NCJ Number
101275
Date Published
1986
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This chapter presents the history and evolution of organized crime in the United States, including its operations and enterprises, and discusses the concepts and perspectives brought to the study of organized crime.
Abstract
A conceptual overview of organized crime portrays it as a process with certain attributes that can be traced to America's colonial period. Twelve conceptual attributes of organized crime are listed. A review of some evolving academic and law enforcement perspectives of organized crime describes specific policies and studies about organized crime. Immigrant street gangs in the 1800's are examined as one vehicle for the emergence of organized crime. The Prohibition period is portrayed as the time when professional criminals parlayed their skills in crime, violence, and corruption as well as their working environment of saloons and brothels into an enterprise that gave them wealth, status, and power. After the demise of Prohibition, the organized crime network returned to gambling as its mainstay, attended by the growth of casino gambling in Las Vegas, funded by the Teamster Central States pension fund. Security thefts and stock frauds increased in the 1950's and 1960's, and the 1970's and 1980's have seen the growth of a multiplicity of organized criminal groups involved in drug trafficking as well as organized crime's penetration of legitimate business enterprises. 58 references.