New York Organized Crime



New York Organized Crime

Organized crime may be defined as systematically unlawful activity for profit on a city-wide, interstate, and even international scale. The corporate criminal organization is a far cry from the small-scale predations of a Bonnie and Clyde. Criminal organizations keep their illegal operations secret, and members confer by word of mouth. Gangs sometimes become sufficiently systematic to be called organized. The act of engaging in criminal activity as a structured group is referred to in the United States as racketeering (Jacobs & Friel, 1999).

A criminal organization depends in part on support from the society in ...