Organized crime is an element in our society that has plagued our civilization as humans for hundreds and possibly even thousands of years. A basic definition of organized crime is the grouping of centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activities. The central or main goal of these enterprises is to gain profit with no limitations or restrictions from the government and to avoid paying taxes on the money that they make. Throughout human history the rural world was a safe haven for these organized groups of criminals such as the open highways, trade routes, and open sea, which was controlled by the pirates. These criminals in the past paved the way for the modern gangsters and criminals. They illustrate an immense disregard for law and civil control and most importantly a disregard for human life. Organized crime flourishes in periods of political and economic turmoil or transition. These are times when society lacks strong and established institutions and rule of law, thus creating an opening for these criminal syndicates to infiltrate. These criminal organizations engage in such illegal activities as drug trafficking and manufacturing, weapon sales, murder, extortion, racketeering, prostitution, human trafficking, illegal gambling, kidnapping, passport fraud, assassinations, bombings, copyright infringement, counterfeiting, organ trafficking, contract killing, document forgery, blackmailing and pretty much any activity legal or not that they can gain a profit off of. Today such crimes as identity theft and online extortion have become extremely prevalent in society.
The most notable of the organized crime factions were the five families’ structure stationed in New York. They were the Genovesse, Gambino, Lucchese, Columbo, and Bonanno families that almost in a sense were the celebrities of the criminal underworld. These organized crime factions are strictly Italian and Sicilian based. In essence these divisions in organized crime set the blueprint for how crime syndicates should be run and how they can operate successfully. Throughout the years the crime world in the United States and the world have evolved dramatically. The term MOB does not only refer to the Italian and Sicilian mafia any more but ranges from a wide variety from Russian organized crime to Mexican organized crime. Basically in almost every country in the world there is some faction of organized crime. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the ever growing street gangs in America became and serious problem and presently they pose that same threat. The alliances that have been made throughout the different divisions in criminals , such as the participation and recruitment of street level gangsters by organized and lucrative criminals has added to the list of problems that law enforcement has to address. Another serious and rampant problem that is expanding are the Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs. In my opinion these groups are the present day Italian MOB. They have extremely different regulations and business practices but they are the ones that are taking the center stage as far as getting recognition for their involvements in organized crime activities. All of the other organized crime factions such as the Italian, Russian, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese and all other notable syndicates are still around and continue to participate in activities but the day of the O.M.G has come and they are getting serious attention in the United States and around the world.
Organized crime has become widely accepted in mainstream society and glorified throughout our entertainment industry. It is very entertaining how these criminal divisions maintain their power and culture. It has been accepted by many people in the United States because a large percentage of people have never or will never experience a consequence of one of these criminals’ actions. Meaning they have never been the victim of a crime committed by a syndicate member. Being a victim of street level criminal is much different than that of one by a member of an organized crime faction. The street level criminal commits the crime out of necessity and the organized crime member does it because it is part of the way he or she conducts business. Some level of organized crime will always exist in society and maybe that is for the better to keep a balance between the good and evil people in the world but in times of economic uncertainty and troubles, which the world and especially the United States is going through right now the organized crime factions are flourishing. Our necessity as a country is first and foremost to take care of the people and stability of our country. If these issues of organized crime are not addressed properly and swiftly the damage could be irreparable.
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