NCJ Number
138421
Editor(s)
C Fijnaut,
J Jacobs
Date Published
Unknown
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The crime-enterprise theory of organized crime holds that the crime-enterprise is a durable market-oriented unlawful cooperative, featuring a hierarchical organization whose principal means of making profits is by breaking the law. This theory provides the framework in which the relationship between crime-enterprises and legitimate industry in the Netherlands is examined.
Abstract
The criminal market can be divided into the illegal goods market and the market for legitimate goods and services which are provided through illicit means. In the Netherlands, the illegal goods market is largely confined to drug trafficking, while every sector of the legal goods and services industries may be vulnerable to penetration by crime-enterprises. A study of the differences between the market environments in which a drug trafficking enterprise and a business crime-enterprise operate in the Netherlands was based on a survey of 46 criminal operations. Although drug enterprises must, at some point, adopt the outward appearance of legitimacy, all real transactions are conducted underground, disguised by front companies which handle the import and export of contraband. On the other hand, the business crime-enterprise works within the legitimate market and in a less hostile environment than the drug enterprise. The better organizing crime businessmen try to become a settled element in the legitimate industry, eventually reinvesting their profits and taking over parts of the market. The legal and financial professions play an important role in the interaction between the crime- enterprises and the legitimate industry. The evidence in the Netherlands points to a strong and vital criminal trading community. 21 notes and 33 references