NCJ Number
200215
Journal
Crime & Justice International Volume: 19 Issue: 72 Dated: April 2003 Pages: 13-16
Date Published
April 2003
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article outlines the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the fight against organized crime and describes some of the main organized crime threats facing the United States.
Abstract
The FBI’s Organized Crime Program is designed to eliminate the criminal enterprises that pose the most threat to American society. This section of the FBI is divided into three units, based upon identified organized criminal threats: the La Cosa Nostra/Italian Organized Crime/Labor Racketeering Unit, the Eurasian Organized Crime Unit, and the Asian/African Criminal Enterprise Unit. Under the guidance of the FBI’s national strategy, each unit has responsibility for investigating criminal activity within its own territory. Historical investigations and criminal intelligence gathering have given the FBI abundant knowledge on criminal organizations. The article describes what is known about some of these crime syndicates and how their crimes are affecting American society. La Cosa Nostra, Asian Criminal Enterprises, Eurasian Organized Crime, and African Criminal Enterprises are all described as powerful criminal enterprises that are having an impact on economies around the world. Collectively, their crimes include murder, extortion, labor racketeering, tax fraud schemes, stock manipulation schemes, corruption of public officials, drug trafficking, prostitution, and pornography.