THE ROLE AMERICA’S SOCIETY PLAYS IN ORGANIZED CRIME

                                                            ABSTRACT                                                          

    Our democracy is overwhelmed with organized crime. The public has a fascination with organized crime which causes it to flourish without being interrupted. Our society has yet to define organized crime. This makes the system unable to destroy or control the underworld.  The elected officials have fail to have a constant criminal justice program to combat the problem due to the power of  the underworld leaders over our government. It appears that our form of government and organized crime actually support each other in controlling the country economy. Organized crime has development its on government which interact within our free society.

INTRODUCTION

    First, What is organized crime? It is the organization of criminal groups to carry on illegal activities for the purpose of supplying illegal goods and services to members of our society. The criminals operate for the gain of large profits. The businesses of organized crime thrive on the demands of our society. Our democracy  does not allow these products and services to be offered in our legal system. Many of these types of goods and services furnish to our society are gambling, pornography, prostitution, drug trafficking, loansharking, racketeering, and money laundering. The demands for illegal goods and services have increase over the years due to more modernization and better education due as a result of our democracy. Democracy has cause our society to prosper at a alarming rate which cause individuals to enjoy a better life. Organized crime has existed and also prosper because of society moral standards which will not allow these illegal practices to be provided legally to the public.

             The underworld is what it is largely because Americans are too moral to tolerated human weakness, and because they are too great lovers of liberty to tolerated the tyranny which might make it possible to abolish what they  prohibit ( Theft of the Nation, Donald R. Cressey, P. 72 ). With the demands of goods and services of our society comes the corruption within the justice system that helps organized crime to flourish. The politics in our society plays a large part in the control of  organized crime because of the corruption in law enforcement and politics. Organized crime operates out in the open in our society.  Legal businesses often front  illegal activities throughout the country. Often times, we as citizen are doing businesses with organized crime without us ever knowing that they exist in our everyday lives.

             Organized crime has a long history within the United States. It dates back to the days of pirates operated off the shores of America. The twentieth century was when organized crime started to really flourish due to prohibition. This led to a new level of sophistication of wealth and power. Society, again, wanted to regulate the morals of its citizens from drinking alcohol which was later determine to be impossible.

             Organized crime can undermine democracy, interrupt our free market place, and cost the taxpayers billions of dollars each year. The question is can organized crime be contain by our criminal justice system under our present system or is this task impossible.

            In this paper, I will attempt to examine organized crime from the perspective of our society been able to deter organized crime or causing its very existent.

LITERATURE REVIEW

    The relationship between organized crime and our democracy is a very complicated subject. It can be argued from many difference aspects. First, lets look the Prohibition laws that was passed by the government outlawing the manufacturing and selling of alcohol throughout the country. This was passed in nineteen twenty and cause alcohol to become the most highly demand illegal good in our society. The average American felt that the government was trying to restrict personal choice of its people. Organized crime grew at an alarming rate because of the profits generated from the illegal sales of alcohol. Prohibition created a gold mine for crime. Many people believe this was when organized crime really started to flourish. Organized crime has always been existed in the United States on very small scales. Prohibition created the distinction between ordinary criminals and organized criminals. Criminals became leaders of control organizations became very powerful.
    During this time the country was having millions of immigrates migrating to the large cities from all over the world looking a better way of life. Our constitution let this problem exist but the government should have regulated immigration from the beginning. Immigration is still causing problems in this country, concerning terrorism. It will be the main factor of our downfall as a great nation. Our country had such a overwhelming number of immigrates into the country that there was not enough jobs to go around causing many immigrates to enter into illegal businesses make a living. Prohibition came along and created power among many of these immigrants. The Prohibitionists were made out of white Protestants who though threw their influence would control the drinking of the poor man. It lonely made the poor man, especially immigrants to become rich. They did not have any representation in our government. The illegal sells of alcohol became a powerful political tool among the organized criminals and the politicians. Many politicians were controlled by organized criminal families to the point that the criminals were controlling politicians from Washington D.C. to small country towns. Prohibitionist wanted to control the morals of our society by trying to stop abuse of alcohol in our society through the framework of our constitution. Prohibition became law because some politicians wanted to make a name for theirselves and gain power within the government. They were not that concern about making society as a better place to live. The government passed the Volstead Act in 1920 gave law enforcement the power to enforce the new laws concerning Prohibition. Due to so much corruption and increase in organized crime it was ratified in 1933. Prohibition had attempted to stop the use of alcohol but created one of the most lawless periods of our times where corruption in politics and law enforcement became a everyday occurrence. The police were appointed by bad politicians and paid off by the criminals. Law enforcement in our society has been one of the most overlooked segments of our government. Our form of government has giving law enforcement no power to enforce these laws. Law enforcement was trying to control a ruthless society with a mentality from the civil war period. It has left the control of the police mostly to local governments causing the police to be controlled by politicians in their police own communities. They have always taken the backset in making decent living so complete control would be maintain by politicians. Our democracy cannot control organized crime by police officers that are poorly trained and underpaid. Prohibition laws were later reverse because there is no way for our society to enforce morals on its people. Prohibition lasted only during the nineteen twenties and nearly caused our country to become a lawless land. Million-airs were made of people who only have been in the United States for a few years, giving them a lot of political power in government of all levels. The government had to reverse Prohibition to be able to keep of control over society.
    Gambling became the next most profitable enterprise after Prohibition was reversed. Organized crime had become so powerful that criminals hated to see the government do away with illegal alcohol used. Our government tried to regulate gambling. They realized it was impossible to pass laws to stop gambling, it would only create another monster like prohibition. They though if it could be regulated that gambling would eventually disappear. The government would regulate one type of gambling to the point that organized crime would only create another form of gambling for people to use. Corruption again played a part in the continual growth of gambling. Organized crime had become so much a part of the American's society that the government under our way of life never would gain the upper hand in controlling it. Many states saw that legalizing gambling was a way to raise tax revenues and at the same time control the power of organized crime. Criminals later used legalizing gambling to front their illegal gambling. The free society with all of its interest groups caused gambling to be caught in the middle with legal and illegal gambling working together. Legalizing gambling caused more taxes for the government and with little effect of organized crime involvement in gambling. The constant battle over gambling in our system has only created wealthier lawyers and more confuse politicians. The government basically has divided gambling in two parts; the legal sector for taxes for the government and the illegal sector left for the organized crime families. Lottery tickets, bookmaking, numbers racket, and loansharking, and internet gambling are a few of the many ways to gamble. Loansharking is the most violent of all organized enterprises which violent is a tool used to collect money. (Organized Crime, Lyman and Potter P.167).
    Prostitution is one of the oldest criminal enterprises around since the beginning of time. During the twenties prostitution became another big business of illegal crime activity. The America's government again fell to control prostitution, giving states the rights to make it legal or not. It is impossible to let moral standards in different areas make the decision. Today prostitution is a thriving business with no end insight. The debate is still going on in our society whether or not it should exist. Prostitution has become like gambling, it is legal in some states and cities but not in others. The federal government passed the Mann Act of 1910 to stop the transportation of women across state lines for immoral purposes. This made no sense and created more corruption in law enforcement. Prostitution has continued to grow from our political machines.  There is a estimate of 500,000 prostitutes in the U.S. and an estimate of 750,000 sexual acts committed each year (  Organized Crime: Lyman and Potter P. 158 ).
    These enterprises are a few which got organized crime off to a good start in America. A more accurate perspective, reflecting the empirical research on organized crime, is that organized criminals, legitimate business people, and government officials are all equal players in a marketplace of corruption (Combating Organized Crime, Sellin, Thorsten, and Lambert P. 359). Criminals have illegal goods for sell and our free society demands these goods. Organized crime is viewed as an integral part of society's political, economic, and social structure ( Theft of the Nation: Cressey, Donald P. 234).
    According to Lyman  and Potter organized crime has caught the media and American imagination. Many crime bosses have become popular in our society. Organized crime has continued to grow because by supplying illicit goods and services, controlling labor unions and politicians.

           Our borders have remained open from our beginning as a nation. Trade barriers between countries do not exist any more.  These two factors have cause organized crime to flourish even more. The stronger our economy gets the stronger organized crime becomes. Organized crime throughout the world found the United States to be the best government to operate much of their illegal activities behind. Communist government in the world has fallen creating Organized crime to immigrate to the Unites States for better profits.

            There are multi-dimensional conceptions that are based on organizational  understanding organized crime which include criteria. These criteria have four classifications of complexity. They are individual characteristics, networks of the groups, power structure, and the relationship between these illegal structures and the legal system in society.

RESEARCH METHOD

                Most organized crime members come from low-income background from immigrate families from the early nineteen hundreds. Most start as ordinary street criminals but as they become older go into larger criminal enterprises. They hope to make a mark in organized crime families and can be selected to a family. Once in the criminal family, they learn to avoid emotional, unplanned criminal activity. The organized criminal is allowed to constantly be working toward the goal of corrupting the criminal justice system. Here is a typical organized crime network in a city showing targets for extortion and bribery.  Organized crime accounts for 1-2% of the gross national product.  The annual income for organized crime outranks major industries in the United States.

              Organized crime has always been a challenge to law enforcement. The United States fail for years to identity what organized crime is muchless how to fight the illegal system until Robert Kenny made an issue of it in the early 1960’s. Organized crime was ignored mostly by the federal government including the FBI.  The Kennedy’s Administration started the first real fight attempt to wipe out organized crime. Even after organized crime was defined difference administrations had problems on how to classify organized crime for prosecution.

              For example, look at the number of cases prosecuted from the 1930’s to 1995 in the city of New York. It has the most concentrated crime families in the United States. The all time high was during the First Bush’s administration up to the Clinton’ administration. There is no consistence in the federal prosecution of organized crime as can be seen in this chart.

  SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

            Organized crime has been immune from prosecution because of public apathy and strong political connections. Police have used alternative police tactics over the years because traditional law enforcement does not work. A few things tried by law enforcement are community policing, informants, surveillance, undercover operations, and immunity programs for witnesses from within the organized crime families. The government has made a attempt to fight organized crime for over a century. The only sure thing about organized crime is it is highly unpredictable. As society changes so does the way organized criminals change so illegal goods and services can be provided to society the government will not allow.

             Federal prosecution has increased highly since the 1970 Organized Crime Act was passed lessen the restriction on prosecution of organized criminals. This created the most prosecution of organized criminals in the country history. The country has the most success in the last thirty years its attempt to stamp out organized crime. Why won’t organized crime die from our society. What we have failed to understand organized crime is more than just people committing crimes. It is a process that exploits societies’ weaknesses while making use of criminal cooperation rather than legitimate competition ( Organized Crime: Lyman and Potter, P. 443 ).  Organized Crime under our democracy can bend rather than break when under pressure of the criminal justice. Organized Crime is more than a parasite in society but relies on victims and users more than on co-conspirators. If police could jail thousands of organized criminals at one time there would be thousands of other members of their organizations stepping in their positions.

            Our society has not come up with a workable solution to controlling the growth of organized crime. Many laws have been passed over the years and prosecution of these criminals have increased but with no end in sight of any real control over organized crime. Should society start prosecuting politicians and businessmen at all levels along with the users of illegal goods and services.  Is there any kind of solution to this problem or will our society continue to live among organized crime?  The debate goes on everyday in our government on what to do but with no real answer.

             Organized crime is in our everyday lives without us knowing of their present. Do the government have control over organized crime or the criminals control our government. Organized crime is like a eating cancer. We have tried all ways to eliminate it but now can we even control it. Maybe we are not controlling organized crime but it is like the cancer, it will eventually consume us all. Who is running the country?

REFERENCES

Abadinsky, Hownard, The Criminal Elite ( Westport, Connecticut and London,

England: Greenwood Press, 1983 ).

           Cressey, Donald R., Theft of the Nation  ( New York, Evanston, and London:

Harper & Row, Publishers 1969. )

           Lyman, Michael D. and Potter, Gary W., Organized Crime ( New Jersey:

Prentice Hall, 1997 ).

           Sellin, Thorsten and Lambert, Richard D., Combating  Organized Crime

( Philadelphia: The American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1963 ).

[Comments: Off to a good start. You didn't have to do an abstract.]
[Comments: Lots of words in your lit review. It filled up some space. Try not to let your paper turn into a "thinkpiece" with you just doing armchair philosophizing. It's supposed to be a research paper.]
[Comments: Added Part III. It seemed a little short, but that was only my first impression. I appreciate your going back over and editing previous sections. Not all those edits may appear in this web version.]
[Comments: Added Part 4. Students are allowed one more chance to edit their overall papers before finals week.]

Last updated: 11/22/02