Investigating and Prosecuting the Buffalo Crime Organization - Essay Example

The Buffalo Crime Family is an organized crime organization based in New York and under the leadership of the Magaddino family (Kilpinen, 2010).  It was established first by Angelo Palmeri in 1910 and later taken over by his close associate Stefano Magaddino.  This crime family has concentrated its activities in Buffalo, Hamilton, Las Vegas, Syracuse, Toronto, and Ontario with mostly Italian and Italian-American members (Kilpinen, 2010).  Their activities include gambling, extortion, loan sharking, bookmarking, racketeering, drug trafficking, conspiracy, and murder (Kilpinen, 2010). 

To investigate this crime organization, I would prosecute the members of the organization under the provisions of the 1970 Organized Crime Control Act, where Title IX is specified as RICO or Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization.  RICO specifies various criminal activities about organized crime that are punishable by the law.  Activities include bribery, extortion, and murder (O’Connor, 2009).  This law also decreased the minimum qualifications of conspiracy, enabling the prosecution of organized criminals even without meeting the strict qualifications of conspiracy.  I would also prosecute them under RICO which would allow law enforcement officials to seize the assets, proceeds, and instrumentalities of their criminal activities (O’Connor, 2009).  I would offer deals to the younger members of the organization for them to turn in states’ witnesses and testify against the organization.  I believe that these younger generations would be easier to convince than their older counterparts.  Most of them are reluctant to face prison sentences as members of the organization and would prefer to get their lives out of the control of the organization (O’Connor, 2009).

            In the process of investigating the Buffalo Family, I would also call on the assistance of the Organized Crime Council shall ask for the assistance of other federal agencies like the FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE, IRS, Postal Security, Department of Labor, Diplomatic Security, and the Office of the Inspector General (Finklea, 2010).  With all these agencies involved in the process of investigating the Buffalo Family, I would coordinate the most with the FBI because they have the right tools and the right personnel, and expertise to investigate the family. 

            To successfully prosecute the Buffalo Crime Organization, I would also ask for the authority and assistance of the Department of Justice, Organized Crime, and Racketeering Section because they oversee federal prosecutions of organized crime activities (Finklea, 2010).  Their authority cannot be overlooked in prosecuting the members of the organization.  Moreover, they have also better technical expertise in prosecuting these cases.  With the assistance of the FBI and other related federal agencies, it is possible to successfully prosecute the members of the family.  The process of investigation would include major undercover and surveillance work which would primarily be carried out by the FBI with the assistance and coordination of other agencies (O’Connor, 2009). 

            The tools used by law enforcement officials in investigating organized crime members are sufficient.  The issue is largely on the effective implementation of these tools and strategies.  The process of surveillance can sometimes only yield limited results when these families already anticipate that their activities are being monitored.  And these organizations already expect that they are under surveillance.  Moreover, considering the risks that state witnesses face in testifying against these families, it is very much difficult to find and establish firm and solid evidence to use against these families.  These organizations have also made it difficult for undercover detectives to penetrate their organizations.  With the downfall of other families and mafia organizations in the hands of these undercover agents, they have become very much prepared for these contingencies.