Organized crime

• 1. Defining The Underworld

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  In 1970, the United States passed the Organized Crime Control Act to legally define what constitutes a criminal enterprise. This law described organized crime as unlawful activities of a highly organized and disciplined association. Before this legislation, police in the UK estimated that up to 38,000 people operated within 6,000 distinct groups. Sociologists distinguish these entities from street gangs by looking at their level of discipline and structure. Some definitions classify street gangs as organized crime if they develop sufficient internal order. Other academic studies focus on specific groups like the Sicilian Mafia or the Russian mafia for deeper economic analysis. These groups often operate as private protection services rather than simple profit-seeking businesses. The term underworld refers to the entire network, subculture, and community involved in these illegal activities. Criminal organizations may adopt tactics similar to authoritarian regimes to maintain power over their members. They rely on fear and terror to achieve goals and enforce control within their ranks.

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• 2. Structural Models Of Crime

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  Patron-client networks create fluid interactions between smaller units within an overall criminal network. These structures value social familiarity and tradition over rigid rules. Hierarchies form based on family ties, cultural traditions, and nepotistic value systems. Communication depends on social etiquette and collective decision-making processes. Bureaucratic models differ by enforcing complex authority structures with extensive division of labor. Written regulations replace cultural practices as the primary guide for action. Top-down communication strategies allow for impersonal execution of responsibilities. However, maintaining written records creates security risks that can jeopardize the entire organization. Infiltration at lower levels can cause a house-of-cards effect throughout the hierarchy. Youth gangs present another structural model where self-formed associations unite peers through mutual interests. Miller defined these groups as having identifiable leadership and internal organization. Some street gangs function as formal-rational organizations with well-defined roles and regular income sources like drug dealing. Other studies found loose cohesion with few shared goals or clear distribution of labor. Entrepreneurial models focus on individual criminals capitalizing on fluid group associations. Rational choice theory often fails to explain why individuals join these enterprises. Risk assessment determines potential profit versus legal and economic consequences for each member.

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• 3. Historical Evolution And Origins

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  For most of human history, rural interfaces encountered the majority of crimes rather than urban centers. Pirates, highwaymen, and bandits attacked trade routes and disrupted commerce in pre-industrial societies. Paul Lunde noted that piracy and banditry were to the pre-industrial world what organized crime is to modern society. Ancient Rome featured an outlaw named Bulla Felix who led a gang of up to six hundred bandits. Barbarian conquerors such as Vandals, Goths, Norse, Turks, and Mongols shared features associated with thriving criminal organizations. They used violence and intimidation while adhering to their own codes of law. During Ming and Qing China, fences acted as liaisons between respectable communities and underground criminals. These merchants bought stolen goods from bandits and sold them to local peasants or military troops. In Baoding and Hejian, community members helped hide stolen livestock from soldiers in exchange for profits. A tea house owner once offered to sell loot after overhearing robbers planning a heist. Fences maintained networks connecting bandits to polite society clients like gentry elites. Some elites even drove provincial commissioners to suicide by protecting bandits' business interests. The Victorian era saw London's criminal underworld develop its own ranks and groups called families. These societies operated on pickpocketry, prostitution, forgery, counterfeiting, and commercial burglary.

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• 4. Financial Crimes And Laundering

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  Money laundering equated to about 1.6 trillion US dollars globally in 2009 according to United Nations estimates. This figure represented approximately 2.7% of global GDP that year. Criminal groups must convert dirty money into clean assets to invest in legitimate enterprises. Placement involves smurfing small amounts to avoid suspicion within the financial system. Layering disguises the trail through false paper trails and cash purchases of assets. Integration makes funds appear as clean taxable income via real estate transactions or sham loans. Underground banking systems use clandestine bankers around the world to move money across borders. Counterfeiting affects food, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, electrical components, tobacco, and household cleaning products. In 2007, the OECD reported that most repossessed fake goods were now household items rather than luxury goods. Al Capone became a notorious example of tax evasion when sentenced to eleven years in federal prison in 1931. He was ordered to pay $215,000 in back taxes along with accrued interest. Worldwide bribery alone is estimated to involve over one trillion US dollars annually. The cost of corporate crimes to United States taxpayers reached about five hundred billion dollars. Organized crime figures operate pharmacies, import-export companies, check-cashing stores, tattoo parlors, zoos, online dating sites, liquor stores, motorcycle shops, banks, hotels, ranches, 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, insurance companies, security companies, law firms, and private military companies.

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• 5. Violence And Terrorist Overlaps

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  Assaults serve as coercive measures to rough up debtors, competition, or recruits during robberies. Violence normalizes itself within criminal organizations controlling specific locations. Aggressive acts range from low-grade physical assaults to major trauma causing grievous bodily harm. Murder evolved from honor killings in the yakuza or Sicilian mafia to less discriminate expressions of power. Hit men maintain consistent roles throughout history due to efficiency or expediency in hiring professionals. Gangsters often dispose of dead bodies by hiding them in trash, landfills, feeding them to animals, or using industrial processes. Some gangsters put victims' bodies on display as psychological warfare against enemies. Vigilante groups like Muerte a Secuestradores formed in Colombia to defend drug lords against insurgent groups. The Medellín Cartel created paramilitary units to kidnap and torture leaders of M-19 before leaving them tied up at police stations. Los Pepes comprised government members, police, and former cartel members to dismantle Pablo Escobar's operation. Somali pirates attack foreign vessels engaging in illegal fishing to recover local fisheries. Grupos de autodefensa comunitaria formed in Mexico to counter illegal loggers and drug cartels. MS-13 commits violence against Minutemen Project members to prevent interference with smuggling activities. Terrorist groups engage in non-traditional organized crime for political or ideological gain rather than monetary profit.

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• 6. Modern Digital Threats

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  Identity theft involves someone pretending to be another person to access resources or obtain credit. Email fraud, advance-fee scams, romance scams, employment scams, and phishing are the most common forms today. Fake websites and accounts have become commonplace through social networking platforms. Copyright infringement allows criminal groups to capitalize on consumer complicity and security technology advancements. Article 61 of TRIPs requires signatory countries to establish criminal procedures for willful trademark counterfeiting. Cyberwarfare refers to politically motivated hacking to conduct sabotage and espionage operations. William J. Lynn stated that cyberspace has become just as critical to military operations as land, sea, air, and space. Unsecured information may be intercepted and modified making international espionage possible. The Pentagon formally recognized cyberspace as a new domain in warfare doctrine. Civilian realms face risks including stolen credit card numbers, electric power grid breaches, train disruptions, and stock market attacks. Computer viruses include worms, Trojan horses, rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware, and other malicious software. A malicious program infiltrated factory computers in mid July 2010 spreading to plants around the world. This attack marked the first assault on critical industrial infrastructure sitting at the foundation of modern economies.

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