Organized Crime: The role of the Federal Government

Mike McCarry

Thesis Statement
The United States Government has taken action in controlling forms or organized crime in the past, as they still do in todays modern world, and as they need to continue to control in the future.

Introduction to Organized Crime

Organized crime is any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities. Many different faces, from illustrious Italian Mafia, Soviet Russians, Nigerians, Chinese, Japanese, and European nations such as Hungary and Romania

Past

First organization of criminals came to U.S when Italian immigrants arrived in early 1800s Cammora Mafia, Sacra Corona Unita Mafia, and Sicilian Mafia (which held the most influence) Began drug trafficking and money laundering

Past

Sicilian Mafia most influential- money laundering, racketeering, drug trafficking became easy to them Not until early 1900s that federal and state law enforcement took active stance against organized crime

Past- First Big Bust

1929- Al Capone who ruled an empire of organized crime Feds went to his house to subpoena him as a witness to another crime, he told them he was sick and was later seen vacationing in the Bahamas Cited for contempt of court, released on bail

Past- First Big Bust

Arrested again for gun possession, in jail for short time While in jail, FBI gained enough evidence to arrest him for failing to pay income taxes Locked up in Alcatraz for 11 years, died soon after his release This was first look at aggressive stance against organized crime in U.S

Past- R.I.C.O

1970- Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act was passed Gave authorities much more broad power to target entire criminal enterprises Now able to pin crimes on top bosses for their connections in the crimes that they ordered to be carried out by hit-men

Past- John Gotti

Also known as Teflon Don, influential mobster of 1970s-80s In and out of prison throughout life, important name for Gambino crime family in New York Break for FBI came in early 1980s when wire taps gave away inside information on criminal activities against Gotti

Past- John Gotti

Gotti was seen driving away from a crime scene where he had ordered another Mafia boss to be murdered FBI built a strong case based on video surveillance and wire taps worn by Mafia informants Arrested Gotti for racketeering, extortion, jury tampering, and murder Gotti died in jail

Present

Many ethnic groups began to take part in organized crime Asian criminal enterprise has been in US since 1900s and evolved from Chinese Tongs- social organizations formed by early Chinese Immigrants Now many Asian nations have joined together to form a fairly strong group of organized criminals The Asian nations that are involved are: China, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam

Present

The Asian criminal enterprise conducts crimes such as: extortion, murder, kidnapping, smuggling aliens, heroin trafficking, and counterfeiting goods Feds have set up The National Police Agency of Japan Working Groupsdiscuss criminal investigations dealing with Asian crime groups

Present

African crime groups are developing quickly Nations that are involved include: Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia Operate in over 80 countries and do most crimes through new technology and communications Heroin trafficking

Present

African criminal enterprise cost the United States an estimated 2 billion dollars last year through financial fraud FBI set up The Department of Justice Nigerian Crime Initiative in order to better prosecute African organized criminals Despite hard work, the group continues to grow

Future

I believe there is a very promising future for organized crime in America Although crime organizations may change their methods, there will always be some type of illegal activities being executed by groups of criminals

Future

Although laws were passed to make crimes such as racketeering and extortion harder to commit, other more complex crimes are beginning to be executed by criminals such as: computer fraud, tax fraud, and bank fraud These crimes are being executed by means of technology which makes it much harder to be caught and prosecuted by law enforcement

Conclusion

Organized crime will remain a problem, regardless of the efforts made by law enforcement All people want the same thing: power, money and security, all of which come with organized crime This, plus the consistent flow of immigrants and minority groups in the US, organized crime will continue to be a problem until the end of government

Organized Crime Cartoons

As long as we are a society that rests on greed, that neglects its poor and that promotes materialism in the media, organized crime in all of its aspects- no matter what language it speaks- will continue to plunder our nation ~ William Kleinknecht