What are the 4 core categories of organized crime?
- Structural/Organizational
- Institutional
- Commercial
- Behavioural
How can we define organized crime?
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada- defines organized crime as a crime committed by any group of at least three people that involves the commission of a serious offence in pursuit of profit
- the legal definition of a criminal organization remains broad and offers little help in understanding the complexity of organized crime
Organized crime can be distinguished by how crimes are carried out –> ultimate goal is financial profit
- criminal activity is “organized” if it is perpetrated by a group of ppl who conspire together on a continuing and secretive basis toward a financial or other material benefit
- scale is also a factor in determining the extent to which criminal activity is organized –> the broader the scope of the criminal activities, the greater the need for organization
What are some attributes that the Criminal code of Canada uses to define organized crime
- involves 3 or more persons inside or outside canada
- has as a main activity, one or more serious criminal offences
- this activity results in a material benefit
- excludes a group that forms randomly to commit a single offence
Explain the characteristics of Structural/Organizational organized crime
Core trait is the involvement of multiple individuals who conspire to commit serious, revenue-generating criminal offences
- two or more ppl involved (the larger the number, the more likely it is organize)
- a systematic pattern to the relationships of the offenders –> may be based on kinship, friendship, shared ethnicity, etc.
- limited or exclusive membership –> ethnicity and nationality have been major binding ties for members –> a significant change has happened recently with criminal networks that have abandoned all traditional restrictions on membership like ethnicity
- assigned tasks/specialization/division of labour
- multi-jurisdictional (presence in more than one province) /transnational (different countries)
Explain the characteristics of Institutional organized crime
Continuity/Continuing Enterprise
- OC groups are designed to last longer than current membership and leadership
Career Criminals
- OC offenders are usually chronic offenders
- In some crime groups, a criminal record is a prerequisite for “official” membership
Protection against Enforcement and Prosecution
- the hierarchical organization or code of secrecy provides buffers for higher levels and helps protect the group
Sophistication
- OC undertakes diverse and complex illegal activities and uses sophisticated technology
- has the ability to commit complex frauds, counterfeiting, money laundering, cybercrime, etc.
Recruitment:
- Inducting new members and socializing them is institutionalized –> Modern groups require specialized skills or resources
What is cybercrime
illegal acts in which a computer and a network are central to committing a crime and are also the targets of the crime
What is meant by Multiple Enterprises
A common characteristic of many organized crime syndicates is that they carry out more than one profit-oriented activity (both legal and criminal)
- cigarettes and liquor are legal products but they are also distributed through black markets
- legal businesses help generate revenue, legitimize the offender, and launder money
Explain the characteristics of Commercial organized crime
Profit-oriented crime
- the business of organized crime revolves around making money
- drug trafficking is the biggest moneymaker for most OC groups
Consensual and predatory crimes
- consensual (victimless) crimes like providing goods through the black market
- predatory crimes include extortion and human trafficking
Serious criminal Offences
Multiple Enterprises (legal and criminal)
Goods and Services
- illegal goods like drugs, weapons, stolen goods, human and animal organs, etc.
- illegal consensual services like gambling, prostitution, loan sharking, migrant smuggling, etc.
Monopolistic tendencies
- groups often seek monopoly over the sale of a good or service through violence and corruption
Tactics to support commercial activities: corruption of public officials, violence, money laundering
What is extortion
what is human trafficking
Extortion: an offender unlawfully obtains money, property, or services from an individual or entity through coercion and intimidation
Human trafficking: the illegal trade of people for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and other forms of forced labour
What is loansharking?
lending money at very high interest rates, often enforced through the use of physical force
What is money laundering?
Used to legitimate illegally earned revenue
Organized criminals must devise creative methods for converting large amounts of cash into less suspicious assets while concealing the criminal source of funds
Explain the characteristics of Behavioural organized crime
Rationality
- OC tries to maximize profits in response to supply and demand of illegal products and services just like legitimate businesses do
Subcultural Values/Contempt for Civil Society
- serious and chronic offenders adhere to values and norms at odds with the dominant culture
- they learn these values through their immersion in a deviant subculture
Non-Ideological Motivation
- OC groups are not motivated by political ideology, religious dogma, or a desire to change society - their goal is to accumulate financial and other material benefits (differentiates them from terrorist organizations)
Rules and Regulations
- rules are made to be followed and may be implicit or explicit
- key ones call for secrecy and loyalty
Discipline
- To ensure that rules and regulations are obeyed, most criminal groups have strict forms of discipline based on loyalty, a code of honour, and fear of reprisal (death)
Who is Vory v zakone?
a high-ranking, well-respected figure in the old Soviet underworld and the new Republic of Russia.
Emphasizes a rejection of government authority and traditional social norms
List some of the dominant organized crime groups in Canada
Italian
Chinese/Asian
Russian/Eastern European
Aboriginal
outlaw motorcycle gangs
What is the Italian-based mafia
‘Ndrangheta, Sicilian mafia, and Canadian arm of American La Cosa Nostra (LCN)
- has been in North American since the lat 19th century - secret societies began extorting fellow migrants
- has a formal network covering much of North American - still inks with Italy, particularly Sicily
- still powerful, but now has many other competitors so is less powerful than it once was (and has had strong law enforcement crackdowns)
What are the 6 categories of Chinese/Asian OC in Canada
- local street gangs comprised of both youth and adults
- Chinese triads - evolved from Toronto gangs to transnational sophisticated criminals
- non-triad Chinese criminal networks - specialize in one criminal activity
- a loose network of criminals from mainland China (most dominant)
- Vietnamese crime groups - specialize in marijuana production
- Indo-Canadian crime groups in BC
*Today, Chinese criminal networks constitute the most widespread, diverse, and sophisticated organized crime threats in Canada today
Describe the outlaw motorcycle gangs in canada (OMGs)
OMGs emerged in the US after the second world war
- Originally formed for camaraderie and excitement, they gradually moved into for-profit criminal activities
- main revenues from drug trafficking
Hell’s Angels - dominant OMG in Canada (1976):
- have a chapter or puppet club in almost every province
- more members per capita than anywhere else
- convenient for the police bc they wear their name in public and hangout in clubhouses - but they still thrive
Describe Russian/Eastern European OC groups in Canada
OC exploded in Eastern Europe with the fall of communism
In Toronto in the 1970s and 1980s, Eastern European criminals were involved in extortion, gambling, loansharking, and drug trafficking
Financial fraud, particularly debit card fraud schemes, are major activities for these groups
Other activities include human trafficking by Hungarian groups and distraction theft by Romanian groups in Canada
Explain the 2 categories of Indigenous OC groups in Canada
Central Canada:
- mostly involved in smuggling and contraband cigarette production
- Akwesasne reserve straddles five jurisdictions, creating the ideal conditions for smuggling
Prairie provinces:
- gangs engaged in low-level, disorganized street crime: street dealing of drugs, prostitution, and theft
- they often work for OMGs
How has modern OC changed?
ethnicity is no longer the most important criteria for who participates
*today, OC is represented by wide array of groups
- modern OC is characterized by fluid networks of many autonomous criminal entrepreneurs
What are etiological theories?
Several theories that have attempted to explain the existence of organized crime in North America –> some are exclusive to organized crime, while some are general criminological theories
- alien conspiracy theory
- ethnic succession theory
- economic theories
- the state, public, policy, and organized crime
What is the Alien Conspiracy theory of OC
What are the critiques of it?
Says that OC is the result of the importation of secret criminal societies rooted in foreign cultures
(Originally developed to explain the emergence of Italian organized crime groups in the United States, but now applies to numerous other groups)
- not developed by scholars but promoted by a US Senate committee about an OC group from Sicily (LCN)
Critiques:
- seen as xenophobic and racist
- pillars of the theory have been refuted –> LCN is a largely North American creation and little evidence of a nationwide conspiracy with centralized control
- the theory didn’t resonate with Canadians –> Canadians have denied for a long time that Mafia existed in Canada
What is the Ethnic Succession Theory of OC
What are the critiques of this theory?
- theorists noted the overrepresentation of ethnic groups in OC in North America
- Strain theory forms the basis of ethnic succession theory and posits that many immigrant ethnic groups are disproportionately involved in organized crime in the United States because of the barriers they encounter in pursuit of the American dream
- as time passes, the ethnic group gains access to legitimate opportunities and moves into mainstream society
Critiques:
- many ppl of Italian or Chinese heritage remained active in OC long after their groups were assimilated into mainstream society
- the theory does not explain the involvement of middle-class individuals in organized crime (or for Anglo-Saxon involvement in Hells Angels)
What is the Economic theory of OC
What are the critiques of it?
Economic theories view OC as economically rational behaviour based on laws of supply and demand
- OC serves a commercial function for the society, creating a symbiotic relationship between criminal organizations and segments of society
Critiques:
- oversimplifies how OC operates
- only focuses on consensual crime, and ignores predatory crime
