1. Organized Crime Chapter 19

2. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. WHAT IS ORGANIZED CRIME? Organized Crime stereotype has commonly been applied to a sophisticated crime organization called the Mafia or La Cosa Nostra (LCN). The terms “the mob” and “the mafia” no longer refer only to groups such as the Mafia or the LCN but today are synonyms for organized crime groups generally.

3. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. WHAT IS ORGANIZED CRIME? Organized crime – A highly structured, disciplined, selfperpetuating association of people, usually bound by ethnic ties, who conspire to commit crimes for profit and use fear and corruption to protect their activities from criminal prosecution. Most organized crime groups share several basic goals: – Continuation and propagation of the group – Undying loyalty among members – Financial gain – Power and influence beyond the limits of the group

4. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. WHAT IS ORGANIZED CRIME? Formal pyramid structure similar to that of many corporations. – At the top is the leader, or don. – Below the don are upperlevel henchmen and counselors, who correspond to upper-level managers in legitimate business structures. – Next in the pyramid are lower-level lieutenants, who resemble middle managers or supervisors. – At the bottom are soldiers and button men, who do the day-to-day grunt work and correspond to line workers in typical businesses.

5. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. ORGANIZED CRIME GROUPS Many organized crime groups are offshoots of ethnic gangs that formed out of a need for association, protection, and defense against political, economic, and social isolation.

6. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. La Cosa Nostra (LCN) The best-known organized crime group operating in the United States. The origins of the LCN and of other contemporary Italian organized crime groups, such as the Sicilian Mafia and the Camorra, can be traced to cultural patterns unique to southern Italy and the island of Sicily.

7. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. La Cosa Nostra (LCN) “Men of honor” Set of rituals, including a code of silence. Families The Capone gang Meeting of Mafia bosses in New York in 1931.

8. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. La Cosa Nostra (LCN) La Cosa Nostra (LCN) and divided the new American Mafia into families, each with its own sphere of influence. A few months later a commission was set up to assign territories, settle disputes, and exercise internal discipline. The commission was originally composed of the five New York families and Al Capone from Chicago. Later it was expanded to include bosses from other families across the country, establishing the bureaucratic structure for which the Mafia is known.

9. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Hispanic Crime Groups In the 1970s Colombian drug rings organized to increase and control production and distribution of cocaine. Cartels centered around various tight-knit families The most prominent cartels came to be those based in the cities of Medellin and Cali

10. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Hispanic Crime Groups Pablo Escobar Montoya-Sanchez organization

11. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Jamaican Posses The posses, named after the vigilante groups in the cheap European Westerns popular in Jamaica. Began forming during the 1970s, chiefly around Kingston, Jamaica. The gang chiefs are known as “community leaders.” Gunrunning and drug trafficking

12. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Asian Crime Groups Asian crime groups in the United States consist of groups organized by criminals predominantly from East and Southeast Asia. – Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Filipino, Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese descent. – South Pacific Island nations as well as groups from Southwest Asia such as Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Iran.

13. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Asian Crime Groups Organized as either traditional or nontraditional. Traditional – Asian crime groups include the Chinese triads based in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau as well as the Japanese Yakuza or Boryokudan. Nontraditional – Chinese criminally influenced tongs, triad affiliates, and other ethnic Asian street gangs in the United States and other countries with sizable Asian communities.

14. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Triads The triads are the oldest of the organized crime groups, having come into being in the late 1600s. The name triads is because of their flags and banners being triangular. Hong Kong is the center of the diverse triad organizations, and groups operate in China, Taiwan, Canada, the United States, and other countries with large Chinatowns.

15. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Triads Major triad groups are: – 14K – Wo Group – Big Four – Chiu Chow – Kung Lok. Many senior triad members have fronts as legitimate businessmen but continue to operate illegal enterprises. Credit card frauds and human trafficking

16. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Tongs Tongs began as benevolent societies set up along family or business lines in major American cities with large Chinese populations. The term tong means “meeting hall” or “meeting place” in Chinese. Trace their beginnings to Chinese triads and are organized along similar lines.

17. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Asian Crime Groups Money laundering – Investing illegally obtained money into businesses and real estate operated and maintained within the law.

18. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Yakuza The Yakuza had their origins in the customs and traditions of the samurai warrior class of ancient Japan. Yakuza groups run drugs and arms, launder money, and blackmail Japanese corporations around the world, even trying their luck with American corporations. Some Yakuza are identifiable by their distinctive markings: – elaborate body tattoos – missing finger joints--detached in secret rituals to show loyalty

19. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Viet Ching Formed small associations or gangs and preyed upon Asian communities. Like tongs, these gangs soon were offering protection to local Asian merchants and the drug trade. Asian street gangs, as well as other street gangs, use marks, scars, and tattoos (indicators) to show other members as well as nonmembers that they are “down for the gang” and involved in criminal activity.

20. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Asian Crime Groups A common identifier found on many Asian and especially Vietnamese gang members are patterns of cigarette burns. Cigarette burns will not identify the subject as a member of a particular gang However, it can help one to recognize that the individual is likely in some Asian gang. – usually found on the back of the hand or on the forearm.

21. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Asian Crime Groups Three cigarette burn marks are often found in the shape of a triangle. The meaning of the three burns or dots is “my crazy life” and indicates that the bearer of the marks doesn’t care about anything. In the Vietnamese language it translates as toi o can gi ca. Five cigarette burn marks are also common on some Asian gang members. They are frequently found in a design similar to that found on dice and stand for “a group of close friends” (one person protected by the group). In Vietnamese it translates as tu hai giai nuynh de. The original nine “Nip Family” gang members have nine burn marks that stand for the original nine brothers (members). The burn marks are formed in two lines on the forearm.

22. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Russian Mafia The Russian Mafia’s roots are not in Italy but in the Soviet political system before the fall of the Communist Party. Russian Mafia has replaced the Communist Party by providing “order” in Russia and throughout a number of formerly Eastern bloc countries. Organizatsiya, or organization – Deal in drugs, extortion, kidnapping, bank fraud, counterfeiting, contraband exports, contract murder, and trafficking in dangerous weapons and components.

23. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Russian Mafia With the breakup of the Soviet Union and the increased freedom of travel, thousands of Russian gangsters flooded the United States.

24. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Street Gangs Today street gangs are involved in murder, drug trafficking, and a host of other serious crimes, all connected to the drug trade. Crips and Bloods Grown into national organizations that send recruiters into prospective territories to organize affiliated gang sets. Active youth gang problems – 87% of cities with populations between 100,000 and 249,999 – 27% of cities with populations of 2,500 to 49,000

25. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs Typically, the organizational structure of the outlaw motorcycle gang – Mother Club The Mother Club establishes and enforces policy for the organization, schedules mandatory trips or runs, and has final authority over most club matters. – Local chapters Each local chapter has a Mother Club adviser who, in effect, exercises direct supervision over the membership The Mother Club adviser is largely responsible for appointing members to the various positions of responsibility in the gang.

26. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs Hell’s Angels Outlaws Pagans Warlocks Mongols Breeds Bandidos

27. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. INVESTIGATING ORGANIZED CRIME Historically prosecuted individual members of organized crime groups for crimes such as extortion, fraud, drug trafficking, or murder. incarcerating one individual failed to remove the organization’s profit from criminal activity.

28. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Enterprise Theory of Investigation Enterprise theory of investigation – An approach to criminal investigation that targets entire crime organizations instead of individual criminals within them. In an ETI investigation, an entire crime organization is targeted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly known as RICO.

29. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. General Provisions of the RICO Statute It does not create individual offenses but defines a pattern of offenses for which an individual or an entity can be prosecuted. The crimes outlined in RICO are referred to as predicate crimes because they constitute a predicate, or basis, for a violation of the statute. Predicate crime – A crime that is a basis of a violation of the RICO statute.

30. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. General Provisions of the RICO Statute The RICO statute requires a pattern of racketeering activity. That is, a violator must have committed at least two predicate offenses within a ten-year period, one of which took place after RICO became effective.

31. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Additional Provisions of the RICO Statute In addition to the fines levied for RICO violations, the statute provides for forfeiture of assets acquired directly or indirectly from racketeering activity. Forfeiture – The loss of money or property to the state as a criminal sanction.

32. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Additional Provisions of the RICO Statute Another civil provision of the RICO statute allows the government to obtain an injunction to keep members of an organized crime group from controlling a legitimate enterprise, such as a labor union, and using its funds for illegal activities. Injunction – A court order prohibiting a party from a specific course of action or ordering a party to perform some action.

33. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Investigative Techniques A successful investigation depends to a large extent on maintaining the secrecy of the investigation as much as possible. Tools for investigating Organized Crime include: – Electronic surveillance – Grand jury subpoenas – Search warrants – Creation of organized crime task forces

34. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Investigative Techniques Federal agencies that play an important role in investigating organized crime on the national level – FBI – U.S. Postal Service – Secret Service – Department of Labor – Securities and Exchange Commission – Internal Revenue Service

35. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Investigative Techniques Financial analysis, electronic surveillance, informants, undercover operations, pressure from citizens’ groups and commissions, and computerized communications and analysis are all tools in the battle against organized crime. Informer – A member of an organized crime group who provides information and testimony for law enforcement investigations and prosecutions. Undercover operation – An investigative police operation designed to secretly uncover evidence against an individual or an organized criminal group.

36. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Laws to Combat Organized Crime The Hobbs Act – An antiracketeering act that became law during the 1940s. It has been used to crack down on any activity that interferes with interstate commerce. The Controlled Substance Act of 1970 – Created a coordinated and codified system of drug control that classified all narcotics and dangerous drugs. – Create a closed regulatory system for the legitimate handling of controlled drugs by physicians, pharmacists, and those involved in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.

37. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Laws to Combat Organized Crime The Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 To encourage witness participation, three things were done. – absolute immunity – recalcitrant witness – witness protection Absolute immunity – A guarantee that, as long as a witness complies with the court and testifies, the testimony cannot be used against him or her in any criminal action. Recalcitrant witness – A witness who refuses to testify in a criminal proceeding, even after being offered immunity.

38. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Laws to Combat Organized Crime The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 – Addressed money laundering by including a requirement that banks report any transaction of $10,000 or more. – Citizens must report on their annual tax returns any foreign bank accounts they have. The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 – Reforms in bail and sentencing, it expanded forfeiture authority and provided amendments intended to aid in the investigation of money laundering.

39. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Laws to Combat Organized Crime The Money Laundering Control Act of 1986 – Made money laundering a federal offense. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 – Expanded federal, state, and local drug abuse control efforts. It created mandatory sentences for certain drug-related crimes and made it a crime to involve juveniles in drug distribution or sales. – Illegal to distribute drugs within 1,000 feet of a school. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 – Established a cabinet-level position (drug czar) intended to ease and make more effective federal drug enforcement activities.

40. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Laws to Combat Organized Crime Asset Seizure and Forfeiture Laws – The intent of forfeiture is to remove the financial rewards of criminal activity. – Extended law enforcement’s authority to seize profits and property resulting from drug trafficking. Conspiracy Laws – Conspiracy - A crime in which two or more parties are in concert in a criminal purpose. – Once an agreement has been struck, the parties involved are co-conspirators, and withdrawal will not allow them to escape the charge of conspiracy

41. ©2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. THE FUTURE OF ORGANIZED CRIME Patterns in organized crime suggest that the traditional, bureaucratic, organized crime family is on the decline. The future of investigation of criminal organizations is likely to remain in the area of money laundering and misuses of electronic transfers of funds between financial institutions