Organized Crime
Organized crime has become an issue of concern in the United States of America since the seventeenth century. It involves systematically planned criminal activities carried out either locally, nationally or trans-nationally by a large number of people or organization(s). The criminal activities are often controlled and coordinated by professional criminals through some form of centralized consortium. As such, the crimes are often difficult to completely eradicate. Italian Mafia is one of the major groups of organized crimes in the United States of America. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been working to wipe out the organizations behind organized crimes in the country.
Organized crimes in the United States of America were essentially formed by groups of immigrants to enhance their own protection in the foreign land and for financial gains. They were mainly used to carry out illegal activities and corrupt police officers. However, the gangs strengthened with time as a result of their continued success. They began diversifying in their range of criminal activities with some of their members participating actively in politics. The Italian Mafia, also known as the Italian-American Mafia or the La Cosa Nostra (LCN) is made up of five principal families. It rose to power in the 1920s prohibition era as a result of its success in the sale of illicit liquor. The ban led them to form a more sophisticated enterprise skilled in professional crimes and wealthy enough to buy the goodwill of influential government officials and police officers. Gambling, murder, infiltration of legitimate businesses loan sharking, stock manipulation schemes, pornography, drug trafficking and racketeering are some of the major criminal activities associated with the Italian mafia (FBI, 2016).
According to UNICRI (2014), the Italian Mafia is made up of experts in money laundering crimes. Money laundering is a white-collar crime that involves the use of financial intelligence and creativity to conceal the illegal sources of funds. The crime is by far one of the most difficult crime to solve since the criminal activities are either never detected or their sources never determined hence making it difficult to develop a solid case. The organization has been able to re-invest the revenue from the criminal undertaking to lucrative legal businesses in different parts of the world. This has enabled them to diversify their activities and increase their funding sources enhancing their long-term sustainability.
Although the criminal undertakings have a few positive historic and modern impacts on the parts they dominate such as economic development, most of the Italian mafia’s effects on the United States are usually negative. For example, the organized crimes contribute to diversion of resources from public services and clean private businesses. Competition is hence distorted as it becomes difficult to engage in a healthy competition with money launders (UNICRI, 2014). The organized crimes also contribute to the rise in social vices such as drug abuse, prostitution, and sex trafficking.
The FBI’s independence from political interference is one of its major strength in its quest to dismantle the Italian mafia. However, the strength of the organization’s management has seen it go on even after some of its highly regarded members have been prosecuted. Nevertheless, the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and investigators are adopting sophisticated investigative tools to eavesdrop and analyze financial data making it easier to catch up with the crimes now than it was before. The RICO (Racketeer and Corrupt Organization) statute in the United States also enhances effective prosecution authorizing long-term imprisonment of the criminals (Jacobs & Dondlinger, 2013).
In conclusion, the Italian mafia has been a nuisance in the United States for a long time now. Their continued success in illegal undertakings and the sophisticated structure of their organization has made it difficult to completely eliminate it in the states. However, the United States government together with the federal bureau of investigation are doing everything in their power to not only combat it in the country but worldwide.
Ask your questions to our best writers for quality and timely essay answers. Learn smartly and seek help from our solution library that grooms your concepts with over 150 courses.
From essays to dissertations, we have experts for all your writing needs!
