to him as the capo di tutti capi (“boss of all bosses”), but this led to his assassination and by September the role was replaced by The Commission, which continues to govern American Mafia activities in the United States and Canada. Contents 1 History 2 Names and bosses 3 Territories 4 Mafia boss succession 4.1 Maranzano/Bonanno family 4.2 Profaci/Colombo family 4.3 Mangano/Gambino family 4.4 Luciano/Genovese family 4.5 Gagliano/Lucchese family 5 In popular culture 5.1 Literature 5.2 Films 5.3 Television 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading History The crime families originated out of New York City Sicilian Mafia gangs. Salvatore Maranzano formally organized them in the summer of 1931, after the April 15 murder of Giuseppe Masseria, in what has become known as the Castellammarese War. Maranzano introduced the now-familiar Mafia hierarchy: boss (capofamiglia), underboss (sotto capo), advisor (consigliere), captain (caporegime), soldier (soldato), and associate; and declared himself capo di tutti capi (boss of all bosses). By declaring himself boss of all bosses, Maranzano was breaking the deal he had made with Lucky Luciano in which the gangsters agreed that they would be equals, in exchange for Luciano agreeing to help murder Masseria. For reneging, Maranzano was murdered on September 10, 1931, on Luciano’s orders. The boss of all bosses position was then eliminated in favor of The Commission. The Commission would consist of the head of each of the Five Families, plus the heads of the Buffalo crime family and the Chicago Outfit. The council would serve as the governing body of the American Mafia, settling disputes, including demarcating territory among the previously warring factions and would govern all activities in the United States and Canada. Names and bosses By 1963, when they were publicly disclosed in the Valachi hearings, the family names had changed and were based on their bosses at the time, Joseph Bonanno, Carlo Gambino, Vito Genovese, Tommy Lucchese and Joseph Colombo. Original family name Founded by Current family name Named after Current boss Acting boss Maranzano Salvatore Maranzano Bonanno Joe Bonanno Michael "the Nose" Mancuso[1] Profaci Joe Profaci Colombo Joseph Colombo Unknown Andrew Russo Mangano Vincent Mangano Gambino Carlo Gambino Domenico Cefalù Lorenzo Mannino Luciano Lucky Luciano Genovese Vito Genovese Liborio Salvatore Bellomo Gagliano Tommy Gagliano Lucchese Tommy Lucchese Victor Amuso Michael “Big Mike” DeSantis Territories The crime families historically operated throughout the New York Metropolitan area, but mainly within New York City. In the state of New York, the gangs have increased their criminal rackets on Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk) and the counties of Westchester, Rockland, and Albany. They also maintain a strong presence in the state of New Jersey.[2] The Five Families are also active in South Florida, Connecticut, Las Vegas, and Massachusetts. The Bonanno crime family operates mainly in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island. The family also maintains influence in Manhattan, The Bronx, Westchester County, New Jersey, California, and Florida, and have ties to the Montreal Mafia in Quebec. The Bath Avenue Crew operated in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York. The Colombo crime family operates mainly in Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island. The family also maintains influence in Staten Island, Manhattan, The Bronx, New Jersey, and Florida. The Gambino crime family operates mainly in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Long Island. The family also maintains influence in The Bronx, New Jersey, Westchester County, Connecticut, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Florida, and Los Angeles. The Ozone Park Boys operate in Queens and Long Island The Genovese crime family operates mainly in Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. The family also maintains influence in Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, Westchester County, Rockland County, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Florida. 116th Street Crew operates in Upper Manhattan and The Bronx Greenwich Village Crew operates in Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan Genovese crime family New Jersey faction operates throughout the state of New Jersey[2] The Lucchese crime family operates mainly in The Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. The family also maintains influence in Queens, Long Island, Staten Island, Westchester County, and Florida. Cutaia Crew operates in Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island Lucchese crime family New Jersey faction operates throughout New Jersey The Tanglewood Boys was a "recruitment gang" that operated in Westchester County, The Bronx, and Manhattan. Mafia boss succession Maranzano/Bonanno family Originally most members were Castellammarese. 1908 – Salvatore "Don Turridru" Bonanno, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno's father, arrives in the United States and takes control of a gang of immigrants from Castellamare del Golfo in Williamsburg. 1911 – Salvatore Bonanno is forced to return to Italy after noticing that his gang is facing problems with rivals back home in Castellamare del Golfo. Vito Bonventre, his cousin and underboss, becomes boss. 1921 – Nicola "Cola" Schiro is promoted to boss, though he was seen as a figurehead for powerful members like Vito Bonventre, and later on, Salvatore Maranzano. 1925 – Salvatore "Caesar" Maranzano, a recent arrival from Castellamare del Golfo, becomes the boss while Vito Bonventre steps down to become underboss. Nicola Schiro, the nominal head of the family since 1921, is in fact a front boss to Maranzano. 1930 – Nicola Schiro abruptly "disappears" after paying tribute to Masseria; later that year, Bonventre is killed by Masseria's gunmen, leaving Maranzano in charge of the family. Joe Bonanno is promoted to underboss. 1931 – Maranzano is murdered at the end of the Castellamarese War, and underboss Joe Bonanno takes over his family. 1964-1968 – Joe Bonanno is allegedly kidnapped by gunmen from the Buffalo crime family in October 1964, after his plot to take over The Commission was exposed. The Commission then names Gaspar DiGregorio as the new boss, but he is opposed by Bonanno's son Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno, splitting the family into rival factions. Little to no action takes place until a sit-down between Bonanno and DiGregorio in early 1966 turns out to be an attempted hit on Bill; DiGregorio was permanently shelved and replaced by Paul Sciacca after botching the attempted hit on Bill Bonanno. Joe Bonanno emerges from hiding in May 1966 and tries to regain control of his family, but the family war, known as the Bananas War in the media, goes on until a heart attack forces Bonanno to step down and retire to Tucson, AZ in 1968. Sciacca becomes the new boss after Bonanno's retirement. 1971 – Natale "Joe Diamond" Evola becomes boss after Paul Sciacca is indicted on heroin charges. 1973-1974 – Evola dies of cancer, and underboss Philip "Rusty" Rastelli is promoted to boss, but he is jailed for racketeering in 1974. Carmine "Lilo" Galante, Joe Bonanno's former underboss, seizes control of the family, despite not having backing from the Commission, becoming the de facto street boss. 1979 – Philip Rastelli regains control of the family after Galante is killed on Commission orders, but the family is stripped of their Commission seat in the 1980s due to constant infighting since Joe Bonanno's ouster in 1968, excessive drug dealing, and the family's infiltration by an FBI agent named Donnie Brasco. However, this allows the Bonannos to avoid being indicted in the Mafia Commission Trial. 1991 – Rastelli dies of cancer, and underboss Joseph Massino becomes boss. Massino eventually changes the family's name to the Massino crime family, after becoming displeased by former boss Joe Bonanno's tell-all book A Man of Honor. 2003–2004 – Massino is arrested and convicted of racketeering and murder charges in 2003. Facing the death penalty, Massino becomes a federal witness, testifying against 60 fellow mobsters, so capos Anthony "Tony Green" Urso and Michael "Mikey Nose" Mancuso, both of whom are themselves jailed, control the family briefly. Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano becomes the new acting boss. 2004–2009 – Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano moves up from acting boss to become boss. Basciano is incarcerated on two life sentences in Colorado, for a 2006 murder and a 2011 murder. 2006-2009 - Sal Montagna, Canadian-born Sicilian faction leader of the Bronx, becomes acting boss while Basicano was indicted. However, he was deported to Canada in 2009. He was murdered in November of 2011, as result of attempting to fill in the power vacuum between the Rizzuto family and other organized crime in Montreal. 2009–2013 – Vincent "Vinny TV" Badalamenti, a Bonanno capo, becomes the new acting boss. Badalamenti is indicted in January 2012 along with other members. He is released on May 16, 2013. 2013–present – Imprisoned capo Michael "Mikey Nose" Mancuso becomes boss, and Thomas DiFiore becomes his acting boss. Profaci/Colombo family 1928 – Joseph Profaci's gang gains portions of Frankie Yale and Salvatore D'Aquila's territory in Brooklyn. 1931 – Joseph Profaci has his Brooklyn-based gang formally recognized as a family. 1962 – Profaci dies of cancer, and underboss Joseph Magliocco succeeds him. 1963 – Magliocco is forced to retire after taking part in Bonanno's plot to take over The Commission and dies shortly after retiring. Joseph Colombo becomes new boss, with Commission support, and changes the family's name. 1971 – Colombo is shot and paralyzed at a civil rights rally he organized. His activism drew unwanted publicity and attention towards the Mafia, and this made the other Mafia bosses, such as Carlo Gambino, uneasy. The first rally Colombo organized attracted over 50,000 people with Gambino's support, but the second rally barely drew 10,000 people without Gambino's blessing. It was theorized that The Commission authorized Colombo's murder to take pressure off the Mob. The most likely candidate, though, was Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo.[citation needed] 1972 – Carmine "the Snake" Persico becomes the new boss. 1986 – Persico is convicted on racketeering charges and is sentenced to life imprisonment. 1986–2004 – Persico tries to run the family from prison until his son, Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico, can succeed him. Persico's son is convicted and put in jail.[3] 2019 – Persico dies while in prison at age 85.[4] Mangano/Gambino family Originally most members were Palermitani. 1911 – Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila, a capo in the family of Ignazio Saietta AKA Lupo the Wolf succeeds his boss who is sent away to prison in 1909. D'Aquila eventually also absorbs Alfred "Al Mineo" Manfredi's Brooklyn-based crew and makes him his underboss; D'Aquila also absorbs the remnants of the Brooklyn Camorra into his own family. 1928 – Alfred Manfredi, underboss to D'Aquila, becomes boss after D'Aquila is killed on orders of Joe Masseria. 1930 – Manfredi is gunned down on orders of Salvatore Maranzano; Frank Scalice, a Maranzano supporter, becomes boss. 1931 – Frank Scalice is ordered to step down by Lucky Luciano, and Vincent Mangano becomes boss of the newly formed Mangano crime family. 1951 – Mangano disappears, presumably murdered by underboss Albert "the Executioner" Anastasia. With Commission support, Anastasia then becomes boss, and the family assumes his name. Vito Genovese, underboss of the Luciano family, believed that Anastasia had broken a cardinal Mafia rule by murdering Mangano. However, war is avoided between the two gangs due to the efforts of Joe Bonanno. Genovese still resented Anastasia, though, and Genovese would cultivate the sympathies of Anastasia's underboss Carlo Gambino. 1957 – Anastasia is assassinated by gunmen in a barber shop; Genovese and Gambino become prime suspects for orchestrating the murder. Gambino takes over as boss, and the family assumes his name. 1976 – Gambino dies of a heart attack; before his death, Gambino names his brother-in-law and cousin "Big" Paul Castellano as his successor, passing over his underboss Aniello Dellacroce, who is imprisoned at the time for tax evasion. 1985 – Castellano is gunned down outside Sparks Steak House in Manhattan, and John Gotti, the man responsible for planning Castellano's assassination, becomes boss. 1992 – Gotti is imprisoned for life on RICO charges. The family appoints a ruling panel of capos to handle daily affairs, and Gotti's son, John "Junior" Gotti, becomes the acting boss. 1999 – John "Junior" Gotti is jailed on extortion charges; Peter Gotti, "Junior" Gotti's uncle, is promoted to acting boss. 2002 – Gotti dies of cancer while incarcerated for RICO charges in 1992. His brother, Peter, succeeds him as boss. 2003–2004 – Peter Gotti is convicted on racketeering charges. 2011 – Peter Gotti steps down, and Sicilian mobster Domenico Cefalù is appointed boss in a return to tradition. 2015 – Domenico Cefalù steps down due to old age, and his underboss, Frank Cali, becomes the new boss. 2019 – Frank Cali was fatally shot six times in the chest and then run over by a getaway pick-up truck in front of his Staten Island home. 2019-present - Sicilian faction member Lorenzo Mannino is alleged to have filled the void after the death of Frank Cali. Luciano/Genovese family Originally most members were Corleonesi. 1890s – Giuseppe Morello, a recent arrival from Corleone, Sicily, establishes the 107th Street gang, a forerunner to the modern-day Genovese crime family. 1909 – Morello is jailed for counterfeiting charges, and Nicholas "Nick" Terranova, his half-brother, is made boss. 1916 – Nick Terranova is killed by members of the Neapolitan Camorra, and his brother, Vincenzo Terranova, becomes the boss. 1920 – Giuseppe Morello is released from prison, and Vicenzo Terranova steps down to become his underboss. 1922 – Vincent Terranova is gunned down by rivals linked to Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila; Giuseppe Morello steps down to become underboss to Joe "The Boss" Masseria. 1931 – Masseria is murdered at the end of the Castellammarese War after his underboss, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, secretly betrays him. Luciano takes over the family. 1937 – Luciano is convicted of compulsory prostitution charges; Vito Genovese is named as acting boss but flees to Italy to evade murder charges; Frank "the Prime Minister" Costello, his consigliere, is named as acting boss. Willie Moretti, a New Jersey-based capo and Costello ally, is promoted to underboss. 1946 – Luciano is deported to Italy and is succeeded by Frank Costello. 1957 – Costello goes into retirement after a failed assassination attempt orchestrated by Vito Genovese. Genovese then replaces Costello and renames the family. Genovese's motive for removing Costello is that Genovese was Luciano's underboss and, in his mind, the rightful heir to Luciano's position. Genovese, however, fled to Italy to evade murder charges in 1937, making him an unsuitable candidate for the title of boss, which left Luciano no choice but to bestow the title on Costello. 1959 – Genovese is convicted of narcotics trafficking and gives day-to-day control of the family to Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo, while ruling the family from prison. 1962 – Strollo abruptly disappears, presumably murdered on orders of Genovese after he suspected that Strollo may have supported a plot to set up Genovese in a drug trafficking operation. Management of the family's day-to-day operations is passed on to a ruling panel/committee of capos, including Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo and Thomas Eboli, who becomes the street boss. 1969 – Genovese, incarcerated for narcotics trafficking charges in 1959, dies in prison while still boss, and Philip Lombardo becomes the new Genovese family boss. Lombardo uses a series of front bosses in the 1970s, in an effort to divert law enforcement attention from himself. Thomas Eboli, street boss for Vito Genovese since 1962, becomes the front boss. 1972 – Frank "Funzi" Tieri replaces Eboli as front boss after Eboli is killed on The Commission's order. Eboli had borrowed money from Carlo Gambino for a new drug racket but failed to repay Gambino after law enforcement busted the drug racket. As a result, Gambino, with the backing of the Genovese family, ordered Eboli's death; it is also likely that Eboli was gunned down by his own family for this errant blunder.[citation needed] 1981 – Lombardo retires and is replaced by Vincent "Chin" Gigante, who had attempted to assassinate Frank Costello in 1957. Until 1987, Gigante continues to use the front boss ruse employed by Lombardo, while simultaneously pretending to be insane. Tieri dies while under RICO indictment in 1981 and is replaced by Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno as front boss. 1987 – Gigante drops the front boss position after Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno is indicted in the Mafia Commission Trial. 1997 – Gigante is convicted on racketeering and conspiracy charges. While Gigante is imprisoned, a ruling committee/panel of capos handles the family's day-to-day affairs. 2005 – Gigante is incarcerated and dies in prison after being convicted of obstruction of justice in 2003. Loyal Genovese capo Daniel Leo led the family as acting boss, until his imprisonment in 2008. He was later released from prison in 2013. After Gigante's death in 2005, it was rumored that a ruling panel took over the daily affairs of the Genovese family. 2010 - Liborio Bellomo becomes boss Gagliano/Lucchese family Originally, most members were Corleonesi. 1922 – Gaetano "Tommy" Reina, a capo in the Morello gang's East Harlem-Bronx faction, splits off to form his own crime family. 1930 – Reina is murdered on February 26, and Bonaventura "Joseph" Pinzolo takes over as boss, only to be murdered by Tommy Gagliano on September 5. Joe Masseria bypasses Gagliano and installs Pinzolo as boss, but Gagliano, feeling betrayed, secretly defects to Salvatore Maranzano and orders Pinzolo's murder. 1951 – A very ill Gagliano appoints his underboss, Tommy "Three-Finger Brown" Lucchese, as the new leader, and the family adopts Lucchese's name. 1967 – Lucchese dies of a brain tumor, temporarily leaving the family leaderless. The Commission selects Carmine Tramunti to fill in as acting boss until the leading candidate for the position of boss, Anthony Corallo, is released from prison. 1970 – Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo becomes the new boss. Some contend that the position was not formalized until 1973, when Tramunti was imprisoned, and that between 1970 and 1973, Tramunti remained family boss, but only in name, with Corallo actually in control.[citation needed] 1986 – Corallo implicates himself and many other mobsters in recorded conversations. He is convicted of RICO charges, along with top mobsters of the Genovese, Gambino, and Colombo families, and sentenced to life in prison. Before being incarcerated, Corallo selects Vittorio "Little Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso as the two candidates most deserving of the title of boss. 1987 – Amuso becomes boss after being nominated by Casso, but Casso, as underboss, is viewed as the man who makes important decisions and has de facto control of the family. 1992 – Amuso is sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of racketeering charges. 1994 – Casso is sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering and murder charges; he then becomes a federal witness, testifying against Amuso, but is thrown out of the witness protection program in 1998 for numerous infractions. Louis "Louie Bagels" Daidone becomes acting boss. 2004 – When acting boss Daidone is convicted on murder charges and with his successor, Steven "Wonderboy" Crea, beginning a two-to-six year term for state charges, Amuso appoints a "Ruling Panel" of senior capos (Aniello "Neil" Migliore, Matthew "Matt" Madonna, and Joseph "Joey Dee" DiNapoli) to control the group. 2006 – Crea is released from prison after 34 months but is precluded by the terms of his probation from associating with the mob again until 2009. 2009 – Ruling Panel members Madonna and DiNapoli are indicted on labor racketeering, illegal gambling, and extortion charges, leaving Migliore reputedly the most powerful mobster in the family. Amuso continues to run the family while serving a life sentence; Steven Crea is promoted to acting boss. In popular culture Factual and fictional details of the history of the crime families have been used in a vast array of media, such as: Literature In Mario Puzo's The Godfather (1969), the Five Families are represented by the Barzinis, Corleones, Cuneos, Straccis, and Tattaglias. In Nicholas Pileggi's book Wiseguy (1986) and its film adaptation Goodfellas (1990), the rise and fall of the Lucchese family is depicted over a 25-year period, told from the perspective of mobster Henry Hill. Films Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), based on the novel above. Harold Ramis's crime comedy Analyze This (1999) begins with a flashback to the 1957 "Big Meeting" of the Five Families in the wake of the assassination of Albert Anastasia. Television The HBO series Boardwalk Empire portrays the rise of Charles Luciano to power and his betrayal of both Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, during the rise of the American Mafia. A recurring plot arc in the CBS series Person of Interest concerns the campaign of mobster Carl Elias to dominate the Italian Mafia in New York. In particular, the Dons of the Five Families are prominently depicted in the first-season episode "Flesh and Blood" (April 5, 2012). In the HBO series The Sopranos, the DiMeo crime family (based on the DeCavalcante family[5] from New Jersey) works with the Lupertazzi crime family of Brooklyn, one of the crime families in New York. The FOX comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine includes an undercover operation involving the take-down of the Ianucci crime family in Brooklyn at the close of its premiere season. A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster.[1] Gangs provide a level of organization and resources that support much larger and more complex criminal transactions than an individual criminal could achieve. Gangsters have been active for many years in countries around the world. Some gangsters, such as Al Capone, have become infamous. Gangsters are the subject of many novels, films, and video games. Contents 1 Etymology 2 Gangs 3 Regional variants 3.1 Europe 3.2 Asia 3.3 United States and Canada 3.4 Latin America 4 Notorious individuals 4.1 Al Capone 4.2 Frank Costello 4.3 Carlo Gambino 4.4 The Kray twins 4.5 Lucky Luciano 4.6 Johnny Torrio 5 In popular culture 5.1 United States 5.2 Latin America 5.3 East Asia 6 See also 7 Citations 8 References 8.1 In the United States 8.2 In popular culture 9 External links Etymology Some contemporary criminals refer to themselves as "gangsta" in reference to non-rhotic black American pronunciation. Gangs Yakuza, or Japanese mafia are not allowed to show their tattoos in public except during the Sanja Matsuri festival. In today's usage, the term "gang" is generally used for a criminal organization, and the term "gangster" invariably describes a criminal.[2] Much has been written on the subject of gangs, although there is no clear consensus about what constitutes a gang or what situations lead to gang formation and evolution. There is agreement that the members of a gang have a sense of common identity and belonging, and this is typically reinforced through shared activities and through visual identifications such as special clothing, tattoos or rings.[3] Some preconceptions may be false. For example, the common view that illegal drug distribution in the United States is largely controlled by gangs has been questioned.[4] A gang may be a relatively small group of people who cooperate in criminal acts, as with the Jesse James gang, which ended with the leader's death in 1882. But a gang may be a larger group with a formal organization that survives the death of its leader. The Chicago Outfit created by Johnny Torrio and Al Capone outlasted its founders and survived into the 21st century. Large and well structured gangs such as the Mafia, drug cartels, Triads or even outlaw motorcycle gangs can undertake complex transactions that would be far beyond the capability of one individual, and can provide services such as dispute arbitration and contract enforcement that parallel those of a legitimate government.[5] The term "organized crime" is associated with gangs and gangsters, but is not synonymous. A small street gang that engages in sporadic low-level crime would not be seen as "organized". An organization that coordinates gangs in different countries involved in the international trade in drugs or prostitutes may not be considered a "gang".[6] Although gangs and gangsters have existed in many countries and at many times in the past, they have played more prominent roles during times of weakened social order or when governments have attempted to suppress access to goods or services for which there is a high demand.[citation needed] Regional variants Europe Sketch of the 1901 maxi trial of suspected mafiosi in Palermo. From the newspaper L'Ora, May 1901 The Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share common organizational structure and code of conduct. The origins lie in the upheaval of Sicily's transition out of feudalism in 1812 and its later annexation by mainland Italy in 1860. Under feudalism, the nobility owned most of the land and enforced law and order through their private armies. After 1812, the feudal barons steadily sold off or rented their lands to private citizens. Primogeniture was abolished, land could no longer be seized to settle debts, and one fifth of the land was to become private property of the peasants.[7] Organized crime has existed in Russia since the days of Imperial Russia in the form of banditry and thievery. In the Soviet period Vory v Zakone emerged, a class of criminals that had to abide by certain rules in the prison system. One such rule was that cooperation with the authorities of any kind was forbidden. During World War II some prisoners made a deal with the government to join the armed forces in return for a reduced sentence, but upon their return to prison they were attacked and killed by inmates who remained loyal to the rules of the thieves.[8] In 1988 the Soviet Union legalized private enterprise but did not provide regulations to ensure the security of market economy. Crude markets emerged, the most notorious being the Rizhsky market where prostitution rings were run next to the Rizhsky Railway Station in Moscow.[9] As the Soviet Union headed for collapse many former government workers turned to crime, while others moved overseas. Former KGB agents and veterans of the Afghan and First and Second Chechen Wars, now unemployed but with experience that could prove useful in crime, joined the increasing crime wave.[9] At first, the Vory v Zakone played a key role in arbitrating the gang wars that erupted in the 1990s.[10] By the mid-1990s it was believed that "Don" Semion Mogilevich had become the "boss of all bosses" of most Russian Mafia syndicates in the world, described by the British government as "one of the most dangerous men in the world".[11] More recently, criminals with stronger ties to big business and the government have displaced the Vory from some of their traditional niches, although the Vory are still strong in gambling and the retail trade.[10] The Albanian Mafia is active in Albania, the United States, and the European Union (EU) countries, participating in a diverse range of criminal enterprises including drug and arms trafficking.[12][13] The people of the mountainous country of Albania have always had strong traditions of family and clan loyalty, in some ways similar to that of southern Italy. Ethnic Albanian gangs have grown rapidly since 1992 during the prolonged period of instability in the Balkans after the collapse of Yugoslavia. This coincided with large scale migration throughout Europe and to the United States and Canada. Although based in Albania, the gangs often handle international transactions such as trafficking in economic migrants, drugs and other contraband, and weapons.[14] Other criminal organizations that emerged in the Balkans around this time are popularly called the Serbian Mafia, Bosnian Mafia, Bulgarian Mafia and so on. Asia Du Yuesheng (1888–1951), a Chinese gangster and important Kuomintang supporter who spent much of his life in Shanghai In China, Triads trace their roots to resistance or rebel groups opposed to Manchu rule during the Qing dynasty, which were given the triangle as their emblem.[15] The first record of a triad society, Heaven and Earth Gathering, dates to the Lin Shuangwen uprising on Taiwan from 1786 to 1787.[16] The triads evolved into criminal societies. When the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949 in mainland China, law enforcement became stricter and tough governmental crackdown on criminal organizations forced the triads to migrate to Hong Kong, then a British colony, and other cities around the world. Triads today are highly organized, with departments responsible for functions such as accounting, recruiting, communications, training and welfare in addition to the operational arms. They engage in a variety of crimes including extortion, money laundering, smuggling, trafficking and prostitution.[17] Yakuza are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. They are notorious for their strict codes of conduct and very organized nature. As of 2009 they had an estimated 80,900 members.[18] Most modern yakuza derive from two classifications which emerged in the mid-Edo period: tekiya, those who primarily peddled illicit, stolen or shoddy goods; and bakuto, those who were involved in or participated in gambling.[19] United States and Canada As American society and culture developed, new immigrants were relocating to the United States. The first major gangs in 19th century New York City were the Irish gangs such as the Whyos and the Dead Rabbits.[20] These were followed by the Italian Five Points Gang and later a Jewish gang known as the Eastman Gang.[21][22] There were also "Nativist" anti-immigration gangs such as the Bowery Boys. The American Mafia arose from offshoots of the Mafia that emerged in the United States during the late nineteenth century, following waves of emigration from Sicily. There were similar offshoots in Canada among Italian Canadians.[citation needed] In the later 1860s many Chinese emigrated to the United States, escaping from insecurity and economic hardship at home, at first working on the west coast and later moving east. The new immigrants formed Chinese Benevolent Associations. In some cases these evolved into Tongs, or criminal organizations primarily involved in gambling. Members of Triads who migrated to the United States often joined these tongs. With a new wave of migration in the 1960s, street gangs began to flourish in major cities. The tongs recruited these gangs to protect their extortion, gambling and narcotics operations.[23] The terms "gangster" and "mobster" are mostly used in the United States to refer to members of criminal organizations associated with Prohibition or with an American offshoot of the Italian Mafia (such as the Chicago Outfit, the Philadelphia Mafia, or the Five Families).[citation needed] In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution banned the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol for consumption. Many gangs sold alcohol illegally for tremendous profit, and used acute violence to stake turf and protect their interest. Often, police officers and politicians were paid off or extorted to ensure continued operation.[24] Latin America Members of Colonel Martinez's Search Bloc celebrate over Pablo Escobar's body on December 2, 1993 Most cocaine is grown and processed in South America, particularly in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, and smuggled into the United States and Europe, the United States being the world's largest consumer of cocaine.[25] Colombia is the world's leading producer of cocaine, and also produces heroin that is mostly destined for the US market.[26] The Medellín Cartel was an organized network of drug suppliers and smugglers originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The gang operated in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Central America, the United States, as well as Canada and Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and run by Ochoa Vázquez brothers with Pablo Escobar. By 1993, the Colombian government, helped by the US, had successfully dismantled the cartel by imprisoning or hunting and gunning down its members.[27] Although Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have existed for several decades, they have become more powerful since the demise of Colombia's Cali and Medellín cartels in the 1990s. Mexican drug cartels now dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the United States.[28] Sixty five percent of cocaine enters the United States through Mexico, and the vast majority of the rest enters through Florida. Cocaine shipments from South America transported through Mexico or Central America are generally moved over land or by air to staging sites in northern Mexico. The cocaine is then broken down into smaller loads for smuggling across the U.S.–Mexico border.[29] Arrests of key gang leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, have led to increasing drug violence as gangs fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States.[30] Cocaine traffickers from Colombia, and recently Mexico, have also established a labyrinth of smuggling routes throughout the Caribbean, the Bahama Island chain, and South Florida. They often hire traffickers from Mexico or the Dominican Republic to transport the drug. The traffickers use a variety of smuggling techniques to transfer their drug to U.S. markets. These include airdrops of 500–700 kg in the Bahama Islands or off the coast of Puerto Rico, mid-ocean boat-to-boat transfers of 500–2,000 kg, and the commercial shipment of tonnes of cocaine through the port of Miami. Another route of cocaine traffic goes through Chile, this route is primarily used for cocaine produced in Bolivia since the nearest seaports lie in northern Chile. The arid Bolivia-Chile border is easily crossed by 4x4 vehicles that then head to the seaports of Iquique and Antofagasta.[citation needed] Notorious individuals Al Capone Main article: Al Capone Mug shot of Al Capone. Although never convicted of racketeering, Capone was convicted of income tax evasion by the federal government. Al Capone was one of the most influential gangsters during the period. Born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1899 to immigrant parents, Capone was recruited by members of the Five Points Gang in the early 1920s. Capone’s childhood friend, Lucky Luciano, was also originally a member of the Five Points Gang. Capone would rise to control a major portion of illicit activity such as gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging in Chicago during the early twentieth century.[31] Frank Costello American gangster Frank Costello, testifying before the Kefauver Committee, during an investigation of organized crime. Main article: Frank Costello Frank Costello was another influential gangster. He was born in southern Italy but moved to America when he was four years old. He later changed his name from Francesco Castiglia to Frank Costello when he joined a gang at age 13. His name change led some people to mistakenly believe he was Irish. He worked with Charlie Luciano in bootlegging and gambling. He also had a lot of political power which enabled him to continue his business. He took charge when Luciano was arrested and expanded the gang's operations. He decided to step away from the gangster life and died peacefully in 1973. Carlo Gambino Main article: Carlo Gambino Carlo Gambino was an influential gangster in America. From 1961 until he died in 1976, he was chairman of the Italian-American Mafia. Gambino was born in Palermo, Sicily, but moved to the United States at the age of 21. Through his Castellano relatives, he joined the Masseria Family. While Lucky Luciano was the underboss in the Masseria Family, Gambino worked for him. After Luciano had Masseria killed, Luciano became the boss, and Gambino was sent to the Scalise Family. Later Scalise was stripped of his rank, and Vincenzo Mangano became boss until 1951, when Mangano disappeared. His body was never found.[32] The Kray twins The Kray twins, Reginald and Ronald Kray, were leading criminals in London, England in the 1950s and 1960s. They were involved in armed robberies, arson, protection rackets, violent assaults including torture and the murders of Jack "The Hat" McVitie and George Cornell. As West End nightclub owners, they mixed with prominent entertainers including Diana Dors, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and politicians. The Krays were highly feared within their social environment. In the 1960s they became celebrities in their own right, being photographed by David Bailey and interviewed on television. They were arrested in 1968 and both sentenced to life imprisonment.[33] Mugshot of Charles Luciano, Italian-American mobster, in 1936 Lucky Luciano Main article: Lucky Luciano Lucky Luciano (born Salvatore Lucania), a Sicilian gangster, is considered to be the father of modern organized crime and the mastermind of the massive postwar expansion of the international heroin trade. He was the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family and is credited with organizing the American Mafia's ruling body.[34] Johnny Torrio Main article: Johnny Torrio Mugshot of Johnny Torrio in 1936 Born in southern Italy in 1882, Torrio immigrated to the United States with his mother after his father's death, which happened when he was three years old. Known as "The Fox" for his cunning, he helped the formation of the Chicago Outfit and he is credited for inspiring the birth of the National Crime Syndicate.[35] He was a big influence on Al Capone, who regarded him as a mentor.[36] After the assassination of Big Jim Colosimo, Torrio took his place in the Chicago Outfit. He was severely wounded by members of the North Side Gang while returning from a shopping trip, forcing him, along with other problems, to quit the criminal activity. He died in 1957 and the media learned about his death three weeks after his burial.[37] Elmer Irey, official of the United States Treasury Department, defined Torrio "the biggest gangster in America", "the smartest and the best of all the hoodlums"[38] while Virgil W. Peterson of the Chicago Crime Commission considered him "an organizational genius".[39] In popular culture Further information: Gangster film Gangs have long been the subject of movies. In fact, the first feature-length movie ever produced was The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), an Australian production that traced the life of the outlaw Ned Kelly (1855–1880).[40] The United States has profoundly influenced the genre, but other cultures have contributed distinctive and often excellent gangster movies.[citation needed] United States The classic gangster movie ranks with the Western as one of the most successful creations of the American movie industry. The "classic" form of gangster movie, rarely produced in recent years, tells of a gangster working his way up through his enterprise and daring, until his organization collapses while he is at the peak of his powers. Although the ending is presented as a moral outcome, it is usually seen as no more than an accidental failure. The gangster is typically articulate, although at times lonely and depressed, and his worldly wisdom and defiance of social norms has a strong appeal, particularly to adolescents.[41] Publicity still of Romanian-born Edward G. Robinson, who starred in several American gangster movies The stereotypical image and myth of the American gangster is closely associated with organized crime during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and 1930s.[42] The years 1931 and 1932 saw the genre produce three classics: Warner Bros.' Little Caesar and The Public Enemy, which made screen icons out of Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, and Howard Hughs' Scarface starring Paul Muni, which offered a dark psychological analysis of a fictionalized Al Capone.[43] These films chronicle the quick rise, and equally quick downfall, of three young, violent criminals, and represent the genre in its purest form before moral pressure would force it to change and evolve. Though the gangster in each film would face a violent downfall which was designed to remind the viewers of the consequences of crime, audiences were often able to identify with the charismatic anti-hero. Those suffering from the Depression were able to relate to the gangster character who worked hard to earn his place and success in the world, only to have it all taken away from him.[44] Latin America Latin American gangster movies are known for their gritty realism. Soy un delincuente (English: I Am a Criminal) is a 1976 Venezuelan film by director Clemente de la Cerda. The film tells the story of Ramón Antonio Brizuela, a real-life individual, who since childhood has to deal with rampant violence and the drugs, sex and petty thievery of a Caracas slum. Starting with delinquency, Ramón moves on to serious gang activity and robberies. He grows into a tough, self-confident young man who is hardened to violence. His views change when his fiancée's brother is killed in a robbery. The film was a blockbuster hit in Venezuela.[45] City of God (Portuguese: Cidade de Deus) is a 2002 Brazilian crime drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles and co-directed by Kátia Lund, released in its home country in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. All the characters existed in reality, and the story is based on real events. It depicts the growth of organized crime in the Cidade de Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro, between the end of the '60s and the beginning of the '80s, with the closure of the film depicting the war between the drug dealer Li'l Zé and criminal Knockout Ned.[46] The film received four Academy Award nominations in 2004.[47] East Asia The first yakuza (gangster) film made in Japan was Bakuto (Gambler, 1964). The genre soon became popular, and by the 1970s the Japanese film industry was turning out a hundred mostly low-budget yakuza films each year. The films are descendants of the samurai epics, and are closer to Westerns than to Hollywood gangster movies. The hero is typically torn between compassion for the oppressed and his sense of duty to the gang. The plots are generally highly stylized, starting with the protagonist being released from prison and ending in a gory sword fight in which he dies an honorable death.[48] Although some Hong Kong gangster movies are simply vehicles for violent action, the mainstream movies in the genre deal with Triad societies portrayed as quasi-benign organizations.[49] The movie gangster applies the Taoist principles of balance and honor to his conduct. The plots are often similar to those of Hollywood gangster movies, often ending with the fall of the subject of the movie at the hands of another gangster, but such a fall is far less important than a fall from honor.[49] The first movie made by the acclaimed director Wong Kar-wai was a gangster movie, As Tears Go By. In it the protagonist finds himself torn between his desire for a woman and his loyalty to a fellow gangster.[50] Infernal Affairs (2002) is a thriller about a police officer who infiltrates a triad and a triad member who infiltrates the police department. The film was remade by Martin Scorsese as The Departed.[51] Gangster films make up one of the most profitable segments of the South Korean film industry. Films made in the 1960s were often influenced by Japanese yakuza films, dealing with internal conflict between members of a gang or external conflict with other gangs. The gangsters' code of conduct and loyalty are important elements. Starting in the 1970s, strict censorship caused decline in the number and quality of gangster movies, and none were made in the 1980s.[52] In the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a surge of imports of action movies from Hong Kong. The first of the new wave of important home grown gangster movies was Im Kwon-taek's General's Son (1990). Although this movie followed the earlier tradition, it was followed by a series of sophisticated gangster noirs set in contemporary urban locations, such as A Bittersweet Life (2005).[53] Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, rebel forces, and separatists, are politically motivated. Sometimes criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts money from shopkeepers for "protection".[1] Street gangs may often be deemed organized crime groups or, under stricter definitions of organized crime, may become disciplined enough to be considered organized. A criminal organization can also be referred to as a gang, mafia, mob,[2][3] ring,[4] or syndicate;[5] the network, subculture, and community of criminals involved in organized crime may be referred to as the underworld or gangland. Sociologists sometimes specifically distinguish a "mafia" as a type of organized crime group that specializes in the supply of extra-legal protection and quasi-law enforcement. Academic studies of the original "Mafia", the Sicilian Mafia,[6] which predates the other groups, generated an economic study of organized crime groups and exerted great influence on studies of the Russian mafia,[7] the Chinese Triads,[8] the Hong Kong Triads,[9] and the Japanese Yakuza.[10] Other organizations—including states, churches, militaries, police forces, and corporations—may sometimes use organized-crime methods to conduct their activities, but their powers derive from their status as formal social institutions. There is a tendency to distinguish "traditional" organized crime (which is often gang-like and more working-class in nature, frequently involves secret subcultures, and is often formed around shared ostracized ethnic, regional, socioeconomic, territorial, or cultural identities) from certain other forms of crime that also usually involve organized or group criminal acts, such as white-collar crime, financial crimes, political crimes, war crimes, state crimes, and treason. This distinction is not always apparent and academics continue to debate the matter.[11] For example, in failed states that can no longer perform basic functions such as education, security, or governance (usually due to fractious violence or to extreme poverty), organized crime, governance, and war sometimes complement each other. The term "oligarchy" has been used to describe democratic countries whose political, social, and economic institutions come under the control of a few families and business oligarchs that may be deemed or may devolve into organized crime groups in practice.[12][failed verification] By their very nature, kleptocracies, mafia states, narco-states or narcokleptocracies, and states with high levels of clientelism and political corruption are either heavily involved with organized crime or tend to foster organized crime within their own governments. In the United States, the Organized Crime Control Act (1970) defines organized crime as "[t]he unlawful activities of [...] a highly organized, disciplined association [...]".[13] Criminal activity as a structured process is referred to as racketeering. In the UK, police estimate that organized crime involves up to 38,000 people operating in 6,000 various groups.[14] Historically, the largest organized crime force in the United States has been La Cosa Nostra (Italian-American Mafia), but other transnational criminal organizations have also risen in prominence in recent decades.[15] A 2012 article in a U.S. Department of Justice journal stated that: "Since the end of the Cold War, organized crime groups from Russia, China, Italy, Nigeria, and Japan have increased their international presence and worldwide networks or have become involved in more transnational criminal activities. Most of the world's major international organized crime groups are present in the United States."[15] The US Drug Enforcement Administration's 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment classified Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) as the "greatest criminal drug threat to the United States," citing their dominance "over large regions in Mexico used for the cultivation, production, importation, and transportation of illicit drugs" and identifying the Sinaloa, Jalisco New Generation, Juárez, Gulf, Los Zetas, and Beltrán-Leyva cartels as the six Mexican TCO with the greatest influence in drug trafficking to the United States.[16] The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 has a target to combat all forms of organised crime as part of the 2030 Agenda.[17] In some countries, football hooligans can be considered a criminal organization if it engages in illicit and violent activities. Contents 1 Models of organized crime 1.1 Organizational 1.2 Individual difference 1.3 Multi-model approach 1.4 Computational approach 2 Typical activities 2.1 Violence 2.2 Financial crime 2.3 Cybercrime 2.4 White-collar crime and corruption 2.5 Drug trafficking 2.6 Human trafficking 3 Historical origins 3.1 Pre-nineteenth century 3.2 Nineteenth century 3.3 Twentieth century 4 Academic analysis 4.1 Criminal psychology 4.2 Critical criminology and sociology 5 Legislative frameworks and policing measures 6 By nation 7 References 8 External links Models of organized crime Various models have been proposed to describe the structure of criminal organizations. Organizational American Mafia mobster Sam Giancana Patron-client networks Patron-client networks are defined by fluid interactions. They produce crime groups that operate as smaller units within the overall network, and as such tend towards valuing significant others, familiarity of social and economic environments, or tradition. These networks are usually composed of: Hierarchies based on 'naturally' forming family, social and cultural traditions; 'Tight-knit' focus of activity/labor; Fraternal or nepotistic value systems; Personalized activity; including family rivalries, territorial disputes, recruitment and training of family members, etc.; Entrenched belief systems, reliance of tradition (including religion, family values, cultural expectations, class politics, gender roles, etc.); and, Communication and rule enforcement mechanisms dependent on organizational structure, social etiquette, history of criminal involvement, and collective decision-making.[18][19][20][21][22] Bureaucratic/corporate operations Bureaucratic/corporate organized crime groups are defined by the general rigidity of their internal structures. They focus more on how the operations works, succeeds, sustains itself or avoids retribution, they are generally typified by: A complex authority structure; An extensive division of labor between classes within the organization; Meritocratic (as opposed to cultural or social attributes); Responsibilities carried out in an impersonal manner; Extensive written rules/regulations (as opposed to cultural praxis dictating action); and, 'Top-down' communication and rule enforcement mechanisms. However, this model of operation has some flaws: The 'top-down' communication strategy is susceptible to interception, more so further down the hierarchy being communicated to; Maintaining written records jeopardizes the security of the organization and relies on increased security measures; Infiltration at lower levels in the hierarchy can jeopardize the entire organization (a 'house of cards' effect); and, Death, injury, incarceration or internal power struggles dramatically heighten the insecurity of operations. While bureaucratic operations emphasize business processes and strongly authoritarian hierarchies, these are based on enforcing power relationships rather than an overlying aim of protectionism, sustainability or growth.[23][24][25][26] Youth and street gangs Main article: Gang Jamaican gang leader Christopher Coke An estimate on youth street gangs nationwide provided by Hannigan, et al., marked an increase of 35% between 2002 and 2010.[27] A distinctive gang culture underpins many, but not all, organized groups;[28][29] this may develop through recruiting strategies, social learning processes in the corrective system experienced by youth, family or peer involvement in crime, and the coercive actions of criminal authority figures. The term “street gang” is commonly used interchangeably with “youth gang,” referring to neighborhood or street-based youth groups that meet “gang” criteria. Miller (1992) defines a street gang as “a self-formed association of peers, united by mutual interests, with identifiable leadership and internal organization, who act collectively or as individuals to achieve specific purposes, including the conduct of illegal activity and control of a particular territory, facility, or enterprise."[30] Some reasons youth join gangs include to feel accepted, attain status, and increase their self-esteem.[31] A sense of unity brings together many of the youth gangs that lack the family aspect at home. "Zones of transition" are deteriorating neighborhoods with shifting populations.[32][33] In such areas, conflict between groups, fighting, "turf wars", and theft promote solidarity and cohesion.[34] Cohen (1955): working class teenagers joined gangs due to frustration of inability to achieve status and goals of the middle class; Cloward and Ohlin (1960): blocked opportunity, but unequal distribution of opportunities lead to creating different types of gangs (that is, some focused on robbery and property theft, some on fighting and conflict and some were retreatists focusing on drug taking); Spergel (1966) was one of the first criminologists to focus on evidence-based practice rather than intuition into gang life and culture. Participation in gang-related events during adolescence perpetuate a pattern of maltreatment on their own children years later.[27] Klein (1971) like Spergel studied the effects on members of social workers’ interventions. More interventions actually lead to greater gang participation and solidarity and bonds between members. Downes and Rock (1988) on Parker's analysis: strain theory applies, labeling theory (from experience with police and courts), control theory (involvement in trouble from early childhood and the eventual decision that the costs outweigh the benefits) and conflict theories. No ethnic group is more disposed to gang involvement than another, rather it is the status of being marginalized, alienated or rejected that makes some groups more vulnerable to gang formation,[35][36][37] and this would also be accounted for in the effect of social exclusion,[38][39] especially in terms of recruitment and retention. These may also be defined by age (typically youth) or peer group influences,[40] and the permanence or consistency of their criminal activity. These groups also form their own symbolic identity or public representation which are recognizable by the community at large (include colors, symbols, patches, flags and tattoos). Research has focused on whether the gangs have formal structures, clear hierarchies and leadership in comparison with adult groups, and whether they are rational in pursuit of their goals, though positions on structures, hierarchies and defined roles are conflicting. Some studied street gangs involved in drug dealing - finding that their structure and behavior had a degree of organizational rationality.[41] Members saw themselves as organized criminals; gangs were formal-rational organizations,[42][43][44] Strong organizational structures, well defined roles and rules that guided members’ behavior. Also a specified and regular means of income (i.e., drugs). Padilla (1992) agreed with the two above. However some have found these to be loose rather than well-defined and lacking persistent focus, there was relatively low cohesion, few shared goals and little organizational structure.[36] Shared norms, value and loyalties were low, structures "chaotic", little role differentiation or clear distribution of labor. Similarly, the use of violence does not conform to the principles behind protection rackets, political intimidation and drug trafficking activities employed by those adult groups. In many cases gang members graduate from youth gangs to highly developed OC groups, with some already in contact with such syndicates and through this we see a greater propensity for imitation. Gangs and traditional criminal organizations cannot be universally linked (Decker, 1998),[45][46] however there are clear benefits to both the adult and youth organization through their association. In terms of structure, no single crime group is archetypal, though in most cases there are well-defined patterns of vertical integration (where criminal groups attempt to control the supply and demand), as is the case in arms, sex and drug trafficking. Individual difference Entrepreneurial The entrepreneurial model looks at either the individual criminal or a smaller group of organized criminals, that capitalize off the more fluid 'group-association' of contemporary organized crime.[47] This model conforms to social learning theory or differential association in that there are clear associations and interaction between criminals where knowledge may be shared, or values enforced, however, it is argued that rational choice is not represented in this. The choice to commit a certain act, or associate with other organized crime groups, may be seen as much more of an entrepreneurial decision - contributing to the continuation of a criminal enterprise, by maximizing those aspects that protect or support their own individual gain. In this context, the role of risk is also easily understandable,[48][49] however it is debatable whether the underlying motivation should be seen as true entrepreneurship[50] or entrepreneurship as a product of some social disadvantage. The criminal organization, much in the same way as one would assess pleasure and pain, weighs such factors as legal, social and economic risk to determine potential profit and loss from certain criminal activities. This decision-making process rises from the entrepreneurial efforts of the group's members, their motivations and the environments in which they work. Opportunism is also a key factor – the organized criminal or criminal group is likely to frequently reorder the criminal associations they maintain, the types of crimes they perpetrate, and how they function in the public arena (recruitment, reputation, etc.) in order to ensure efficiency, capitalization and protection of their interests.[51] Multi-model approach Culture and ethnicity provide an environment where trust and communication between criminals can be efficient and secure. This may ultimately lead to a competitive advantage for some groups; however, it is inaccurate to adopt this as the only determinant of classification in organized crime. This categorization includes the Sicilian Mafia, ’Ndrangheta, ethnic Chinese criminal groups, Japanese Yakuza (or Boryokudan), Colombian drug trafficking groups, Nigerian organized crime groups, Corsican mafia, Korean criminal groups and Jamaican posses. From this perspective, organized crime is not a modern phenomenon - the construction of 17th and 18th century crime gangs fulfill all the present day criteria of criminal organizations (in opposition to the Alien Conspiracy Theory). These roamed the rural borderlands of central Europe embarking on many of the same illegal activities associated with today's crime organizations, with the exception of money laundering. When the French revolution created strong nation states, the criminal gangs moved to other poorly controlled regions like the Balkans and Southern Italy, where the seeds were sown for the Sicilian Mafia - the linchpin of organized crime in the New World.[52] Computational approach While most of the conceptual frameworks used to model organised crime emphasize the role of actors and/or activities, computational approaches built on the foundations of data science and Artificial Intelligence are focusing on deriving new insights on organised crime from big data. For example, novel machine learning models have been applied to study and detect urban crime[53][54] and online prostitution networks.[55][56] Big Data have also been used to develop online tools predicting the risk for an individual to be a victim of online sex trade or getting drawn into online sex work.[57][58] In addition, data from Twitter[59] and Google Trends[60] have been used to study the public perceptions of organised crime. Model type Environment Group Processes Impacts National Historical or cultural basis Family or hierarchy Secrecy/bonds. Links to insurgents Local corruption/influence. Fearful community. Transnational Politically and economically unstable Vertical integration Legitimate cover Stable supply of illicit goods. High-level corruption. Transnational/transactional Any Flexible. Small size. Violent. Opportunistic. Risk taking Unstable supply of range of illicit goods. Exploits young local offenders. Entrepreneurial/transactional Developed/high technology regions Individuals or pairs. Operating through legitimate enterprise Provision of illicit services, e.g., money laundering, fraud, criminal networks. Typical activities Organized crime groups provide a range of illegal services and goods. Organized crime often victimizes businesses through the use of extortion or theft and fraud activities like hijacking cargo trucks and ships, robbing goods, committing bankruptcy fraud (also known as "bust-out"), insrance fraud or stock fraud (insider trading). Organized crime groups also victimize individuals by car theft (either for dismantling at "chop shops" or for export), art theft, bank robbery, burglary, jewelry and gems theft and heists, shoplifting, computer hacking, credit card fraud, economic espionage, embezzlement, identity theft, and securities fraud ("pump and dump" scam). Some organized crime groups defraud national, state, or local governments by bid rigging public projects, counterfeiting money, smuggling or manufacturing untaxed alcohol (rum-running) or cigarettes (buttlegging), and providing immigrant workers to avoid taxes. Organized crime groups seek out corrupt public officials in executive, law enforcement, and judicial roles so that their criminal rackets and activities on the black market can avoid, or at least receive early warnings about, investigation and prosecution. Activities of organized crime include loansharking of money at very high interest rates, assassination, blackmailing, bombings, bookmaking and illegal gambling, confidence tricks, copyright infringement, counterfeiting of intellectual property, fencing, kidnapping, prostitution, smuggling, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, oil smuggling, antiquities smuggling, organ trafficking, contract killing, identity document forgery, money laundering, bribery, seduction, electoral fraud, insrance fraud, point shaving, price fixing, illegal taxicab operation, illegal dumping of toxic waste, illegal trading of nuclear materials, military equipment smuggling, nuclear weapons smuggling, passport fraud, providing illegal immigration and cheap labor, people smuggling, trading in endangered species, and trafficking in human beings. Organized crime groups also do a range of business and labor racketeering activities, such as skimming casinos, insider trading, setting up monopolies in industries such as garbage collecting, construction and cement pouring, bid rigging, getting "no-show" and "no-work" jobs, political corruption and bullying. Violence Assault The commission of violent crime may form part of a criminal organization's 'tools' used to achieve criminogenic goals (for example, its threatening, authoritative, coercive, terror-inducing, or rebellious role), due to psycho-social factors (cultural conflict, aggression, rebellion against authority, access to illicit substances, counter-cultural dynamic), or may, in and of itself, be crime rationally chosen by individual criminals and the groups they form. Assaults are used for coercive measures, to "rough up" debtors, competition or recruits, in the commission of robberies, in connection to other property offenses, and as an expression of counter-cultural authority;[61] violence is normalized within criminal organizations (in direct opposition to mainstream society) and the locations they control.[62] Whilst the intensity of violence is dependent on the types of crime the organization is involved in (as well as their organizational structure or cultural tradition) aggressive acts range on a spectrum from low-grade physical assaults to murder. Bodily harm and grievous bodily harm, within the context of organized crime, must be understood as indicators of intense social and cultural conflict, motivations contrary to the security of the public, and other psycho-social factors.[63] Murder Murder has evolved from the honor and vengeance killings of the Yakuza or Sicilian mafia[64][65][66][67] which placed large physical and symbolic importance on the act of murder, its purposes and consequences,[68][69] to a much less discriminate form of expressing power, enforcing criminal authority, achieving retribution or eliminating competition. The role of the hit man has been generally consistent throughout the history of organized crime, whether that be due to the efficiency or expediency of hiring a professional assassin or the need to distance oneself from the commission of murderous acts (making it harder to prove criminal culpability). This may include the assassination of notable figures (public, private or criminal), once again dependent on authority, retribution or competition. Revenge killings, armed robberies, violent disputes over controlled territories and offenses against members of the public must also be considered when looking at the dynamic between different criminal organizations and their (at times) conflicting needs. Vigilantism Main article: Vigilantism In an ironic twist, criminal syndicates are often known to commit acts of vigilantism by enforcing laws, investigating certain criminal acts and punishing those who violate such rules. People who are often targeted by organized criminals tend to be individualistic criminals, people who committed crimes that are considered particularly heinous by society, rivals and/or terrorist groups. One reason why criminal groups might commit vigilantism in their neighborhoods is to prevent heavy levels of community policing, that could be harmful to their illicit businesses; additionally the vigilante acts could help the gangs to ingratiate themselves in their communities. During the roaring twenties, the Ku Klux Klan was known to be staunch enforcers of prohibition, as a result Italian, Irish, Polish, and Jewish mobsters would at times have violent confrontations against the KKK, on one occasion FBI informant and notorious mobster Gregory Scarpa kidnapped and tortured a local Klansmen into revealing the bodies of Civil rights workers who had been killed by the KKK.[70] During World War II, America had a growing number of Nazi supporters that formed the German American Bund, which was known to be threatening to local Jewish people, as a result Jewish mobsters (such a Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel and Jack Ruby) were often hired by the American Jewish community to help defend against the Nazi bund, even going as far as attacking and killing Nazi sympathizers during bund meetings.[71] Vigilante groups such as the Black Panther Party, White Panther Party and Young Lords have been accused of committing crimes in order to fund their political activities.[72] While protection racketeering is often seen as nothing more than extortion, criminal syndicates that participate in protection rackets have at times provided genuine protection against other criminals for their clients, the reason for this is because the criminal organization would want the business of their clients to do better so that the gang can demand even more protection money, additionally if the gang has enough knowledge of the local fencers, they may even be able to track down and retrieve any objects that were stolen from the business owner, to further help their clients the gang may also force out, disrupt, vandalize, steal from or shutdown competing businesses for their clients.[73] In Colombia the insurgent groups were trying to steal land, kidnap family members, and extort money from the drug barons, as a result the drug lords of the Medellín Cartel formed a paramilitary vigilante group known as Muerte a Secuestradores ("Death to Kidnappers") to defend the cartel against the FARC and M-19, even kidnapping and torturing the leader of M-19 before leaving him chained in front of a police station.[74] During the Medellín Cartel's war against the Colombian government, the Cali Cartel formed and operated a vigilante group called Los Pepes (which also comprised members of the Colombian government, police and former members of the Medellín Cartel) to bring about the downfall of Pablo Escobar, they did so by bombing the properties of the Medellín Cartel and kidnapping, torturing and/or killing Escobar's associates as well as working alongside the Search Bloc, which would eventually lead to the dismantling of the Medellín Cartel and the death of Pablo Escobar.[75] Because of the high levels of corruption, the Oficina de Envigado would do things to help the police and vice versa, to the point where the police and the cartel would do operations together against other criminals, additionally the leaders of La Oficina would often act as judges to mediate disputes between the various different drug gangs throughout Colombia, which according to some helped prevent a lot of disputes from turning violent.[76] On Somalia coastline many people rely on fishing for economic survival, because of this Somali pirates are often known to attack foreign vessels who partake in illegal fishing and overfishing in their waters and vessels that illegally dump waste into their waters, as a result marine biologists say that the local fishery is recovering.[77] In Mexico a vigilante group called Grupos de autodefensa comunitaria was formed to counter the illegal loggers, the La Familia Michoacana Cartel and the Knights Templar Cartel, as they grew they were being joined by former cartel members and as they got bigger they began to sell drugs in order to buy weapons, the Knights Templar Cartel was eventually defeated and dissolved by the vigilantes actions but they ended up forming their own cartel called Los Viagras, which has links with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.[78] The Minuteman Project is a far-right paramilitary organization that seeks to prevent illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border, however doing so is detrimental to gangs like Mara Salvatrucha, who make money through people smuggling, as a result MS-13 is known to commit acts of violence against members of the Minutemen.[79] Throughout the world there are various anti-gang vigilante groups, who profess to be fighting against gang influence, but share characteristics and acts similarly to gangs, including Sombra Negra, Friends Stand United, People Against Gangsterism and Drugs, OG Imba.[80][81] Gangs that are involved in drug trafficking often commit violent acts to stop or force out independent dealers, drug dealers with no gang ties, to keep them from taking customers. In America there is an animal welfare organization called Rescue Ink, in which outlaw biker gang members volunteer to rescue animals in need and combat against people who commit animal cruelty, such as stopping the killing stray cats, breaking up dog fighting rings and rescuing pets from abusive owners.[82] In the American prison system, prison gangs are often known to physically harm and even kill inmates who have committed such crimes as child murder, being serial killers, pedophilia, hate crimes, domestic violence, rape and inmates who have committed crimes against the elderly, animals, the disabled, the poor and the less fortunate.[83][84] In many minority communities and poor neighborhoods, residents often distrust law enforcement, as a result the gang syndicates often take over to "police" their neighborhoods by committing acts against people who had committed crimes such as bullying, muggings, home invasions, hate crimes, stalking, rape, domestic violence and child molestation, as well as mediating disputes between neighbors, the ways that the gangs would punish such individuals could range from forced apologies, being threatened, being forced to return stolen objects, vandalizing property, arson, being forced to move, being assaulted and/or battered, kidnappings, false imprisonment, torture and/or being murdered.[85] Some criminal syndicates have been known to hold their own "trials" for members of theirs who had been accused of wrongdoing, the punishments that the accused member would face if "found guilty" would vary depending on the offense. Terrorism Main article: Terrorism In addition to what is considered traditional organized crime involving direct crimes of fraud swindles, scams, racketeering and other acts motivated for the accumulation of monetary gain, there is also non-traditional organized crime which is engaged in for political or ideological gain or acceptance. Such crime groups are often labelled terrorist groups or narcoterrorists.[86][87] There is no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition of terrorism.[88][89] Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (e.g., neutral military personnel or civilians), and are committed by non-government agencies.[86] Some definitions also include acts of unlawful violence and war, especially crimes against humanity (see the Nuremberg Trials), Allied authorities deeming the German Nazi Party, its paramilitary and police organizations, and numerous associations subsidiary to the Nazi Party "criminal organizations". The use of similar tactics by criminal organizations for protection rackets or to enforce a code of silence is usually not labeled terrorism though these same actions may be labeled terrorism when done by a politically motivated group. Notable groups include the Medellin Cartel, Corleonesi Mafia, various Mexican Cartels, and Jamaican Posse. Other Arms trafficking Arson Coercion Extortion Protection racket Sexual assault Financial crime This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Organized crime" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Main article: Money laundering Organized crime groups generate large amounts of money by activities such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling, extortion, theft, and financial crime.[90] These illegally sourced assets are of little use to them unless they can disguise it and convert it into funds that are available for investment into legitimate enterprise. The methods they use for converting its ‘dirty’ money into ‘clean’ assets encourages corruption. Organized crime groups need to hide the money's illegal origin. This allows for the expansion of OC groups, as the ‘laundry’ or ‘wash cycle’ operates to cover the money trail and convert proceeds of crime into usable assets. Money laundering is bad for international and domestic trade, banking reputations and for effective governments and rule of law. This is due to the methods used to hide the proceeds of crime. These methods include, but are not limited to: buying easily transported values, transfer pricing, and using "underground banks."[91] Launderers will also co-mingle illegal money with revenue made from businesses in order to further mask their illicit funds. Accurate figures for the amounts of criminal proceeds laundered are almost impossible to calculate, rough estimates have been made, but only give a sense of the scale of the problem and not quite how great the problem truly is. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime conducted a study, they estimated that in 2009, money laundering equated to about 2.7% of global GDP being laundered; this is equal to about 1.6 trillion US dollars.[92] The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), an intergovernmental body set up to combat money laundering, has stated that "A sustained effort between 1996 and 2000 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to produce such estimates failed."[93] However, anti-money laundering efforts that seize money laundered assets in 2001 amounted to $386 million.[94] The rapid growth of money laundering is due to: the scale of organized crime precluding it from being a cash business - groups have little option but to convert its proceeds into legitimate funds and do so by investment, by developing legitimate businesses and purchasing property; globalization of communications and commerce - technology has made rapid transfer of funds across international borders much easier, with groups continuously changing techniques to avoid investigation; and, a lack of effective financial regulation in parts of the global economy. Money laundering is a three-stage process: Placement: (also called immersion) groups ‘smurf’ small amounts at a time to avoid suspicion; physical disposal of money by moving crime funds into the legitimate financial system; may involve bank complicity, mixing licit and illicit funds, cash purchases and smuggling currency to safe havens. Layering: disguises the trail to foil pursuit. Also called ‘heavy soaping’. It involves creating false paper trails, converting cash into assets by cash purchases. Integration: (also called ‘spin dry): Making it into clean taxable income by real-estate transactions, sham loans, foreign bank complicity and false import and export transactions. Means of money laundering: Money transmitters, black money markets purchasing goods, gambling, increasing the complexity of the money trail. Underground banking (flying money), involves clandestine ‘bankers’ around the world. It often involves otherwise legitimate banks and professionals. The policy aim in this area is to make the financial markets transparent, and minimize the circulation of criminal money and its cost upon legitimate markets.[95][96] Counterfeiting Main article: Counterfeiting Counterfeiting money is another financial crime. The counterfeiting of money includes illegally producing money that is then used to pay for anything desired. In addition to being a financial crime, counterfeiting also involves manufacturing or distributing goods under assumed names. Counterfeiters benefit because consumers believe they are buying goods from companies that they trust, when in reality they are buying low quality counterfeit goods.[97] In 2007, the OECD reported the scope of counterfeit products to include food, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, electrical components, tobacco and even household cleaning products in addition to the usual films, music, literature, games and other electrical appliances, software and fashion.[98] A number of qualitative changes in the trade of counterfeit products: a large increase in fake goods which are dangerous to health and safety; most products repossessed by authorities are now household items rather than luxury goods; a growing number of technological products; and, production is now operated on an industrial scale.[99] Tax evasion Main article: Tax evasion The economic effects of organized crime have been approached from a number of both theoretical and empirical positions, however the nature of such activity allows for misrepresentation.[100][101][102][103][104][105] The level of taxation taken by a nation-state, rates of unemployment, mean household incomes and level of satisfaction with government and other economic factors all contribute to the likelihood of criminals to participate in tax evasion.[101] As most organized crime is perpetrated in the liminal state between legitimate and illegitimate markets, these economic factors must adjusted to ensure the optimal amount of taxation without promoting the practice of tax evasion.[106] As with any other crime, technological advancements have made the commission of tax evasion easier, faster and more globalized. The ability for organized criminals to operate fraudulent financial accounts, utilize illicit offshore bank accounts, access tax havens or tax shelters,[107] and operating goods smuggling syndicates to evade importation taxes help ensure financial sustainability, security from law enforcement, general anonymity and the continuation of their operations. Cybercrime Main article: Cybercrime Internet fraud Main articles: Identity theft and internet fraud Identity theft is a form of fraud or cheating of another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name. Victims of identity theft (those whose identity has been assumed by the identity thief) can suffer adverse consequences if held accountable for the perpetrator's actions, as can organizations and individuals who are defrauded by the identity thief, and to that extent are also victims. Internet fraud refers to the actual use of Internet services to present fraudulent solicitations to prospective victims, to conduct fraudulent transactions, or to transmit the proceeds of fraud to financial institutions or to others connected with the scheme. In the context of organized crime, both may serve as means through which other criminal activity may be successfully perpetrated or as the primary goal themselves. Email fraud, advance-fee fraud, romance scams, employment scams, and other phishing scams are the most common and most widely used forms of identity theft,[108] though with the advent of social networking fake websites, accounts and other fraudulent or deceitful activity has become commonplace. Copyright infringement Main article: Copyright infringement Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works. Whilst almost universally considered under civil procedure, the impact and intent of organized criminal operations in this area of crime has been the subject of much debate. Article 61 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) requires that signatory countries establish criminal procedures and penalties in cases of willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy on a commercial scale. More recently copyright holders have demanded that states provide criminal sanctions for all types of copyright infringement.[109] Organized criminal groups capitalize on consumer complicity, advancements in security and anonymity technology, emerging markets and new methods of product transmission, and the consistent nature of these provides a stable financial basis for other areas of organized crime.[citation needed] Cyberwarfare Main article: Cyberwarfare Further information: Titan Rain and Moonlight Maze Cyberwarfare refers to politically motivated hacking to conduct sabotage and espionage. It is a form of information warfare sometimes seen as analogous to conventional warfare[110] although this analogy is controversial for both its accuracy and its political motivation. It has been defined as activities by a nation-state to penetrate another nation's computers or networks with the intention of causing civil damage or disruption.[111] Moreover, it acts as the "fifth domain of warfare,"[112] and William J. Lynn, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, states that "as a doctrinal matter, the Pentagon has formally recognized cyberspace as a new domain in warfare . . . [which] has become just as critical to military operations as land, sea, air, and space."[113] Cyber espionage is the practice of obtaining confidential, sensitive, proprietary or classified information from individuals, competitors, groups, or governments using illegal exploitation methods on internet, networks, software and/or computers. There is also a clear military, political, or economic motivation. Unsecured information may be intercepted and modified, making espionage possible internationally. The recently established Cyber Command is currently debating whether such activities as commercial espionage or theft of intellectual property are criminal activities or actual "breaches of national security."[114] Furthermore, military activities that use computers and satellites for coordination are at risk of equipment disruption. Orders and communications can be intercepted or replaced. Power, water, fuel, communications, and transportation infrastructure all may be vulnerable to sabotage. According to Clarke, the civilian realm is also at risk, noting that the security breaches have already gone beyond stolen credit card numbers, and that potential targets can also include the electric power grid, trains, or the stock market.[114] Computer viruses Main articles: Computer virus and denial-of-service attack The term "computer virus" may be used as an overarching phrase to include all types of true viruses, malware, including computer worms, Trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software (though all are technically unique),[115] and proves to be quite financially lucrative for criminal organizations,[116] offering greater opportunities for fraud and extortion whilst increasing security, secrecy and anonymity.[117] Worms may be utilized by organized crime groups to exploit security vulnerabilities (duplicating itself automatically across other computers a given network),[118] while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions (such as retrieval of stored confidential data, corruption of information, or interception of transmissions). Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer system's data or performance. Applying the Internet model of organized crime, the proliferation of computer viruses and other malicious software promotes a sense of detachment between the perpetrator (whether that be the criminal organization or another individual) and the victim; this may help to explain vast increases in cyber-crime such as these for the purpose of ideological crime or terrorism.[119] In mid July 2010, security experts discovered a malicious software program that had infiltrated factory computers and had spread to plants around the world. It is considered "the first attack on critical industrial infrastructure that sits at the foundation of modern economies," notes the New York Times.[120] White-collar crime and corruption This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Organized crime" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Main articles: White-collar crime and corruption Corporate crime Main article: Corporate crime Corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation (i.e., a business entity having a separate legal personality from the natural persons that manage its activities), or by individuals that may be identified with a corporation or other business entity (see vicarious liability and corporate liability). Corporate crimes are motivated by either the individuals desire or the corporations desire to increase profits.[121] The cost of corporate crimes to United States taxpayers is about $500 billion.[121] Note that some forms of corporate corruption may not actually be criminal if they are not specifically illegal under a given system of laws. For example, some jurisdictions allow insider trading. The different businesses that organized crime figures have been known to operate is vast, including but not limited to pharmacies, import-export companies, check-cashing stores, tattoo parlors, zoos, online dating sites, liquor stores, motorcycle shops, banks, hotels, ranches and plantations, electronic stores, beauty salons, real estate companies, daycares, framing stores, taxicab companies, phone companies, shopping malls, jewelry stores, modeling agencies, dry cleaners, pawn shops, pool halls, clothing stores, freight companies, charity foundations, youth centers, recording studios, sporting goods stores, furniture stores, gyms, insurnce companies, security companies, law firms, and private military companies.[122] Labor racketeering Labor Racketeering, as defined by the United States Department of Labor, is the infiltrating, exploiting, and controlling of employee benefit plan, union, employer entity, or workforce that is carried out through illegal, violent, or fraudulent means for profit or personal benefit.[123] Labor racketeering has developed since the 1930s, affecting national and international construction, mining, energy production and transportation[124] sectors immensely.[125] Activity has focused on the importation of cheap or unfree labor, involvement with union and public officials (political corruption), and counterfeiting.[126] Political corruption Main article: Political corruption Political corruption [127] is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking, it is not restricted to these activities. The activities that constitute illegal corruption differ depending on the country or jurisdiction. For instance, certain political funding practices that are legal in one place may be illegal in another. In some cases, government officials have broad or poorly defined powers, which make it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal actions. Worldwide, bribery alone is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US dollars annually.[128][129] A state of unrestrained political corruption is known as a kleptocracy, literally meaning "rule by thieves". Drug trafficking Drug trafficking routes in Mexico. There are three major regions that center around drug trafficking, known as the Golden Triangle (Burma, Laos, Thailand), Golden Crescent (Afghanistan) and Central and South America. There are suggestions that due to the continuing decline in opium production in South East Asia, traffickers may begin to look to Afghanistan as a source of heroin."[130] With respect to organized crime and accelerating synthetic drug production in East and Southeast Asia, especially the Golden Triangle, Sam Gor, also known as The Company, is the most prominent international crime syndicate based in Asia-Pacific. It is made up of members of five different triads. Sam Gor is understood to be headed by Chinese-Canadian Tse Chi Lop. The Cantonese Chinese syndicate is primarily involved in drug trafficking, earning at least $8 billion per year.[131] Sam Gor is alleged to control 40% of the Asia-Pacific methamphetamine market, while also trafficking heroin and ketamine. The organization is active in a variety of countries, including Myanmar, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, China and Taiwan. Sam Gor previously produced meth in Southern China and is now believed to manufacture mainly in the Golden Triangle, specifically Shan State, Myanmar, responsible for much of the massive surge of crystal meth in recent years.[132] The group is understood to be headed by Tse Chi Lop, a Chinese-Canadian gangster born in Guangzhou, China. Tse is a former member of the Hong Kong-based crime group, the Big Circle Gang. In 1988, Tse immigrated to Canada. In 1998, Tse was convicted of transporting heroin into the United States and served nine years behind bars. Tse has been compared in prominence to Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Pablo Escobar.[133] The U.S. supply of heroin comes mainly from foreign sources which include Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle, Southwest Asia, and Latin America. Heroin comes in two forms. The first is its chemical base form which presents itself as brown and the second is a salt form that is white.[130] The former is mainly produced in Afghanistan and some south-west countries while the latter had a history of being produced in only south-east Asia, but has since moved to also being produced in Afghanistan. There is some suspicion white Heroin is also being produced in Iran and Pakistan, but it is not confirmed. This area of Heroin production is referred to as the Golden Crescent. Heroin is not the only drug being used in these areas. The European market has shown signs of growing use in opioids on top of the long-term heroin use.[134] Human trafficking Main article: Human trafficking Sex trafficking Main article: Sex trafficking Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a major cause of contemporary sexual slavery and is primarily for prostituting women and children into sex industries.[135] Sexual slavery encompasses most, if not all, forms of forced prostitution.[136] The terms "forced prostitution" or "enforced prostitution" appear in international and humanitarian conventions but have been insufficiently understood and inconsistently applied. "Forced prostitution" generally refers to conditions of control over a person who is coerced by another to engage in sexual activity.[137] Official numbers of individuals in sexual slavery worldwide vary. In 2001 International Organization for Migration estimated 400,000, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimated 700,000 and UNICEF estimated 1.75 million.[138] The most common destinations for victims of human trafficking are Thailand, Japan, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the United States, according to a report by UNODC.[139] Illegal immigration and people smuggling Main article: People smuggling See also: Snakehead (gang) and Coyotaje People smuggling is defined as "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries laws, either clandestinely or through deception, such as the use of fraudulent documents".[140] The term is understood as and often used interchangeably with migrant smuggling, which is defined by the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime as "...the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a state party of which the person is not a national".[141] This practice has increased over the past few decades and today now accounts for a significant portion of illegal immigration in countries around the world. People smuggling generally takes place with the consent of the person or persons being smuggled, and common reasons for individuals seeking to be smuggled include employment and economic opportunity, personal and/or familial betterment, and escape from persecution or conflict. Contemporary slavery and forced labor The number of slaves today remains as high as 12 million[142] to 27 million.[143][144][145] This is probably the smallest proportion of slaves to the rest of the world's population in history.[146] Most are debt slaves, largely in South Asia, who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders, sometimes even for generations.[147] It is the fastest growing criminal industry and is predicted to eventually outgrow drug trafficking.[135][148] 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 pirates, highwaymen and bandits attacked trade routes and roads, at times severely disrupting commerce, raising costs, insuance 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."[149] 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 India, when 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...[150] As Lunde states, "Barbarian conquerors, whether Vandals, Goths, the Norse, 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."[149] 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 stolen goods. Fences were part of the extensive network of accomplices in the criminal underground of Ming and 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".[151] A fence worked alongside 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.[151] 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.[152] 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 criminal activities from officials in return for products or money from these soldiers.[153] 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.[154] 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.[154] 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.[154] 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.[154] 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. He or she not only sold items such as jewelry and clothing but was also involved in 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 prostitutes, wives or 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.[155] 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.[156] 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 protect bandits to protect their business interests, they actively took down any potential threats to their illegal profiting, even government officials. In the Zhejiang Province, the local elites not only got the provincial commissioner, Zhu Wan, dismissed from his office but also eventually "[drove] him to suicide".[157] 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.[151] 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.[151] 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 bandies 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.[151] 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.[158] These safe houses locate in places where there are high floating population 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.[159] 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.[160] 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.[161] In the 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.[162] 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.[162][163] 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.[164][165] 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.[162][166] 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 Coschise Cowboy Gang and the Wild Bunch.[167][168] 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.[169] 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, the Jim Miller gang, the Soapy Smith gang, the Belle Starr gang and the Bob Dozier gang. Twentieth century Tattooed Yakuza gangsters Donald Cressey's Cosa Nostra model studied Mafia families exclusively and this limits his broader findings. Structures are formal and rational with allocated tasks, limits on entrance, and influence the rules established for organizational maintenance and sustainability.[170][171] 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.[18][19][20] 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.[172][173] 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.[174] 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".[175][176] 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.[177][178] 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.[179][180] There may be three main approaches to understand the organizations in terms of their roles as social systems:[181] 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 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 offenses 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.[182][183] 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 offenses; 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 and/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 doesn't 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.[184] 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."[185][186] 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.[187] 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[188] have sustained themselves as a core concerns of all criminal organizations: From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Kowloon Walled City in British Hong Kong was controlled by local 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.[189][190] 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 (to resist denial-of-service attacks) and superior security. Furthermore, organized crime using the Internet is much harder to trace down for the police (even though they increasingly deploy cybercops[disambiguation needed]) since most police forces and 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, 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, Indian mafia, the Russian mafia, Thief in law and Post-Soviet Organized crime groups, the Chinese Triads, Chinese Tongs and Asian street gangs, 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.[191] 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, 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. Academic analysis Criminal psychology Main article: Criminal psychology Criminal psychology is defined as the study of the intentions, behaviors, and actions of a criminal or someone who allows themselves to participate in criminal behavior. The goal is understand what is going on in the criminal's head and explain why they are doing what they are doing. This varies depending on whether the person is facing the punishment for what they did, are roaming free, or if they are punishing themselves. Criminal psychologists get called to court to explain the inside the mind of the criminal.[citation needed] Rational choice Main article: Rational choice theory (criminology) This theory treats all individuals as rational operators, committing criminal acts after consideration of all associated risks (detection and punishment) compared with the rewards of crimes (personal, financial etc.).[192] Little emphasis is placed on the offenders’ emotional state. The role of criminal organizations in lowering the perceptions of risk and increasing the likelihood of personal benefit is prioritized by this approach, with the organizations structure, purpose, and activity being indicative of the rational choices made by criminals and their organizers.[193] Deterrence Main article: Deterrence (psychology) This theory sees criminal behavior as reflective of an individual, internal calculation[194] by the criminal that the benefits associated with offending (whether financial or otherwise) outweigh the perceived risks.[195][196] The perceived strength, importance or infallibility of the criminal organization is directly proportional to the types of crime committed, their intensity and arguably the level of community response. The benefits of participating in organized crime (higher financial rewards, greater socioeconomic control and influence, protection of the family or significant others, perceived freedoms from 'oppressive' laws or norms) contribute greatly to the psychology behind highly organized group offending. Social learning Main article: Social learning theory Criminals learn through associations with one another. The success of organized crime groups is therefore dependent upon the strength of their communication and the enforcement of their value systems, the recruitment and training processes employed to sustain, build or fill gaps in criminal operations.[197] An understanding of this theory sees close associations between criminals, imitation of superiors, and understanding of value systems, processes and authority as the main drivers behind organized crime. Interpersonal relationships define the motivations the individual develops, with the effect of family or peer criminal activity being a strong predictor of inter-generational offending.[198] This theory also developed to include the strengths and weaknesses of reinforcement, which in the context of continuing criminal enterprises may be used to help understand propensities for certain crimes or victims, level of integration into the mainstream culture and likelihood of recidivism / success in rehabilitation.[197][199][200] Enterprise Main article: Enterprise theory (crime) Under this theory, organized crime exists because legitimate markets leave many customers and potential customers unsatisfied.[47] High demand for a particular good or service (e.g., drugs, prostitution, arms, slaves), low levels of risk detection and high profits lead to a conducive environment for entrepreneurial criminal groups to enter the market and profit by supplying those goods and services.[201] For success, there must be: an identified market; and, a certain rate of consumption (demand) to maintain profit and outweigh perceived risks.[48][49] Under these conditions competition is discouraged, ensuring criminal monopolies sustain profits. Legal substitution of goods or services may (by increasing competition) force the dynamic of organized criminal operations to adjust, as will deterrence measures (reducing demand), and the restriction of resources (controlling the ability to supply or produce to supply).[202] Differential association Main article: Differential association Sutherland goes further to say that deviancy is contingent on conflicting groups within society, and that such groups struggle over the means to define what is criminal or deviant within society. Criminal organizations therefore gravitate around illegal avenues of production, profit-making, protectionism or social control and attempt (by increasing their operations or membership) to make these acceptable.[197][203][204] This also explains the propensity of criminal organizations to develop protection rackets, to coerce through the use of violence, aggression and threatening behavior (at times termed 'terrorism').[205][206][207][208] Preoccupation with methods of accumulating profit highlight the lack of legitimate means to achieve economic or social advantage, as does the organization of white-collar crime or political corruption (though it is debatable whether these are based on wealth, power or both). The ability to effect social norms and practices through political and economic influence (and the enforcement or normalization of criminogenic needs) may be defined by differential association theory. Critical criminology and sociology Social disorganization Main article: Social disorganization theory Social disorganization theory is intended to be applied to neighborhood level street crime,[209] thus the context of gang activity, loosely formed criminal associations or networks, socioeconomic demographic impacts, legitimate access to public resources, employment or education, and mobility give it relevance to organized crime. Where the upper- and lower-classes live in close proximity this can result in feelings of anger, hostility, social injustice and frustration.[210] Criminals experience poverty; and witness affluence they are deprived of and which is virtually impossible for them to attain through conventional means.[211] The concept of neighborhood is central to this theory, as it defines the social learning, locus of control, cultural influences and access to social opportunity experienced by criminals and the groups they form.[212] Fear of or lack of trust in mainstream authority may also be a key contributor to social disorganization; organized crime groups replicate such figures and thus ensure control over the counter-culture.[213] This theory has tended to view violent or antisocial behavior by gangs as reflective of their social disorganization rather than as a product or tool of their organization.[214] Anomie Main article: Anomie Sociologist Robert K. Merton believed deviance depended on society's definition of success,[215] and the desires of individuals to achieve success through socially defined avenues. Criminality becomes attractive when expectations of being able to fulfill goals (therefore achieving success) by legitimate means cannot be fulfilled.[216] Criminal organizations capitalize on states with a lack of norm by imposing criminogenic needs and illicit avenues to achieve them. This has been used as the basis for numerous meta-theories of organized crime through its integration of social learning, cultural deviance, and criminogenic motivations.[217] If crime is seen as a function of anomie,[218] organized behavior produces stability, increases protection or security, and may be directly proportional to market forces as expressed by entrepreneurship- or risk-based approaches. It is the inadequate supply of legitimate opportunities that constrains the ability for the individual to pursue valued societal goals and reduces the likelihood that using legitimate opportunities will enable them to satisfy such goals (due to their position in society).[219] Cultural deviance Criminals violate the law because they belong to a unique subculture - the counter-culture - their values and norms conflicting with those of the working-, middle- or upper-classes upon which criminal laws are based. This subculture shares an alternative lifestyle, language and culture, and is generally typified by being tough, taking care of their own affairs and rejecting government authority. Role models include drug dealers, thieves and pimps, as they have achieved success and wealth not otherwise available through socially-provided opportunities. It is through modeling organized crime as a counter-cultural avenue to success that such organizations are sustained.[197][220][221] Alien conspiracy/queer ladder of mobility Main article: Jewish-American organized crime The alien conspiracy theory and queer ladder of mobility theories state that ethnicity and 'outsider' status (immigrants, or those not within the dominant ethnocentric groups) and their influences are thought to dictate the prevalence of organized crime in society.[222] The alien theory posits that the contemporary structures of organized crime gained prominence during the 1860s in Sicily and that elements of the Sicilian population are responsible for the foundation of most European and North American organized crime,[223] made up of Italian-dominated crime families. Bell's theory of the 'queer ladder of mobility' hypothesized that 'ethnic succession' (the attainment of power and control by one more marginalized ethnic group over other less marginalized groups) occurs by promoting the perpetration of criminal activities within a disenfranchised or oppressed demographic. Whilst early organized crime was dominated by the Irish Mob (early 1800s), they were relatively substituted by the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia, the Aryan Brotherhood (1960s onward), Colombian Medellin cartel and Cali cartel (mid-1970s - 1990s), and more recently the Mexican Tijuana Cartel (late 1980s onward), Mexican Los Zetas (late 1990s to onward), the Russian Mafia (1988 onward), terrorism-related organized crime Al-Qaeda (1988 onward), the Taliban (1994 onward), and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) (2010s to onward) . Many argue this misinterprets and overstates the role of ethnicity in organized crime.[224] A contradiction of this theory is that syndicates had developed long before large-scale Sicilian immigration in the 1860s, with these immigrants merely joining a widespread phenomenon of crime and corruption.[225][226][227] Legislative frameworks and policing measures International Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the 'Palermo Convention') - the international treaty against organized crime; includes the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air Canada Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, ss 467.1 to 467.2 Archived 2015-10-05 at the Wayback Machine. India Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act Republic of Ireland Criminal Assets Bureau Italy Article 41-bis prison regime United Kingdom Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 United States Federal Anti-Racketeering Act (the 'Hobbs Act') 1946 Federal Wire Act 1961 Bank Secrecy Act 1970 Organized Crime Control Act 1970 Title 21 of the United States Code 1970 Continuing Criminal Enterprise (contemporary) Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (the 'RICO Act') 1970 Money Laundering Control Act 1986 United States Patriot Act 2001 Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 By nation List of criminal enterprises, gangs and syndicates Timeline of organized crime Organized crime in Afghanistan Organized crime in Albania Organized crime in Australia Organized crime in Bulgaria Category:Organized crime in Canada Organized crime in China Organized crime in France Organized crime in Greece Organized crime in India Organized crime in Ireland Organized crime in Italy Organized crime in Japan Organized crime in Kenya Organized crime in Kyrgyzstan Organized crime in Lebanon Organized crime in the Netherlands Organized crime in Nigeria Organized crime in Pakistan Organized crime in Russia Organized crime in South Korea Organized crime in Sweden Organized crime in Turkey Organized crime in Ukraine Organized crime in the United Kingdom Category:Organized crime in the United States Organized crime in Vietnam
  • Type: Photograph
  • Subject: Women
  • Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
  • Year of Production: 1948

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