Organized crime

Organized crime is the business of centralized groups that make money through illegal activities. Some of these groups exist mainly to supply banned goods or services that people still want, like illegal drugs or firearms. Others use force to make people deal with them, such as gangs that demand protection payments from shopkeepers. When criminal activity becomes a structured process, it is called racketeering.

In the United States, the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 describes organized crime as the unlawful work of a highly organized, disciplined association. In the United Kingdom, police estimate that about 38,000 people are involved in organized crime across roughly 6,000 different groups. Historically, the most powerful organized crime force in the U.S. was the Italian-American Mafia, known as Cosa Nostra. But in recent decades, other international criminal groups have become more prominent. A 2012 article in a U.S. Department of Justice journal noted that since the Cold War ended, organized crime groups from Russia, China, Italy, Nigeria, and Japan have expanded their global networks and taken part in more cross-border crimes. Most of the world’s major international organized crime groups now operate in the United States. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment identified Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) as the greatest criminal drug threat to the country. These groups control large areas of Mexico used for growing, producing, importing, and moving illegal drugs. The report named six Mexican TCOs—Sinaloa, Jalisco New Generation, Juárez, Gulf, Los Zetas, and Beltrán-Leyva—as the most influential in trafficking drugs into the United States. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 includes a target to fight all forms of organized crime as part of the 2030 Agenda.

Several models describe how criminal organizations are structured.

One model is the patron–client network. These networks rely on fluid interactions and operate as smaller units within a larger network. They value close relationships, familiar social and economic settings, and tradition. Such networks typically have hierarchies based on family, social, and cultural ties; tight-knit activity and labor; fraternal or nepotistic values; personalized actions like family feuds, territorial fights, and recruiting relatives; strong belief systems rooted in tradition, including religion, family values, cultural expectations, class politics, and gender roles; and communication and rule enforcement that depend on the group’s structure, social rules, criminal history, and group decision-making.

Another model is the bureaucratic or corporate operation. These groups have rigid internal structures and focus on how the operation works, succeeds, sustains itself, or avoids punishment. They are generally marked by a complex authority system; a clear division of labor between classes; merit-based roles rather than cultural or social ones; impersonal responsibilities; extensive written rules instead of cultural habits; and top-down communication and rule enforcement. However, this model has weaknesses. Top-down communication can be intercepted, especially at lower levels. Keeping written records threatens security and requires extra precautions. Infiltration at lower levels can bring down the whole organization, like a house of cards. And death, injury, imprisonment, or internal power struggles make operations much less secure. While bureaucratic groups emphasize business processes and strong hierarchies, these are about enforcing power, not about protection, sustainability, or growth.

Youth and street gangs also form part of organized crime. One estimate by Hannigan and others found that youth street gangs in the United States increased by 35% between 2002 and 2010. A distinct gang culture underlies many of these groups, which can develop through recruiting, learning criminal behavior in the correctional system, family or peer involvement in crime, or pressure from criminal authorities. The terms “street gang” and “youth gang” are often used interchangeably, referring to neighborhood or street-based youth groups that fit the definition of a gang. Miller (1992) defined a street gang as a self-formed group of peers with shared interests, identifiable leadership, and internal organization, who act together or alone to achieve specific goals, including illegal activity and control of a territory, facility, or enterprise. Some reasons young people join gangs are to feel accepted, gain status, and boost self-esteem. A sense of unity brings together many youth gangs, especially those lacking family support at home. “Zones of transition” are run-down neighborhoods with shifting populations. In these areas, conflict, fighting, turf wars, and theft build solidarity and cohesion. Cohen (1955) argued that working-class teenagers joined gangs out of frustration from being unable to achieve middle-class status and goals. Cloward and Ohlin (1960) pointed to blocked opportunities as a cause.