ORGANISED CRIME : CORE READINGS
ORGANIZED CRIME, A CONTESTED CONCEPT
OC = variable meanings, umbrella concept & shifted interpretation
SHIFT IN MEANING, TERRITORIAL SCOPE & LEGI TIMACY
Shift -> = weakness & attraction
2 rival notions:
• Set of stable organizations illegal per se or whose members systematically engage in crime
↕
• Set of serious criminal activities mostly carried out for monetary gain
Evolution : what -> who -> what -> who + what
1950 : “OC = responsible for most serious criminal activities for gain” “wrong assumption” =>
choose which notion to use (who-notion or what-notion)
Stable large scale organization = far from monopolizing profit making criminal activity
• Realized by policy & lawmakers
o other policymakers: OC = more than just co-offending with more than two ppl
• Waterdown definition of OC -> “any group of at least 3 peoples working together at
sometime”
Territorial scope
• Started with crimes on local basis -> evaluated to more transnational nature of OC
Policy & scientific legitimacy & relevance of OC
• Until 1980 only Italy & US OC as serious domestic problem
• Until 1990 public fascination but shunned topic
• Since 1990
o More policies, degrees,..
o Admission transnational dimension -> increase power + harmonize
o More legitimate scientific research topic
THE AMERICAN DEBATE: FROM “WHAT” TO “WHO”
OC = original Amercian concept:
• 1896 -> gambling & prostitution operations protected by public officials
• 1920-1930 -> prohibition -> illegal markets
• =/= associations of gangsters
• = synonymous with racketeering
, o = extortion, predatory activities & provision illegal goods and services (drugs, liquor,
gambling, counterfeit documents,..)
• “The Gang” -> first full scale treatment of OC
o OC =/= visualized as one clear structure with same ways of hierarchies -> loose
networks with temporary and changing relations.
o OC = linked with upperworld
▪ Important functions = specialized people (doctor, lawyer,..)
• 1929-1931 -> What > who
o Data = based on categories of criminal law, not based on criminals
o OC = set of criminal entrepreneurial activities with frequent involvement of legal
business and government representatives
• 1940 -> focus on foreign career of criminals -> well structured & powerful criminal
organization being a treat to society and politics
o Role of “high profile people” = ignored
o = New organization based approach = ‘alien conspiracy’
Alien conspiracy = emphasis on foreign criminals
• Proclaimed by Senator Estes Kefauver
o = chairmen of US Senate Special Committee to Investigate OC in
Interstate Commerce
• Hardy any empirical proof
• Italian centered view
• OC = nationwide, centralized OC domitnating the most profitable illegal markets witch is
based on sicilian organisations containing Italian migrants
• OC = national wide crime organized by mafia, mostly in large cities
o Links with narcotic traffic & control of most lucrative rackets of their city
• Mafia controls illegal market = increased federal involvement in enforcement of gambling
and drugs law
o Federal Narcotics Bureau = major ‘moral entrepreneur’ of new organization based
approach of OC
Joe Valachi – 1963
• = low ranking member of Cosa Nostra (= Italian-American mafia)
• Testified before Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation
o His experiences, details about internal composition and activities
o Televised -> American public opinion strengthened
• Complete merge of OC + mafia
Mafia Centered concept:
• = unsuitable for divising valid law enforcement strategies
o Outlawing membership of Cosa Nostra = rejected
• 1970 -> RICO -> Racketeer Influenced and Corrupted Organization
o Extremely broad underlying concept of IC
, ▪ Original intention = way to oppose cosa nostra
▪ Final = including less structured gangs and illicit enterprises
• Not only the Italian mafia was targeted
• = ‘treat to American society’ -> still continued even though the broader law
o Whenever money was needed or new laws needed to be enforced -> ‘myth of mafia
as a huge treat to America’ => mafia-myth gave access to laws such as
eavesdropping, wiretapping, informants,…
▪ = laws based on myths, not on empirical proof
• Dominates public perception
o Books, movies,.. -> ‘the godfather’
o Shaped the general understanding of OC
• La cosa Nosta = capable of operating in contemporary America
o hierarchical and rationally designed organization = close to ideal type of legal-
rational bureaucracy (Max Weber)
• Who > what
THE AMERICAN DEBATE: THE MERGER OF ‘WHO’ AND ‘WHAT’
Alien conspirarcy = rejected by American Social Scientists in 1960
• Mafia center = ideological , political interests, lacking in accuracy & empirical evidence
• 1980 -> existence of Italian mafia = denied as structured and longstanding criminal
organization
Who shifts back to what
o Focus on supply of illegal products and services
• Substitution of ethnically loaded term organized crime by emphasizing “illicit” and “illegal
enterprise”
• OC = illicit enterprise in the extension of legitimate market activities into areas normally
proscribed, beyond existing limits of law, for the pursuit of profit and in response to a latent
illicit demand
• Organized crime is:
o Provision of illegal goods and services
o Illegal activities involving the management and coordination of racketeering and vice
o Synonym for illegal enterprise
o Involvement in criminal market activities = basic requirement
▪ Both mafia center understanding as the new approach -> partial consensus
• Negative side of partial consensus -> term OC refers to sets of criminal organization + set of
criminal activities
o Consequence : confusion between offenders and offence => circular reasoning
▪ “serious organized crime problem in US and the largest source of income for
organized crime”
• First OC = the criminal activity Second OC = the criminal
organization
Broadened the definition of OC
ORGANIZED CRIME, A CONTESTED CONCEPT
OC = variable meanings, umbrella concept & shifted interpretation
SHIFT IN MEANING, TERRITORIAL SCOPE & LEGI TIMACY
Shift -> = weakness & attraction
2 rival notions:
• Set of stable organizations illegal per se or whose members systematically engage in crime
↕
• Set of serious criminal activities mostly carried out for monetary gain
Evolution : what -> who -> what -> who + what
1950 : “OC = responsible for most serious criminal activities for gain” “wrong assumption” =>
choose which notion to use (who-notion or what-notion)
Stable large scale organization = far from monopolizing profit making criminal activity
• Realized by policy & lawmakers
o other policymakers: OC = more than just co-offending with more than two ppl
• Waterdown definition of OC -> “any group of at least 3 peoples working together at
sometime”
Territorial scope
• Started with crimes on local basis -> evaluated to more transnational nature of OC
Policy & scientific legitimacy & relevance of OC
• Until 1980 only Italy & US OC as serious domestic problem
• Until 1990 public fascination but shunned topic
• Since 1990
o More policies, degrees,..
o Admission transnational dimension -> increase power + harmonize
o More legitimate scientific research topic
THE AMERICAN DEBATE: FROM “WHAT” TO “WHO”
OC = original Amercian concept:
• 1896 -> gambling & prostitution operations protected by public officials
• 1920-1930 -> prohibition -> illegal markets
• =/= associations of gangsters
• = synonymous with racketeering
, o = extortion, predatory activities & provision illegal goods and services (drugs, liquor,
gambling, counterfeit documents,..)
• “The Gang” -> first full scale treatment of OC
o OC =/= visualized as one clear structure with same ways of hierarchies -> loose
networks with temporary and changing relations.
o OC = linked with upperworld
▪ Important functions = specialized people (doctor, lawyer,..)
• 1929-1931 -> What > who
o Data = based on categories of criminal law, not based on criminals
o OC = set of criminal entrepreneurial activities with frequent involvement of legal
business and government representatives
• 1940 -> focus on foreign career of criminals -> well structured & powerful criminal
organization being a treat to society and politics
o Role of “high profile people” = ignored
o = New organization based approach = ‘alien conspiracy’
Alien conspiracy = emphasis on foreign criminals
• Proclaimed by Senator Estes Kefauver
o = chairmen of US Senate Special Committee to Investigate OC in
Interstate Commerce
• Hardy any empirical proof
• Italian centered view
• OC = nationwide, centralized OC domitnating the most profitable illegal markets witch is
based on sicilian organisations containing Italian migrants
• OC = national wide crime organized by mafia, mostly in large cities
o Links with narcotic traffic & control of most lucrative rackets of their city
• Mafia controls illegal market = increased federal involvement in enforcement of gambling
and drugs law
o Federal Narcotics Bureau = major ‘moral entrepreneur’ of new organization based
approach of OC
Joe Valachi – 1963
• = low ranking member of Cosa Nostra (= Italian-American mafia)
• Testified before Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation
o His experiences, details about internal composition and activities
o Televised -> American public opinion strengthened
• Complete merge of OC + mafia
Mafia Centered concept:
• = unsuitable for divising valid law enforcement strategies
o Outlawing membership of Cosa Nostra = rejected
• 1970 -> RICO -> Racketeer Influenced and Corrupted Organization
o Extremely broad underlying concept of IC
, ▪ Original intention = way to oppose cosa nostra
▪ Final = including less structured gangs and illicit enterprises
• Not only the Italian mafia was targeted
• = ‘treat to American society’ -> still continued even though the broader law
o Whenever money was needed or new laws needed to be enforced -> ‘myth of mafia
as a huge treat to America’ => mafia-myth gave access to laws such as
eavesdropping, wiretapping, informants,…
▪ = laws based on myths, not on empirical proof
• Dominates public perception
o Books, movies,.. -> ‘the godfather’
o Shaped the general understanding of OC
• La cosa Nosta = capable of operating in contemporary America
o hierarchical and rationally designed organization = close to ideal type of legal-
rational bureaucracy (Max Weber)
• Who > what
THE AMERICAN DEBATE: THE MERGER OF ‘WHO’ AND ‘WHAT’
Alien conspirarcy = rejected by American Social Scientists in 1960
• Mafia center = ideological , political interests, lacking in accuracy & empirical evidence
• 1980 -> existence of Italian mafia = denied as structured and longstanding criminal
organization
Who shifts back to what
o Focus on supply of illegal products and services
• Substitution of ethnically loaded term organized crime by emphasizing “illicit” and “illegal
enterprise”
• OC = illicit enterprise in the extension of legitimate market activities into areas normally
proscribed, beyond existing limits of law, for the pursuit of profit and in response to a latent
illicit demand
• Organized crime is:
o Provision of illegal goods and services
o Illegal activities involving the management and coordination of racketeering and vice
o Synonym for illegal enterprise
o Involvement in criminal market activities = basic requirement
▪ Both mafia center understanding as the new approach -> partial consensus
• Negative side of partial consensus -> term OC refers to sets of criminal organization + set of
criminal activities
o Consequence : confusion between offenders and offence => circular reasoning
▪ “serious organized crime problem in US and the largest source of income for
organized crime”
• First OC = the criminal activity Second OC = the criminal
organization
Broadened the definition of OC
