NCJ Number
101274
Date Published
1986
Length
22 pages
Annotation
After discussing data-collection problems in researching organized crime, this chapter provides an overview of the book's essays on organized crime in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Sicily, Italy, Poland, Israel, Africa, Japan, and Australia.
Abstract
Research into organized crime is hindered by the secrecy of relevant police intelligence data, and the police data that are available reveal little about how criminals are organized and nothing about the relationship between organized crime and other sectors of society. Some research success has been achieved by insiders and participants in police efforts against organized crime as well as in the spheres of organized crime. The essays summarized in the remainder of the chapter trace the rise, growth, and structure of organized crime and its variation in several societies. They describe situations in which organized crime networks generate wealth and exercise power over segments of the political and law enforcement structures of their societies. The criminal networks in all of the societies reviewed aim at building a coercive monopoly that depends on the corruption of public and private offficials as well as the use of violence to enforce discipline. 46 references.