Saint Mary’s University_Criminology Review Center 1
Subject: Organized Crime Investigation
REVIEW NOTES IN
ORGANIZED CRIME INVESTIGATION
-------------------------- oOo ------------------------
ORGANIZED CRIME OR CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS
–are transnational, national, or local groupings of
highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for
the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most
commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal
organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are
politically motivated (see Violent non-state
actor (VNSA)). Gangs may become "disciplined"
enough to be considered "organized". An organized
gang or criminal set can also be referred to as a mob.
Mafia – is a term used to describe a number
of criminal organizations around the world. The first
organization to bear the label was the Sicilian
Mafia based in Sicily, known to its members as Cosa
Nostra. In the United States, "the Mafia" generally
refers to the Italian American Mafia. Other high level
organized crime groups such as the American prison
gang the Mexican Mafia use the term "Mafia" to
describe their group. Latin American drug cartels are
often considered Hispanic or Latino Mafia's. Other
international organizations described as mafias
include the Russian Mafia, the Irish Mob, the
Chinese Triads, the Japanese Yakuza, the
Neapolitan Camorra, Calabrian'Ndrangheta, and the
Apulian Sacra Corona Unita. There are also a number
of localized mafia organizations around the world
bearing no link to any specific ethnic background.
1. TYPICAL ACTIVITIES
1. Arms trafficking, also known as gunrunning, is
the illegal trafficking or smugglingof
contraband weapons or ammunition.
The 1997 Report of the UN Panel of
Governmental Experts on Small Arms provides a
more refined and precise definition, which has
become internationally accepted. This
distinguishes between small arms (revolvers and
self loading pistols, rifles and carbines,
submachine guns, assault rifles, and light
machine guns), which are weapons designed for
personal use, and light weapons (heavy machine
guns, hand-held under-barrel and mounted
grenade launchers, portable anti-aircraft guns,
portable anti-tanks guns, recoilless rifles,
portable launchers of anti-aircraft missile
systems, and mortars of calibres less than 100
mm), which are designed for use by several
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persons serving as a unit. Ammunition and
explosives also form an integral part of small
arms and light weapons used in conflict.
2. Art theft – is usually for the purpose of resale or
for ransom (sometimes called artnapping).
Stolen art is sometimes used by criminals to
secure loans.
3. Assassination – means "to murder (a usually
prominent person) by a sudden and/or secret
attack, often for political reasons."  An
additional definition is "the act of deliberately
killing someone, especially a public figure,
usually for hire or for political reasons."
Assassinations may be prompted
by religious, ideological, political,
or militarymotives. Additionally, assassins may
be prompted by financial gain, revengefor
grievances, a desire to acquire fame or notoriety
(that is, a psychological need to garner personal
public recognition), a wish to form some kind of
"relationship" with the public figure, a wish or at
least willingness to be killed or commit suicide in
the attack.
The word assassin is derived from the
word Hashshashin , also Hashishin, Hashashiyyin,
or Assassins.
4. Bank fraud – is the use of fraudulent means to
obtain money, assets, or other property owned
or held by a financial institution, or to obtain
money from depositors by fraudulently
representing to be a bank or financial institution.
In many instances, bank fraud is a criminal
offense. While the specific elements of a
particular banking fraud law vary between
jurisdictions, the term bank fraud applies to
actions that employ a scheme or artifice, as
opposed to bank robbery or theft. For this
reason, bank fraud is sometimes considered
a white-collar crime.
5. In motor vehicle theft, a chop shop is a location
or business which disassembles stolen
automobiles for the purpose of selling them as
parts. It may also be used to refer to a location
or business that is involved with the selling of
stolen orfraudulent goods in general, an
example of the latter being a brokerage that
sells non-existent equities. Another common use
 Saint Mary’s University_Criminology Review Center 2
Subject: Organized Crime Investigation

refers to a business whose product, service, or person, a group of people, a company, or any
equipment is of questionable quality. other kind of organization. The hired party may
Stolen cars are sold in foreign countries also be one person, such as a hitman, or a group
for several reasons. In under-developed of people, or an organization.
countries, there are often fewer rules and less
enforcement of laws pertaining to plates and 9. Copyright infringement – is the unauthorized or
title paperwork, so the car is less likely to be prohibited use of works under copyright,
noticed. Criminals are also hopeful that there is infringing the copyright holder's exclusive
little incentive on the part of the victim to search rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform
in other countries, since even if the car is found, the copyrighted work, or to makederivative
it may cost more (in detective, legal, and works.
transportation fees) than the car is actually
worth. This is especially true if the stolen car is 10. Counterfeit – means to illegally imitate
of lesser value. something. Counterfeit products are often
produced with the intent to take advantage of
6. Cigarette smuggling – is the illicit transportation
the superior value of the imitated product. The
of cigarettes from an administrative division
word counterfeit frequently describes both the
with low taxation to a division with high
forgeries of currency and documents, as well as
taxation for sale and consumption. The practice,
the imitations of works
commonly used by Organized crimesyndicates
ofart, clothing, software, pharmaceuticals, watc
and rebel groups, is a form of tax evasion.
hes, electronics and company logos and brands.
In the case of goods, it results in patent
7. Computer crime, or cybercrime, refers to any
infringement or trademark infringement.
crime that involves a computer and a network.
Additionally, it is fairly common in big cities for
The computer may have been used in the
would-be criminals to sell counterfeit illegal
commission of a crime, or it may be the
drugs, such as a bag of pure baking soda sold
target. Net crime refers to criminal exploitation
as cocaine or heroin, or a bag of oreganosold
of theInternet. Such crimes may threaten a
as marijuana. This takes advantage of the
nation’s security and financial health Issues
extremely high prices of illicit drugs and the
surrounding this type of crime have become
relatively low prices of common materials such
high-profile, particularly those
as baking soda and oregano, as well as taking
surrounding cracking, copyright
advantage of the similarity in appearances that
infringement, child pornography, and child
certain house-hold items share with certain illicit
grooming. There are also problems
drugs.
of privacy when confidential information is lost
or intercepted, lawfully or otherwise.
11. Illegal drug trade – is a global black market,
Internationally, both governmental and
dedicated to cultivation, manufacture,
non-state actors engage in cybercrimes,
distribution and sale of those substances which
including espionage, financial theft, and other
are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most
cross-border crimes. Activity crossing
jurisdictions prohibit trade, except
international borders and involving the interests
under license, of many types of drugs by drug
of at least one nationstate is sometimes referred
prohibition laws.
to as cyber warfare. The international legal
system is attempting to hold actors accountable
12. Extortion – (also
for their actions through the International
called shakedown, outwresting, and exaction) is
Criminal Court.
acriminal offence which occurs when a
8. Contract killing – is a form of murder, in which person unlawfully obtains either money,
one party hires another party to kill a target property or services from a person(s), entity, or
individual or group of people. It involves institution, throughcoercion. Refraining from
an illegal agreementbetween two parties in doing harm is sometimes euphemistically
which one party agrees to kill the target in calledprotection. Extortion is commonly
exchange forconsideration, monetary, or practiced by organized crime groups. The actual
otherwise. The hiring party may be a single obtainment of money or property is not
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 Saint Mary’s University_Criminology Review Center 3
required to commit the offense. Making
a threat of violence which refers to
requirement of a payment of money or property
to halt future violence is sufficient to commit the
offense. Exaction refers not only to extortion or
the unlawful demanding and obtaining of
something through force,[1] but additionally, in
its formal definition, means the infliction of
something such as pain and suffering or making
somebody endure something unpleasant.
13. Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human
beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery,
commercial sexual exploitation, forced labour,
or a modern-day form of slavery.
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and
Children (also referred to as the Trafficking
Protocol) was adopted by the United
Nations in Palermo, Italy in 2000, and is an
international legal agreement attached to the
United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime. The Trafficking
Protocol is one of three Protocols adopted to
supplement the Convention.
14. Identity theft – is a form of fraud or cheating of
another person's identity in which someone
pretends to be someone else by assuming that
person's identity, typically in order to access
resources or obtain credit and other benefits in
that person's name. The victim of identity theft
(here meaning the person whose identity has
been assumed by the identity thief) can suffer
adverse consequences if he or she is held
accountable for the perpetrator's actions.
Organizations and individuals who are duped or
defrauded by the identity thief can also suffer
adverse consequences and losses, and to that
extent are also victims.
15. Gaming law – can be described as the set of
rules and regulations that apply to the gaming
or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch
of law in the traditional sense but rather is a
collection of several areas of law that
include criminal law, regulatory
law, constitutional law, administrative
law, company law, contract law, and in some
jurisdictions,competition law.
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Subject: Organized Crime Investigation
16. Illegal immigration – is the migration of foreign
a citizens into a country in circumstances where
such people do not meet the legal requirements
for immigrating in that country, that is, when
they are violating the immigration laws of that
jurisdiction.
It is usually called "illegal immigration,"
however the term "irregular immigration" is
now considered the preferred terminology by
international governmental and non-
governmental organizations, such as the United
Nations agency theInternational Labour
Organization (ILO), the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) and others.
"Unauthorized immigration" is another term
which is occasionally used to refer to this form
of migration. The term "undocumented
immigration" is used as well, though it is
considered less inclusive than "irregular
immigration."
17. Money laundering – is disguising illegal sources
of money so that it looks like it came from legal
sources. The methods by which money may be
laundered are varied and can range in
sophistication. Many regulatory and
governmental authorities quote estimates each
year for the amount of money laundered, either
worldwide or within their national economy. In
1996 the International Monetary Fund estimated
that two to five percent of the worldwide global
economy involved laundered money. However,
the FATF, an intergovernmental body set up to
combat money laundering, admitted that
"overall it is absolutely impossible to produce a
reliable estimate of the amount of money
laundered and therefore the FATF does not
publish any figures in this regard." Academic
commentators have likewise been unable to
estimate the volume of money with any degree
of assurance.
18. People smuggling – (also called human
smuggling) is defined as "the facilitation,
transportation, attempted transportation or
illegal entry of a person or persons across an
international border, in violation of one or more
countries laws, either clandestinely or through
deception, such as the use of fraudulent
documents". The term is understood as and
often used interchangeably with migrant
smuggling, which is defined by the United
 Saint Mary’s University_Criminology Review Center 4
Nations Convention Against Transnational
Organized Crime as "...the procurement, in
order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial
or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a
person into a state party of which the person is
not a national".  23. White-collar crime – has been defined by Edwin
19. Prostitution – is the act or practice of
providing sexual services to another person in
return for payment. People who execute such
activities are called prostitutes. Prostitution is
one of the branches of the sex industry.
The legal status of prostitution varies
from country to country, from being a
punishable crime to a regulated profession.
Estimates place the annual revenue generated
from the global prostitution industry to be over
$100 billion.
20. Organized retail crime refers to
professional shoplifting, cargo theft, retail crime
rings and other organized crimeoccurring in
retail environments. One person acting alone is
not considered an example of organized retail
crime. TheFBI has estimated that the losses
attributed to organized retail crime could reach
as much as $30 billion a year. These criminals
move from store to store and even city to city.
Working in teams, some create distractions
while others steal everything from infant
formula to DVDs. Often, they are stocking up on
specified items at the request of the organized
crime leader.
21. Racket – is an illegal business, usually run as part
of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is
called racketeering.
Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is
the protection racket, in which criminals
demand money from businesses in exchange for
the service of "protection" against crimes that
the racketeers themselves instigate if unpaid
(see extortion). A second well known example is
the numbers racket, a form of illegal lottery.
22. Rum-running – also known as bootlegging, is
the illegal business of transporting
(smuggling) alcoholic beverages where such
transportation is forbidden by law. Smuggling is
usually done to
circumvent taxation orprohibition laws within a
particular jurisdiction.
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Subject: Organized Crime Investigation
The term rum-running is more commonly applied
to smuggling over water;bootlegging is applied
to smuggling over land.
Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person
of respectability and high social status in the
course of his occupation" (1939). Sutherland
was a proponent of Symbolic Interactionism,
and believed that criminal behavior was learned
from interpersonal interaction with others.
White-collar crime, therefore, overlaps
with corporate crime because the opportunity
for fraud,bribery, insider
trading, embezzlement, computer
crime, copyright infringement, money
laundering, identity theft, and forgery are more
available to white-collar employees.
ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATES
A. THE AMERICAN MAFIA –
The American Mafia (or simply the Mafia in
the United States), is anItalian-American criminal
society. Much like the Sicilian Mafia, the American
Mafia has no formal name and is a secret criminal
society. Its members usually refer to it as Cosa
Nostra or by its English translation "our thing" (or
"this thing of ours"). The press has also coined the
name "National Crime Syndicate" to refer to the
entirety of U.S. organized crime, including the Mafia.
The Mafia emerged in New York's Lower East
Side and other areas of the East Coast of the United
States during the late 19th century following waves
of Italian immigration, especially fromSicily. It has its
roots in the Sicilian Mafia, but is a separate
organization in the United States. Neapolitan,
Calabrian, and other Italian criminal groups merged
with the Sicilians to create the modern pan-Italian
Mafia in North America. Today, the American Mafia
cooperates in various criminal activities with the
Sicilian Mafia and other Italian organized
crime groups, such as Camorra, 'Ndrangheta,
and Sacra Corona Unita.
b. B. ORGANISED CRIME IN AUSTRALIA
1. European
Networks
1. The Carlton Crew (based in Melbourne)
 Saint Mary’s University_Criminology Review Center 5
The Carlton Crew is an Italian-Australian
criminal organisation from Melbourne, Victoria.
It was formed in the late 1970s by gangster
Alphonse Gangitano and named after the
Melbourne suburb in which it is based. The
organisation had a strong rivalry with the
Honoured Society and the Calabrese Family,
both of which were Calabrian 'Ndrangheta
groups also based in Melbourne. The Carlton
Crew had a strong role in the infamous
Melbourne gangland killings.
2. The Honoured Society – was a Calabrian
'Ndrangheta criminal group that operated in
Melbourne, Australia. In 1963, it was reportedly
involved in the Victoria Market Murders. It was
led by gangster Frank Benvenuto until his
slaying in 2000. Tony Romeo, another high
ranking member, was shot in 2002.
3. Serbian Mafia – The first Serbian mafiosi came
to Australia in the late 70's, organized in
a Yugoslav clan, their headquarters were some
15 kafanas
in Sydney, Wollongong and Melbourne. In May
2007, Australian police saw recruitment to
organized crime motorcycle gangs from young
Serbs.
4. Albanian Mafia – Godfather of an Albanian
Mafia family 'Daut Kadriovski' gained attention
of Australian Authorities after creating a drug
pipeline through Albanian and Croatian
communities in Sydney and Brisbane.
c. C. TRIAD (UNDERGROUND SOCIETY)
Triad – Literally "Triad Society") is a term used to
describe many branches of Chinese criminal
organizations based in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Macau,
Taiwan, China, and also in countries with significant
Chinese populations, such as Malaysia, Singapore,
the United States, Canada, Australia and the United
Kingdom.
d. D. ORGANIZED CRIME IN ITALY
Since their appearance in the middle of the 19th
century, Italian organized crime and criminal
organizations have infiltrated the social and
economic life of many regions in  Southern Italy, the
most notorious of which being the Sicilian Mafia,
which would later expand into some foreign
countries including the United States.
There are six known mafia organizations in
Italy: Cosa
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Subject: Organized Crime Investigation
Nostra of Sicily,'Ndrangheta of Calabria and Camorra 
of Naples, are rather old: they started to develop
between 1500 and 1800. Recently, two new
organizations, Stidda and Sacra Corona
Unita of Puglia have appeared.
Based primarily in Sicily, the Sicilian Mafia formed in
the mid-19th century by clans which sprang out of
groups of bandits; these groups gained local power
and influence.[citation needed] In Sicily, the
word Mafia tends to mean "manly" and a Mafioso
considers himself a "Man of Honor." However, the
organization is known as "Cosa Nostra" -- Our Thing
—or Our Affair. The Sicilian Mafia originally engaged
in such lower-level activities as extortion, cattle theft
and, upon Sicily becoming part of a democratic Italy,
election slugging in addition to other kinds of
relatively low-level theft and fraud.
e. E. YAKUZA
Yakuza – also known as gokudō, are members of
traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The
Japanese police, and media by request of the police,
call them bōryokudan, literally "violence group",
while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai",
"chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are
notoriously known for their strict codes of conduct
and very organized nature. They are very prevalent
in the Japanese media and operate internationally
with an estimated 102,400 members.
Yakuza groups:
1. Yamaguchi-gumi – Created in 1915, the
Yamaguchi-gumi is the biggest yakuza family,
accounting for 50% of all yakuza in Japan, with
more than 55,000 members divided into 850
clans. 
2. Sumiyoshi-kai – The Sumiyoshi-rengo is the
second largest yakuza family, with 20,000
members divided into 277 clans. The
Sumiyoshi-kai, as it is sometimes called, is a
confederation of smaller yakuza groups. Its
current oyabun is Shigeo Nishiguchi.
3. Inagawa-kai – The Inagawa-kaï is the third
largest yakuza family in Japan, with roughly
15,000 members divided into 313 clans. It is
based in the Tokyo-Yokohama area and was
one of the first yakuza families to expand its
operations to outside of Japan. Its current
oyabun is Hideki Inagawa.
 Saint Mary’s University_Criminology Review Center 6
f. THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE (SOUTHEAST ASIA)
The Golden Triangle – is one of Asia's two main
illicit opium-producing areas. It is an area of around
367,000 square miles (950,000 km2) that overlaps
the mountains of four countries ofSoutheast
Asia: Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Along
with Afghanistan in the Golden
Crescent andPakistan, it has been one of the most
extensive opium-producing areas of Asia and of the
world since the 1920s. Most of the
world's heroin came from the Golden Triangle until
the early 21st century when Afghanistan became the
world's largest producer.[1]
The Golden Triangle also designates the confluence
of the Ruak River and the Mekong river, since the
term has been appropriated by the Thai tourist
industry to describe the nearby junction of Thailand,
Laos, and Myanmar.
g.
h. THE GOLDEN CRESCENT
The Golden Crescent is the name given to one
ofAsia's two principal areas of
illicit opium production, located at the crossroads
of Central, South, andWestern Asia. This space
overlaps three nations,Afghanistan, Iran,
and Pakistan, whose mountainous peripheries define
the crescent, though only Afghanistan and Pakistan
produce opium, with Iran being a consumer and
trans-shipment route for the smuggledopiates.
In 1991, Afghanistan became the world's primary
opium producer, with a yield of 1,782 metric
tons (U.S. State Department estimates),
surpassing Myanmar, formerly the world leader in
opium production.  smuggling illegal alcoholic beverages into the city
LIST OF OLD WEST GUNFIGHTERS
This is a list of known Old West gunfighters,
referring to outlaws or lawmen, of the American
frontier who gained fame or notoriety during
the American Wild West or Old West. The
term gunslinger is a modern, 20th century invention,
often used in cinema or other media to refer to men
in the American Old West who had gained a
reputation as being dangerous with a gun.
A gunfighter may or may not be an outlaw or a
lawman. An outlaw had usually been convicted of a
crime such as Black Bart, but may have only gained a
reputation as operating outside the law such as Ike
Clanton. Some of those listed may have also served
-criminator_budz// [jonathan r. budaden]
Subject: Organized Crime Investigation
in law enforcement like Marshal Burt Alvord who
subsequently became an outlaw, and some outlaws
like Johnny Ringo were deputized at one time or
another. Some of the gunfighters listed included
professional scouts, businessmen, or even doctors.
The majority of outlaws in the Old West preyed on
banks, trains, and stagecoaches. Some crimes were
carried out by Mexicans and Native Americans
against white citizens who were targets of
opportunity along the U.S.–Mexico border,
particularly in Texas, Arizona, and California. For
example Pancho Villa was
a bandit from Durango, Mexico who also conducted
cross-border raids into New Mexico and Texas. Some
individuals, like Jesse James, became outlaws after
serving in the Civil War and others were simply men
who took advantage of the wildness and lawlessness
of the frontier to enrich themselves at the expense
of others. Some outlaws migrated to the frontier to
escape prosecution for crimes elsewhere.
Who is Al Capone?
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone (January 17, 1899 –
January 25, 1947) was an American gangster who led
a Prohibition-era crime syndicate.The Chicago Outfit,
which subsequently became known as the
"Capones", was dedicated
to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other
illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from
the early 1920s to 1931.
Born in Brooklyn, New York to Italian immigrants,
Capone became involved with gang activity at a
young age after being expelled from school at age
14. In his early twenties, he moved to Chicago to take
advantage of a new opportunity to make money
during Prohibition. He also engaged in various other
criminal activities, including bribery of government
figures and prostitution. Despite his illegitimate
occupation, Capone became a highly visible public
figure. He made various charitable endeavors using
the money he made from his activities, and was
viewed by many to be a "modern-day Robin Hood".