Controlling Organized Crime

Organized crime has become a problem among U.S. citizens since the 1900’s. The Mafia was the first to show its strengths of power and manipulation among citizens and business of New York. Since the rise of the Mafia, other criminal organizations have surfaced using their power to corrupt personal within business for the gain of finance and political strength. Everyday citizens living among society have been tormented by smaller criminal organizations working pipelines for drugs and weapons. The question now, is how can criminal organizations be controlled? This paper will identify the problems presented and the various relationships established by organized crime. It will describe the legal limitations associated with combating organized crime, including a critique of major federal laws and strategies that support this effort. This paper will end with a suggestion of a realistic solution to control organized crime by discussing and evaluating the effectiveness of organized crime prosecutions.

“Organized crime are acts carried out over a long or indeterminate period, through the abuse of commercial structures, the use of violence or intimidation, and having an effect on political life, the media, public administration, justice or the economy” idea connection (2009). Criminal organizations work to collect money via illegal activities instilling fear among society and living on corruption. There are four types of criminal organizations, the criminal gangs, the criminal syndicates, the criminal rackets, and the criminal political machine. Criminal gangs are mainly involved in armed robbery, kidnapping, and drug trafficking. They prey on helpless individuals like the elderly, business owners who haven’t the knowledge to protect themselves or small children who simply don’t understand what’s going on. They profit from gaining assets from them while instilling fear at the same time.

The criminal syndicates focus mainly on the population offering damaging goods like services like drugs, sex, and gambling. The criminal rackets use their criminal expertise to extort money from business or trade unions. Finally, the criminal political machines are members of a political organization that controls the activities of a political party. Corruption among members can cause the over through of a campaign or even have a top political member assassinated portraying it to be just a random killing. All four criminal organizations are very unpredictable. If one member of any organization ends up in jail, prison, or even dead, the organization will simply replace the member with another member until his return (if he returns).

In some cases, criminal prosecution can easily be avoided by the organization through profitable and efficient techniques. Techniques like sound organization and the communications system are good examples. Each of the four criminal organizations have been associated if not completely made up of the Mafia, also known as in the U.S. as Cosa Nostra. America has “perhaps received more publicity than others because of American motion pictures and novels” idea connection (2009).

Various relationships established by organized crime are professional criminals, politicians, and clientele. From the clientele prospective, they accommodate organized crime groups with the desired illegal services provided. With professional criminals, they perform illegal activities on a daily bases as a means to gain income. They can be contracted out to organized crime organizations to perform basic illegal activities for them in the monetary gain of a paycheck. Political criminals involving themselves with an organized crime group can be beneficial to that organized crime group because that political criminal can cover up actions committed by the organized crime group. Crimes such as murder and extortion can easily be covered up by a political figure.

Some of the legal limitations associated with organized crime are the statute of limitations law. “A statute of limitations is unconstitutional if it immediately curtails an existing remedy or provides so little time that it deprives an individual of a reasonable opportunity to start a lawsuit” the free dictionary (2009). The statute is that the court lacks jurisdiction to try to punish a defendant once it has expired. The major limitation of this statute is that once the crime is committed, the time limit starts to run. If gathering evidence takes too long, the case could go as is and there could be a judgment in favor of the accused based on the lack of evidence. That judgment could be the wrong decision and the defendant who is guilty, could go free. Criminal organizations have political members on their side who can dispose of evidence so it cannot make it to court. Corruption plays a big part in the limitations associated with organized crime.

Major laws and strategies that support combating organized crime are out there but, the post 9/11 crime focus is mainly on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and cyber crime. The one strategy that the U.S. has against the major organized crime group residing in the nation today is RICO. RICO was designed in an attempt to destroy the Mafia.

There are many realistic solutions in combating organized crime. Corruption on the official and political level needs to delft with. Police officers who are believed to be corrupt should be evaluated unknowingly. If the officer is found to be corrupt, the officer should be reprimanded and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The political officials should be treated the same way. There is no excuse for corruption. Obtaining Acts like the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization act is a good way of combating organized crime. This act however, was designed to destroy the Mafia. “Seldom was RICO used outside of the context of the Mafia, and it is not an overstatement to say that civil claims under RICO were simply not brought” Grell, J. (N.A.).

SummaryControlling organized crime is a long drawn out process. It takes patience and perseverance along with every aspect of the criminal justice system. Criminal gangs, criminal syndicates, criminal rackets, and criminal political machines all pose a threat to the safety of our society and at times our nation’s security. These criminal groups are all well resourced with prison connections for members serving time on the inside as well as police officers and political officials who have ties with these particular criminal groups. Professional criminals, politicians, and clientele all have various relationships established by organized crime.

The statute of limitations law helps protect the guilty parties of criminal organizations if any of them get arrested for illegal activities. RICO is a major law established to combat organized crime. Its main objective was to destroy the Mafia. The destruction of the mafia by RICO may have done some damage, but the Mafia is well incorporated within our nation and still possesses some of the same strengths that it always had during its operations in the early days. As long as the criminal justice system can control corruption among our police departments and political officials, then a realistic solution for combating crime will exist.

References

Grell, J. (N.A.). RICO ACT. Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations. Retrieved November20, 2009, from http://ricoact.com/Idea connection, (2009). Access Innovation. Organized Crime. Retrieved November 20, 2009,From, http://www.ideaconnection.com/solutions/4613-Organized-crime.htmlThe Free Dictionary, (2009). Statute of Limitations. Retrieved November 20, 2009, fromhttp://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Statute+of+Limitations