Organized Crime Analyzing Illegal Activities, Criminal Structures, and Extra-legal Governance Klaus von LampeSAGE reser Na De ‘Soapae|asoaon OC FORINFORMATION: SSAGE Publications nc. 2466 Tle Road ‘Thousand Oaks, Calfonia 91920 E-mail order@sagepub.com SSAGE Publications Ltd, 1 Olivers Yara 55 iy Road London ECTY 1SP Unites Kingdom ‘SAGE Publications India Pvt. Lio. B V1 Mchan Cooperative Industial ea ‘Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 India ‘SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pe. Li. 3.Church Steet 410-04 Samsung Hub Singapore 049483, Acqustons Edtor: Jery Westby Editorial Assistant: Laure Kut Production Ector: Libby Larson Copy Editor: Kern Rather ‘Typesetter, CEM Digtas (Lid. Proofreader: Dennis W. Webb Cover Designer: Anupama Krishnan Marketing Manager. Terra Schutz Copyright © 2016 by SAGE Publications, nc, All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,” recording, or by any information storage and retrieya| system, without permission in writing from the publisher Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lampe, Klaus von, 1961- Organized crime : analyzing illegal activities, criminal structures, and extra-legal governance / Klaus von Lampe. Cover image: El Lissitzky, Proun 6, 1919/20, oil on canvas (original: Kunstmuseum Moritzburg, Halle/ Saale, Germany) pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4522-0350-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Organized crime. L. Title. HV6441,L36 2016 364,106—de23 2015006464 This book is printed on acid-free paper. 1516 171819 10987654394CHAPTER 2 | The Coneptof Concept of y ore Crime his chapter examines how the label organized crime has been applied historically and in systematic terms. In so doing, the first aim is to show the haphazard use of the concept and to highlight the uncertainties inherent in the social construction of reality. The second aim is to demonstrate the extent of the existing conceptual confusion surrounding the term and to undermine any notion of a consensus about the nature of organized crime. Finally, by pointing out the different empirical phenomena associated with the term, this chapter lays a foundation for identifying the major themes in the-study of organized crime that will be addressed in the later chapters of this book. THE CONCEPTUAL HISTORY OF ORGANIZED CRIME The concept of organized crime as it is used today is cena US invention = While its origins go back to at least the 19th century, it was not until 20th century, in the United States, that a more or less consistent meaning was attached to the combination of the words organized and crime. Inspired by the debate on organized crime in the United States, the term has then come to be used more or less consistently in other parts of the world, namely in Europe, since the 1960s and 1970s, and_on a global scale since at least the 1990s in the run-up to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the _s0-called Palermo Convention, which was adopted in the year 2000. Organized crime is a good example of how, in modern societies, problems are identified and placed on the political agenda. This alone makes the conceptual history of organized crime an interesting subject for social scientists to study. However, it is also important for those interested in the underlying empirical phenomena to understand how the concept has evolved. First of all, as indicated before, the use of the concept is what at the moment best delineates the scope of the study of organized crime. Secondly, the conceptual history reveals how volatile assumptions about the nature of organized crime have been and how much