NCJ Number
133431
Journal
American Enterprise Dated: (May/June 1990) Pages: 38-45
Date Published
1990
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the activities of an array of nontraditional organizations distinct from the criminal empire of La Cosa Nostra which are involved in unprecedented levels of organized crime. These groups involve highly sophisticated narcotics trafficking and money laundering to targeted and indiscriminate street violence.
Abstract
These new crime groups, which generate immense criminal profits in the United States and pose a serious threat to the adult population who use drugs and to children involved as their agents, include white-supremacist outlaw motorcycle gangs; black street gangs in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York; Hispanic gangs; Asian organized crime; Colombian drug trafficking organizations; and Jamaican posses. Demand for illegal narcotics and criminally diverted prescription drugs has promoted drug trafficking and is directly responsible for the strength of these criminal groups. Public interests can be served more effectively by a focus on ways to combat these organized crime groups and their causes and effects.