NCJ Number
105009
Date Published
1986
Length
745 pages
Annotation
This final report of the President's Commission on Organized Crime, established in 1983, examines the nature and scope of organized crime today and recommends ways to combat it.
Abstract
The results of investigation, hearings, testimony, and submissions indicate that organized crime has thrived despite periodic attempts to eradicate it. Organized criminal groups have changed and adapted to new social, economic, and legal conditions, maintaining institutional survival even as individual members and leaders are apprehended and imprisoned. Further, these groups exploit all socioeconomic sectors. Drug addicts provide billions of dollars to organized crime, consumers and workers are victimized by racketeering, and citizens are deprived of taxes and revenues by illegal enterprises. Moreover, new organized crime groups from such areas as the Far East and South America have joined the ranks of traditional organized criminal groups. Combating organized crime will require that the Government institute administrative, regulatory, and legislative initiatives aimed at money laundering, drug trafficking, and labor racketeering. In addition, public awareness of the pernicious effects of organized crime must be heightened so that illegal enterprises are no longer permitted to function through the conscious or unwitting cooperation of private business or individuals.