NCJ Number
93004
Date Published
1983
Length
13 pages
Annotation
The discussion provides a brief history of Government efforts to combat organized crimes and sketches current approaches, particularly in the area of drug trafficking.
Abstract
The Federal government made its first significant enforcement effort in the 1960's when the FBI began monitoring the activities of 400 of the country's leading organized crime figures. The Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, which incorporated recommendations of President Johnson's commission regarding proof of criminal violations, strengthened the Government's legal tools in the evidence gathering process. Another important initiative was the creation of the first Organized Crime Strike Force. This program, augmented in the past 3 years, has indicted and convicted many principal leaders of the traditional crime families in major cities. New approaches in dealing with drug trafficking include utilization of the resource and intelligence gathering capability of the military and consolidating the Drug Enforcement Administration with the FBI. Currently, organized crime has moved from national to international operations, a change mostly related to drug trafficking. The United States must develop close working relationships at the highest levels with the governments of countries that are the source of illegal drugs or through which drugs travel. President Reagan's Commission on Organized Crime will focus special attention on emerging drug cartels and will work toward strengthening the Federal criminal laws that affect organized crime. Substantially more headway could be made with greater public awareness of the nature and the threat of organized crime and increased citizen participation in law enforcement.