NCJ Number
92647
Date Published
1984
Length
114 pages
Annotation
Arizona's experience with its Organized Crime Project demonstrates the need for legislators, the public, and enforcement agencies to have a clear understanding of the issues involved and for the legislature to recognize the need for ongoing efforts and funding to support programs to contain this form of crime.
Abstract
A legislature can also have a major influence on the incentives and strategies of the State agencies which are responsible for implementing containment efforts. The Arizona Organized Crime Project began in 1980, when the legislature, after extensive hearings, appropriated $3.8 million for the project in addition to the regular appropriation for the work of the State police and the attorney general's office. The program's initial efforts focused on developing anticrime capabilities through a mix of proactive and reactive detection and investigative activities, to be followed by criminal and civil remedies. The efforts also focused on white-collar crime occurring in the organized crime context. The project's activities included training, orientation of the business and public sectors regarding organized crime, gathering and analyzing intelligence, liaison with Federal and local law enforcement efforts, investigation, proactive and reactive approaches, and criminal and civil litigation. An assessment of the first 18 months of the project's operations, discussions of organized crime generally and in Arizona, chapter notes, an index, and an appendix presenting Arizona's 1978 Racketeering Act are provided.