Organized Crime
By Rita Goforth
July 22, 2013
CJA/384
Criminal Organizations
Instructor Jack Tandy

When I think about organized crime and its very definition I immediately think of is the Italian Mafia, which has been portrayed in various articles, news casts, and historical culture and let’s not forget the many movies that have been made. This alone does not define what organized crime group are though I’m sure at one time it was the primary indicator for organized crime. Yet today this is not true at all and it would take multiple text books and research to explain it all because these groups have expanded so much.
As defined by (Jay S. Albanese) organized crime functions as a continuing enterprise that rationally works to make a profit through illicit activities, and insures its existence through the use of threats or force and through corruption of law enforcement. Along with many other definitions that sometimes vary in small ways the consensus is generally the same.
The way that I would define organized crime would be that it is any group that conducts illegal acts in order to gain a profit or personal gain. Simply put, organized crime groups are groups not only defined to the Mafia but other groups such as motorcycle clubs, gangs, terrorists and even some corporations, who act outside the law in order to gain, money property, status or anything else that benefits themselves but is done illegally. Take for example the motorcycle groups that traffic guns, drugs and women. These things are not legal and are not done for the good of the community but only for the good of their clubs. Not saying that all motorcycle clubs are this way but there are many that are. Organized crime groups are generally involved in many illegal acts such as, money laundering, human trafficking, and prostitution, gun trafficking, thefts, murder and bribery. In order for many of these groups to stay alive so to speak and to expand they often have to have the assistance in some way by a law enforcement official. This often I obtained by these groups threatening or intimidating people in to doing the things they want them to do often by threatening not only them but their family and friends as well.
One of the biggest characteristics of organized crime groups is the fact that no one acts alone and they do not usually act without the orders of another superior. Unlike people who commit crimes on their own or with a few other people these organized crime groups are made up of several people and there is a chain of command, for example, someone who is say new to this group cannot decide that they want to bring in a shipment container full of drugs to sell. These orders can only be carried down from “the boss”. Much like jobs that we all have today there is a chain of command as well, though our jobs do not necessarily require us to commit crime for the good of the company. While everyone in the group would benefit the so called “boss” is the main person to benefit from these acts that everyone else commits while keeping his hands clean and other usually taking the fall. It is my opinion that today’s technology has made it even easier for these organized crime groups to continue their business and even grow. Now instead of organized crime mainly referring to the Mafia, it now also refers to many other cultural organized crime groups like gangs i.e., bloods and crypts, alkeida, and the triads. So it is easy for me to see how these organized crime groups have grown over the years, now these groups contain people from every race and sex, while in years past these crime groups were mainly made up of