Introduction
Organized crime can be defined as unlawful actions by members of a well structured and disciplined organization whose main activities is to supply unlawful goods and services such as loan sharking, prostitution, drug trafficking and gambling to mention but a few. In the past such organizations included; Italian Mafia. Today, organized groups do not portray strict protocols of traditional organized groups; membership requirements of such groups include, race, kinship, customs and illicit set. These groups are perpetual regardless to the changes that might occur along the way and they usually cause tension or threat to security. Members are known of benefiting from illegal transactions and in extreme cases they corrupt government officials in order to evade investigation eventually escaping persecution. Their optimal aim is to make profit and this distinguishes them from terrorists who are ideology driven.
Background of organized crime in the US
In the United States, organized crimes have a long history dating from before nineteenth century. Despite this long history, organized crime found deep roots during probation time. This is attributed to the fact that before the 20th century, traditional organized crimes found in US such as Italian and Russian Mafia, Chinese Tongs and Japanese Yakuza were greatly abolished by the law. Between the years 1950 and 1960, these groups got involved in illegal acts such as narcotics trafficking, prostitution, gambling, loan sharking, money laundering, murder and many more. A lot of effort has been put by the state through law enactment in order to curb these crimes since time in memorial. Today, these crimes are perpetuated through the internet by use of activities such as fraud, identity theft pornography and much more. All these efforts are put with an aim of utilizing available information from the internet in order to make profit (Finkela 2010).
Other than from the probation period and the desire to make profits, organized group crimes can also trace their roots from the American culture. It has always been the dream of every American to be free and independent. The problem arises when the efforts of creating an individual who is free fails. When the existing order denies the individual or the group something which they think belongs to them rightfully, the cause of organized crime arises (National Gang Intelligence centre, 2009). The American culture also boasts of material wealth all over the world and yet these riches were acquired through illegal activities of the barons. Since the lowly in the society could not acquire wealth, anarchies were formed and the existing orders ran out of ideas. The problem of acquiring wealth by the lowly in the society led to the formation of anarchies through which wealth could be acquired. When the established anarchies ran out of ideas, subcultures emerged and criminal gangs were formed and organized crime came to be.
In the United States, drug trafficking is a form of organized crime that generates a lot of money, approximately $ 110 billion. Large organizations that deal with drug trafficking have been formed and they have occupied an unlawful market. Members of these illicit groups even include even members of the royal families. Other identifiable illegal groups include outlaw motorcycle gangs (commonly referred to as the bikers), Sicilian Mafia and others of Nigeria and Columbia origin all of which are recent and have resulted from drug trafficking. The activities of these gangs concerns drugs that are majorly transacted to generate income. Usually, for the successful execution and achieving of these group objectives, corruption and violence is sometimes used. Like any other organized crime, drug trafficking has a vital organized criminal group and illicit support in order to perpetuate this illegal actions. For example, Columbians traffickers, who are the most organized, richest and vastest, control cocaine industry in the USA. They have their own conversion laboratories in the vast forests in the country and this makes it easier for them to dominate the production, processing and exporting of cocaine. These traffickers are self sufficient and as a result, this has made it difficult for small smugglers to enter into the business easily apart from entering into a contract agreement with these groups. Traffickers use air and sea routes to transport cocaine into the US. Because, of their well organization, Columbian traffickers supply a lot of cocaine into the US. Usually, support is evident from the growers to the suppliers and these are done without realization because of the smooth connection involved (Drug Abuse, Drug Trafficking, & Organized Crime 1986).
In the case of motor cycle gang’s involvement in drugs trafficking, they have organized themselves behind hierarchical structures and they work in collaboration with the traditional gangs sometimes cooperating in joint ventures. These motorcycle gangs usually travels in complex structures which are highly organized and planned and matters concerning the security issues are usually checked in advance to avoid any flaws during the trafficking process. They simply make their money through distribution of drugs in the US. The gangs are so much advanced that they have their own intelligence which determines the susceptibility or the vulnerability of the group when committing the crimes. The groups are so much organized that their undercover work involves attending regular meetings as well as participating in biker runs through which they are able to gather necessary intelligence. To ensure that they are protected from the laws and prosecutions, they use money to counter any enemy or hurdle the law may pose to them.
Prisons gangs on the other hand pose many problems especially at the national level prison gangs. These gangs boast of a very highly structured network that enables them to operate within the federal prisons. In the local communities, they operate through former inmates. Once its members are released from the prison, they go back to their homes and continue working as an affiliate of the gang while also recruiting new members. The prison gangs control how the drugs are distributed within a community as well as within some communities where they have members. Their distribution is maintained through contacts with the producers at countries like Mexico who ensure there is always a continuous supply of drugs in the market. Despite their being decentralized, prison gangs are well organized and established sets of governance where the rules of the gang are enforced by the leaders.
Street gangs on the other hand operate almost through out the whole of the United States. As a result, this makes them pose the greatest threat due to their wide geographical reach compared to the other groups. This threat of street gangs increases as the gangs migrate from the urban areas to the rural areas where their contacts with the drug distributors won’t be easily detected. All these gangs are known to have external connections with international drug barons (National Gang Intelligence Centre 2009)
When the drug trafficking of today is compared to that of the past for example from the Italian OC, there exist several differences. Whereby, unlike the family business structure of the Italian OC where loyalty was centered towards a specific person, the gangs of today have no clear loyalties and the leadership can change more easily compared to those of the past. However important to note that violence still happens for the turf and business as it still used to happen in the past. These gangs also try to maintain a lower profile and do not run any legal business so as to avoid mixing their illegal activities with legal activities.
Conclusion
It is in order to conclude that organized crimes in the US have a long history and it is still perpetual into the future regardless of the efforts put by the government to curb them. Illicit actions are integral to these crimes and this cause threat and fear. Drug trafficking is among the recent organized crimes and it has a direct influence on the economy as it earns a lot of money.
References List
Drug Abuse, Drug Trafficking, & Organized Crime. (1986).
Finkela, K. M. (2010). Organized Crime in the United States: Trends and Issues for Congress.
National Gang Intelligence centre. (2009). National Gang threat assessment. Web.