Organized Crime

Brandi Cochrane

Organized Crime

Unit 3 Project

October 12th, 2010

 The major areas concerning the foundations and definitions of organized crime

Organized crime has many different characteristics.  It began from a faction’s lack of political goals, hierarchical structure, and limited and/ or exclusive membership. Organized crime is structured by monopolism and governed by specific rules and regulations. It has its own constitution as an exceptional subculture, the readiness to use illegal violence and bribery and they have the power to continue to keep going year after year. Organized crime exhibits a dedicated division of labor. Organized crime develops a reputation by the general public that it is beyond reality, that it is invincible. The mafia is not as dominant as popularly believed, but associates imply that it is in order to intimidate and threaten people that will believe that behind a threat or scam there are thugs that will hunt you down, no matter where you are. These perceptions form an opinion that the two become undividable and the mind can run wild over the power and presence of organized criminals.

 How organized crime gained a foothold in the United States

Organized crime is a phrase that has been used sparingly in the twentieth century to identify certain criminal partnerships which are often ethnically based. Others defined organized crime as dangerous criminal conspiracies. The Prohibition era of the 1920s provided increase to the organized crime organization in the United States. Federal efforts to enforce prohibition, including raids on speakeasies, were countered by well-organized illegal operations with national and international connections. After the rescind of prohibition in 1933, which made buying alcohol legal once again, the gangs that were still together resorted to different sources of financial gain. For example these gains included: gambling, narcotics trafficking and labor racketeering. This type of organized crime was...