Domestic and International Organized Crime (From Critical Criminal Justice Issues: Task Force Reports From the American Society of Criminology, P 73-83, 1996, American Society of Criminology, ed.)

• NCJ Number: 171277
• Author(s): J Albanese; J O Finckenauer
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: American Soc of Criminology
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Following an overview of the status of both domestic and international organized crime, this paper recommends policies for countering organized crime in both spheres.

Abstract

Although seriously weakened in the past 25 years, the traditional Cosa Nostra form of organized crime has not been eliminated; instead, it has been joined by a variety of increasingly powerful domestic and international organized criminal networks that operate in the United States. One problem in combating these groups is that citizens have not been mobilized as allies in the effort. Policy recommendations for domestic organized crime focus on citizen mobilization, surveillance policies, criminal informants, uniform training standards, asset seizure, the tracking of illicit drugs, and court-imposed trusteeships. Other policy recommendations pertinent to domestic organized crime are investigative screening for businesses at high risk of infiltration by organized crime and the sharing of perspectives among law enforcement officials and criminologists. Regarding international organized crime, there is particular concern among law enforcement officials about organized crime operating in and from the former Soviet Union. The so-called "Russian mafia" is operating in Germany, Poland, and virtually every other state in Eastern and Central Europe. There is also a growing problem of organized criminal networks among Soviet emigres in the United States. Policy recommendations regarding international organized crime focus on Russian racketeering, aid tied to reforms, a joint Western-Russian data bank on Russian organized crime, the expansion of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and criminal justice training for Russians.