How Organized Crime Falls under the Umbrella of Enterprise Crime - Research Paper Example

ORGANIZED CRIMES Affiliation ORGANIZED CRIMES This paper discusses about how the organized crime falls under the umbrellaof enterprise crime rather than traditional crime. The paper will also compare two case studies of organized crime between the years 1930-1990 and 2000-2012. It will also shade light on a criminal enterprise case prosecuted under the (RICO) Act. Charles “Lucky” Case Luciano Case of the 1930s This case was centered on organized crime situations in Chicago. It is projected that organized crime started in the United States by 1932. It all started with one Al Capone who had constructed a realm of crime in the Windy City. This later on transformed and bred. However, the young bureau landed him in the federal prison. The more the state of Chicago banned organized crimes; the more novel groups of organized crime rose and prospered immensely. These were the racketeers, gangsters and hoodlums. The rackets used coercions of vehemence to force businesses to ante up a percentage of their proceeds for “protection”. Charles “Lucky” Luciano was a New York resident. He arose to supremacy in the Mafia and molded it into a designed, undisclosed society of criminals. This eventually came to be known as the organized crime that we know of today. The young bureau was therefore faced with a challenge of establishing a valuable weapon against these criminal rings. Precise information was deliberated to be the valuable weapon against the organized crime. The young bureau investigated specifics on the key players of these criminal rings, their intertwining networks, maneuvers as well as competencies. The Chicago agents built this foundation of knowledge via informers and other contacts. A far-reaching directory of pictures and background of more than three hundred of the tarnished criminals and associates of their gang was equally obtained. In 1930s, the rackets in Chicago extorted money from electric sign companies, candy jobbers, and dental laboratories. They were however laid bare by the young bureau. This helped to paint a picture of the menace for all law enforcement officers. The young bureau plotted out the influences of these criminals. They also uncovered the promoters of the organized crimes, for example, the money launderers and fences. This formally marked the commencement of the fight against organized crime. The young bureau started constructing the criminal just support system in partnership with their law enforcement officers. This heightened a synchronized, coated attack against both criminal and terrorist networks. Wide-ranging training for law enforcement professionals was also instigated. The young bureau also ensured that forensic science services were provided. There was equally a development of the national criminal records and crime stats. Albanian Organized Crime Case of 2006 These were organized criminals who did not start their criminal activities from scratch. Many of the front-runners of this organization had toiled with well-known crime families in the New York. The organization, which called itself the Corporation muscled aside its rivalry through violence and terrorization. They took up ground and beat up “made men” to the surprise of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). This was a fresh type of organized criminals, the FBI having done a good job going after Italian organized crime. The FBI had thought that there was none left to contest them or to fight back. The Albanian organized group of criminals controlled at least fifty video poker machines throughout Queens, the Bronx and Westchester County. They were literally pungent on money as these machines generated a lot of revenue for them. However, with time the Albanian ring branched out into blackmail, debt collection and loan-sharking. More than a dozen of the New York agents were deployed to work on this Albanian organized crime case. After a gigantic investigation by the FBI, the Albanian organized crime enterprise aborted and its leaders were jailed. Only Miri Patani, another escapee linked to the organization is yet to be found to date. A Comparison of the Charles “Lucky” Luciano Case and the Albanian Organized Crime Case In both of these cases, there is a bureau that conducts investigations and helps the law enforcement officials to apprehend the culprits. In the Charles Luciano case there was the young bureau which later developed to become the FBI in the Albanian organized crime case. A Contrast of the Charles Lucky Luciano Case and the Albanian Organized Crime Case Firstly, the young bureau’s approach in the Luciano case was calculated: thinking about a criminal web in larger terms, collecting information and insights to take out entire criminal organizations and their sustenance, and not just select individuals. This helped to preclude a litany of future crimes. This is unlike the FBI in the Albanian organized crime case who perforated these networks. The FBI opened their activities for all law enforcement, weakening their support structures and pursuing their most daring actors and elements. This is what the FBI is currently doing with the terrorist cells plotting attacks on the soil of the United States. Secondly, the investigations that were carried out by the young bureau during the Luciano case were not termed as “intelligence”. This was a notion that was still at its infancy. On the contrary, with the upcoming of the FBI during the Albanian organized crime case, the intelligence concept was then fully matured and it was used widely. Lastly, in the Albanian organized crime case, the organized group of gangs owned a colossal network of gambling parlors and gambling machines that generated a lot of revenue for them. This is unlike the organized group of gangs in the Luciano case who did not own any gambling parlors or gambling machines. The amount of revenue that they were also gathering for their criminal activities was low as compared to the numerous amounts of money that the Albanian ring of criminals had. A Criminal Enterprise Case Prosecuted Under RICO The Bledsoe case and its progeny was a criminal enterprise case that was prosecuted under RICO. The apparent enterprise in Bledsoe comprised of many individuals, including the defendants who deceptively sold securities of agricultural cooperatives. Defendants Phillips and Gibson founded a cooperative called UFA-MO to ease the fraudulent scheme and contracted to share unlawful profits made by the scheme. They however thawed their agreement a short time later. Gibson continued to run UFA-MO and Phillips established a new cooperative called PFA. While PFA and UFA-MO engaged some of the same defendants who functioned in a similar manner, the two cooperatives were otherwise unrelated. Phillips continued to recruit related schemes in other states entailing diverse participants, some of whose participation was masked from other participants. These facts, the court found demonstrated only that various schemes were conducted using the same modus operandi; that Phillips had initiated these schemes and that some of the other defendants had connection with the cooperatives. The court ruled that the association enclosed insufficient structure and the evidence presented merely confirmed the existence of separate associations of individuals without any overarching structure or common control. The court found no evidence of structure, pattern of authority or control, continuity in the pattern of association or a common purpose among all the defendants. It therefore reversed the defendants’ RICO convictions. How Organized Crime Organizations Fall Under the Umbrella of Enterprise Crime Rather Than Traditional Crime The 18th title of the nation’s code defines an enterprise as “any party be it association, corporation and other legal foundations, and any group of people associated with non-legal entity”. According to Continuing Criminal Enterprise statute, or Title 21 of the United States Code, Section 848(c) (2). Criminal enterprise is defined as any group of 6 or more people, comprising of a leader who takes a supervisory position of managing the other members of the group. The main objective of the criminal enterprise is generating substantial resources and income. The enterprise are normally involved in continuous collection of violations of the first and second chapters of Chapter 13 of Title 21 of the United States Code. According to FBI, criminal enterprise is defined as the group of people with a certain comparable structure and identified hierarchy who engage in criminal activities. These organizations often engage in multiple criminal activities and have extensive supporting networks. Organized crime organizations can therefore be considered to fall under the umbrella of enterprise as evidenced from the above definitions. This is in contradistinction to traditional crimes which are not characterized by multiple criminal activities and extensive supporting networks. According to FBI, an organized crime is defined as a group of individual with specific manner of their formalized structure. The primary objective of the organized crime is obtain funds and money through unruly tasks. Such organized groups maintain their way through extortion, threatened evidence, and corrupted public officials. Such groups have a significant effect on the citizens on their localities. Therefore, this groups are regarded as enterprise is their aim to get funds unlike the conventional crimes where there is no such arrangement. References Federal Bureau of Investigations, Organized Crimes: Major cases- Past and Present. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime/cases> accessed on May 31, 2015, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Organized Crime: Glossary of Terms. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime/glossary> accessed on May 31, 2015. Read More