ORGANIZED CRIME POLICY

Organized Crime Policy

Organized Crime Policy

Organized crime has been a horrified, captivated and a continuous concern for citizens and law enforcement officials in the United States, since the 1920s. The popular media such as movies, television shows and books has led the organized crime developed in unique ways in the United States and has also formed perceptions of organized crime in other nations. The term organized crime also referred as transnational crime, is regarded by the police, media, politicians and the public as an undifferentiated phrase under which most severe crimes can be done (Kenny et al, 1995).

The concept of organized crime has become mythologized to the point of total distortion, rendering it useless for anything but political mileage and the bargaining for resources by law enforcement. Leading some critics to suspect that those results might have been the objective.

THE SCOPE OF ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITY

The U. S. Justice Department commissions studied the organized crime with the focus on the Mafia in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. The US Government identified twenty-four groups (Albanese, 1996). Most of the leaders from these groups were accused, and many were imprisoned in the 1980s and 1990s. Several cases involved serious racketeering based in New York City. Italian Americans were the main focus for prosecution. Though mistrial and acquittal, charges of bid-rigging, extortion was the result of many cases many of the murders were proved ultimately. It is difficult to calculate the cost of the government's highly promoted campaign against the mafia; same as it is difficult identify the decrease in organized crime (Abadinsky, 1997).

CENTRAL ISSUES OF ORGANIZED CRIME

There are five basic components of the organized crime operations: enterprise, corruption, secret societies, public acceptance, and murder and mayhem (Passas, 1995).

Enterprise: There must be opportunities available in the market to supply the illegal goods and services to increase the organized crime, as it is a market driven activity. Criminals thrive in period of control and prohibition of illegal activities, during which demand is high for illegitimate goods or services. Political corruption also helps to prosper the organized crime. It is essential when understanding organized crime, to observe the legal system, which opens possibility for unlawful economies to develop. The extremely desirable goods and services that are generally unavailable in normal markets are provided by the organized crime. The higher profits are charged by organized crime through larger prices for the items that are more difficult to attain, because the enterprise organized crime has profit as its only goal. Many of the opportunities for the development of organized crime were created due to the breakup of the former Soviet Union, which further enhanced in the ruins of the former government. The dishonest officials were made unemployed with the termination of the USSR. They developed their skills at an international level after becoming expert in the local corruption. The effect of Russian organized crime in the United States has been sensed on both the east and west ...