Introduction: The major areas concerning the foundations and definitions of organized crime
According to FBI, organized crime is defined as any group that has a formal structure and whose main objective is to get money by engaging in illegal activities. Groups of this kind protect their position by using violence, bribing public officials, extortion or graft and generally these groups have an impact to other people around them, be it within the locality, region or the whole country (FBI. 2009).The activities they engage in include such crimes as gun running, illegal gambling, prostitution, narcotics trade, pornography, kidnapping to obtain ransom, smuggling, vehicle theft, and credit card fraud among other crimes. These groups may also engage in international terrorism.
With the introduction of internet, these particular groups are now in a position to cover every segment of society and every nation using highly sophisticated techniques. These establishments do not put up with rivalry and continuously strive to maintain monopoly in their area of specialization in terms of either the actual business they are dealing in or the geographical area within which they are operating. These groups are different from those of common crimes otherwise known as unorganized crimes in several ways. For instance, these groups do not engage in random nature of criminal activities. They do deal in big money going up to even billions of dollars, they diversify their activities and these activities are coordinated among hundreds or even thousands of people, they seek to make more money as well as to attain much power and also there is leadership that can be identified within the groups (Business Dictionary 2009).
According to Russ (2009a), a clear definition of organized crime emanates from various characteristics derived from its lack of political goals, its structure that is in form of a hierarchy, and limited membership. Specialized division of labor is demonstrated under organized crime since it is characterized by monopoly and is controlled by well defined rules and regulations.
To illustrate organized crime best, we consider a group known as Mafia.
A Mafia is a secrete organization whose origin is traced in Sicily and later spread all over Italy. In time, this organization spread to other countries among them being the United States of America. It is involved in international crimes such as prostitution, racketeering, gambling, and dealing in drugs. There are two different models in the structure of the Mafia: The corporate model and patron client model. Their effort to spread to a wider geographical region results in feudalism and social exchange association which if often not balanced causes them to be potential outlaws. The patrons play a role of supporting the organization economically and offers protection but do not intervene whenever the outlaws are arrested. These patrons get back their payment through financial tributes.
In organized crime, respect is highly valued and it flows along a chain of authority. On the top we have bosses, and then under bosses we have counselors, captains, and members or soldiers. People become members of a Mafia after undergoing a ritual during which the new members are presented with the norms of the organization.
How organized crime gained a foothold in the United States
The Mafia came during the middle ages in Sicily with a purpose of overthrowing the foreign conquerors who were ruling them. It sourced the members from the private armies who had been employed by the landlords to take care of their estates. The mafia then spread to the United States of America. By the start of the twentieth century these groups were in control of the local economies. In the year 1920, most of the Mafia members were put in prison but they were later set free by the Allies at the time when the World War II was over.
From there, these members fled to other nations and went back to their criminal activities of organized crime. They intensified their operations in activities such as gambling, prostitution, and labor union racketeering among other crimes. At this time the Mafia, this was also referred to as La Cosa Nostra, turned out to be the biggest U.S syndicated crime organization.
In the year 1930, the Mafia had divided itself in to two major groups. These groups were the Maranzano Mafia that led in midtown New York and the Masseria Mafia who led in East Harlem in New York. These two groups began the Castwllammarese War and struggling against each other. This war was later lost by Masseria and it ended in the year 1931. Maranzano, the winner of the war, came up with a new structure of the mafia that is still there to the present, which had bosses and those below bosses for all the cities in New York. Shortly thereafter, the leader of Maranzano was shot by Lucky Luciano and Genovese (Russ, 2009b).
How organized crime groups sought to influence government
Several things existed that played a part in organized crime and its engagement on influencing the government. The Chicago Mafia gives a good example. In Chicago, organized crime started in the year 1873 by Mike McDonald who was a boss of gamblers. This man indicated to people in Chicago that liquor interests, gamblers, and even bar keepers can achieve political power under leadership that was effective. McDonald put under his control; congressmen, mayors, city police, among other officials by giving them bribes and also through gambling.
Every election that came by, until the year 1907, was under the control of his power. Any person that wanted to run a business beyond the “red light” region of the city had to look for McDonald’s assistance. More so, Henry “Big Bill” who had been elected as mayor of Chicago in the year 1915 and in turn violated his campaign promises had been reelected in the year 1919 and also in 1927 because of his promise to allow flowing of liquor once more (Russ, 2009c).
The organization of organized crime groups in the post-Prohibition era
The 21st Amendment was enacted in the year 1933 and this marked the end of prohibition. This new era brought back alcohol in the legal market together with the tax charged on it. The mafia illegal business in liquor began going down drastically. Therefore, the illegal businesses by the mafia dealing with liquor had to be transferred to elsewhere that could be somehow favorable. Most of the mafia families started to rely on gambling to fulfill their financial needs but among these, several resorted to illegal drugs.
Consequently, organized crime started growing once again. During the 1970s, fierce competition arose among the mafia families each fighting to control the then booming heroin trade. In 1980s the government attempted to come up with new efforts to jail the mafia leaders. Police bribery and money-laundering are the crimes that have been associated with the mafia in the 1990s. In the 1990s and 1980s, the mafia had cut down the operations in racketeering and extortion. The current mafia has advanced the operations and deal in crimes such as selling of prepaid telephone cards, engaging themselves in illegal deals in the stock market (Russ, 2009d).
Towards the end of the 20th century, the role played by the mafia in organized crime of the U.S was fading away. This was due to the arrest and imprisonment of their top leaders, members defecting from the group and volunteering to be the government witnesses, and disputes within the group itself (Mafia. 2009). Although the power of the mafia has gone down through the arrest and imprisoning of its members, the mafia still exists.
References
Business Dictionary. (2009). Organized Crime. Web.
FBI (2009). Organized Crime. Web.
Mafia. (2009). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Web.
Russ, J. (2009a). The major areas concerning the foundations and definitions of organized crime. Web.
Russ, J. (2009b). How organized crime gained a foothold in the United States. Web.
Russ, J. (2009c). How organized crime groups sought to influence government. Web.
Russ, J. (2009d). The organization of organized crime groups in the post-Prohibition era. Web.