NCJ Number
95270
Date Published
1983
Length
39 pages
Annotation
Similarities between organized crime and closed political systems, particularly that of the Soviet Union, are examined.
Abstract
Similarities include the need to be seen as rational, 'scientific,' and business-like; redundancy and other safeguards designed to limit the dangers with which delegation of enforcement power and custody of vital resources is fraught; the building of internal patron-client linkages or factions based on personal ties and goals; and behavior determined by the need of those in power and those claiming power to assert legitimacy. These characteristics relate primarily to (1) authority or degrees of respect for, deference, and obedience to the power or jurisdiction of individuals or groups; (2) power transfer, or the ability to affect the inheritance of authority or to guarantee the line of succession in a predetermined manner; and (3) the shifting alignments between actors during a power transfer. Law enforcement agencies have devoted too little attention to the organic political weaknesses and vulnerabilities from which such closed systems tend to suffer. Possibilities for law enforcement action, including the anticipation of crises within organized crime groups and the analysis of forces arrayed against one another, are considered. Given the suspicions and weaknesses inherent in such groups, an outside power with a clear policy could greatly affect the outcome of a specific conflict by the ways in which prosecutive policies are exercised and targets selected. Thirty-three references are included.