Review the FBI's website on organized crime. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime Follow links as appropriate.
Review and reflect as usual. Then, consider the following and respond:
Violence is big business. How do the economics of violence encourage and promote it continuuing?
The FBI’s website appears to be informative regarding organized crime and what their attempts to prevent it have been. Because organized crime can be financially beneficial for those involved, it often becomes so secretive and protected. The typical organized crime idea of a “rat” or “narc” is a rarity because it is well known what could happen if you become this. Instilling the fear of violence in others in order to get away with the illegal activities groups participate in is one way to control their surroundings. Greed and materialism only breed this illegal behavior because money is seen as so important in our society, and often getting money by any means necessary is acceptable.
The FBI appears to have extensive knowledge regarding who is involved in organized crime in our current society. The website gave the distinction that while we may think Italian and Sicilian mobsters like from the movies, this is not what organized crime is as of late. Drug trafficking, money scams, stock frauds, extortion, intimidation etc. are included in the new age of organized crime. It was surprising to see that the economic impact on these illegal activities are one trillion dollars per year. So of course it can be seen as beneficial and be perpetuated through other illegal activities.
Because the effect of organized crime is so massive, the FBI has had to implement a program to attempt to decrease the effects of it. They have three units devoted to different areas of organized crime, with each having several offices investigating within their own area. Relying on other offices and other law enforcement agencies is also required in order to collaborate most efficiently to track and stop the crime.
The FBI's website is very informative and interesting. You know organized crime is a massive problem when the FBI dedicates an entire website to it! It was interesting to go through the most wanted fugitives. I think this clearly shows the FBI does know who the top criminals are and what activity they are involved in. I also though the section describing scams and safety was interesting. It described known scams and how to protect oneself and families from organized crime scams.
The economics of organized crime promote violence because the return is so great. It is profitable and unconventional. Not only is violence used as means to make money but it is also used to instill fear and maintain loyalty. Violence is a part of nearly every aspect of organized crime and to not use violence would be against the norm of these organized crime groups.
These groups violence also has an effect on society as a whole. People pay in many ways because of the actvities of organized crime and the violent acts they are involved in. The effect organized crime groups have on society is great and the FBI has several units in order to attempt to decrease the detrimental outcomes of their illicit activity.
I really enjoyed reviewing the FBI website. It was very informative and gave significant information about their process and procedures. I have a significant amount of faith in our FBI program and believe that they work consistently with the best interests of civillians in mind. Although sometimes it is questioned as to why they do not arrest individuals that are known to be involved in illegal activity, I believe that their reason for doing so is based on the notion that they are working to meet the best solution possible that will benefit the most individuals. That being said, I have a significant amount of respect for their approach to addressing organized crime. I am a strong advocate for a multidisciplinary approach to addressing issues within our society. The FBI clearly embraces this approach. The website indicated that they have developed international partners to build cases that have or potentially have global ties. They also engage in joint task forces with federal, state and local law enforcement. By engaging in these supportive and resourceful relationships they have much greater opportunities to be educated on organized crime and increase their accessable resources to combat organized crime significantly. The positive collaboration that exists among these teams serves as beneficial for everyone involved, except of course those individuals engaging in illegal activities.
The website clearly indicates that organized crime rings monopolize financial markets, trational institutions and industries. They bring drugs into this country and increase levels of violence. The website also indicated organized crimes involvement in stock frauds and financial scams. Individuals in society may believe that the organized crime world in not directly affecting them, but it is clear that we are all affected on a regular basis. Given the right information, society's awareness and support of these issues could be increased dramatically.
The website specifically outlined their organized crime program. It outlined the goals and objectives that the program is ran and operates by. It indicated that the FBI organized crime program focuses on bringing down the entire organization and not just the individuals, maximizing impact given the limited resources available, flexibility to pursue regional organizations as well and strive to ensure permanent dismantlement of these organizations or at the very least cause a significant disruption.
The economics of violence encourage and promote organized crime in several ways. One main contributing factor that I feel is the fact that more often than not the focus is on "crime families." With this notion in mind it is clear as to why organized crime is encouraged and promoted. Individuals within a family of organized crime members probably have very little opportunities outside of the crime world. They are groomed into this lifestyle and are probably not educated on more positive opportunities that may be available to them. Another issue that I find to be very prevalent is that even the FBI focuses on bringing down the entire organization. I would imagine that individuals within the organized crime world feel a significant amount of protection and believe that they are above the law and would not be punished even if their association was identified. That being said they are also probably functioning on the notion that even if they are brought in by the FBI and or law enforcement, they have significant information that could be beneficial to these agencies. They may feel priveleged enough that the information they obtain could be benefical to both the organized crime world and the enforcers making attempts to dismantle these organizations.
I thought that this site and section was really informative. I was aware of the FBI website, but I have never check out the organized crime section before. What really surprised me was the amount of money that organized crime get illegally in a year. Seriously, one trillion?! I knew that organized crime was still in existence but I did not know it was costing our country that much. In relation to the economic aspect, some people may join organized crime if they are in labor unions, construction, or trash hauling. Perhaps the members of the organized promise them money to join, or promise help with the union.
I found the Italian organized crime section to be really interesting. Since my last name is pretty Italian, I find people relating me to the mafia even though I am only a quarter Italian. I was completely unaware of the number of Mafia members in the U.S., approximately 25,000 members total in the U.S. alone. Before reading this site, I didn’t really know that there were so many subgroups of the Mafia; I just figured that it was all one big group. La Cosa Nostra is the foremost organized crime threat to American society. Their roots are mainly Italian, and they mostly reside in New York now. As I mentioned earlier, labor unions play a large role in organized crime. Also, I believe that families who are involved in organized crime may continue to be involved with it because they feel as though there is no other way to make money.
Another section that I found to be interesting on the site was the glossary and the list of terms that organized crime groups are involved in. Some of terms listed are bribery, sports bribery, drug trafficking, mail and wire fraud. Before reading through this website, I did realize that some organized groups practiced these terms listed. I did not know that they participated in the sexual exploitation of children or prostitution, however.
What also surprised me on the website was the sports bribery section. I have known of casual betting going on between people whether in their own homes or in a bar. I was completely unaware of the organized crime behind the major betting though. Typically when I think of organized crime I think of the Mafia or gangs. I don’t ever think of organized crime such as betting on sports. This does make sense, however, since you have to organize the betting, and betting on sports or within the game is illegal.
For individuals who worship money and power, Organized Crime can seem like a very profitable business to get involved with. Big money is involved and power over certain situations and areas come along with the territory. So much power that it is easy for one to feel they are above the government and can't get in trouble. Organized Crime is much larger and deeper than most of us understand or assume. It is all over the world in numerous countries and pose different types of threats. There's threats of physical harm, financial harm, freedom, and countless more to name. The sit explains how our first thoughts when the phrase "Organized Crime" is mentioned is the Italian Mafia and other groups like them, but today it is much broader and actually more of a threat to average everyday people. Our government has numerous agencies, teams, and surveillance set up to keep this under control and hopefully catch the major threats and put them away and out of business. Drug trafficking is the most notable and familiar form of organized crime that we know of, and with drugs comes big money, and with big money comes more and more violence to keep it and make it. Money brings power and power brings the ability to make things happen (for the leaders) instead of hoping for them to. Organized Crime can bump heads with each other and cause an ugly war and violence to keep their business operating. The United States is the country threatened the most by organized crime because of our countries freedom and technological advancement over most countries. As long as groups know they can get away with these crimes and are continuing to prophet tremendously off of these organized crimes, it will continue to go on and continue to grow and spread. We have a great government that protects us to the max, especially after 9/11, so I feel the majority of the country is safe and protected, and those that aren't are the businesses that rely on overseas help (based off of what I've read on the site).
I hope this is the type of reflection you were looking for. This is based off of what I already knew and what I learned from the site. I found out that Organized Crime is much larger than I anticipated in this world still today, and it's only getting bigger. But it looks like we have it somewhat under control from allowing it to get out of control.
The FBI’s website on organized crime offers a wealth of information about various aspects of this global issue. As most of us already know, organized crime can involve a plethora of activities including but not limited to: drug and human trafficking, murder, extortion, fraud, bribery, money laundering, manipulation and monopolization of financial markets, and the list goes on. Although organized crime may not appear to be a huge problem, the FBI estimates that organized crime rakes in a profit of approximately $1 trillion, yes TRILLION. This number blew my mind.
The FBI’s website on organized crime also presents interested readers with a list of “Glossary of Terms” which proves useful, especially to those who may not be as familiar with the jargon used by law enforcement. One of the links I really enjoyed reading about (and one that I bookmarked) concerned several cases, both past and present and that dates back to the 1930’s with one of America’s most notorious mob boss: Al Capone. The cases are separated according to decade, which makes it incredibly user friendly.
The website also offers readers a brief overview of how it is the FBI and other law enforcement agencies pool their resources in order to take advantage of each other’s strengths and thus increasing efficiency in combating this global problem. Their crime threats and programs are also divided into various regions including: African Criminal Enterprises, Asian Criminal Enterprises, Balkan Criminal Enterprises, Eurasian Criminal Enterprises, Italian Organized Crime/Mafia, Middle Easter Criminal Enterprises, and a Sports Bribery Program. One thing I noticed after looking through this list is that there is no mention of Latin America, particularly countries such as my home country of Mexico. Over the last five years or so, Mexico has seen a staggering increase in violence due to highly organized and wealthy drug cartels. Just last year alone, Ciudad Juarez, a border city right across the street from my hometown saw over 3,000 murders. They average between 7-8 murders A DAY. One of the major things that is fueling this ongoing violence is the selling of weapons, over 95% of which come from the good old U.S. of A. With that said, it was surprising to me that the FBI had no links or information on organized crime in Latin America and the U.S. itself.
So now, to answer the question: “How do the economics of violence encourage and promote it continuing?” Call me crazy, but the fact that organized crime generated what is estimated to be $ 1 trillion in profit is reason enough to encourage and promote continuing violence worldwide. There is just too much money to be made. And the more money one has, the less likely it is to suffer the consequences of participating in illegal activities, which makes it even more appealing. I don’t think anyone would be involved in something like organized crime if it weren’t profitable.
I was both impressed and scared by the FBI’s Organized Crime website. I was impressed because they are very knowledgeable and extensive on the different organizations around the world and what they do. They have so many programs to fight organized crime. The one thing I noticed was stable throughout all programs was communication. That is their key. Many of the programs meet annually around the world to talk to each other about the progress of the organizations and what they know. Without this communication, their efforts to thwart organized crime would be extremely minimized. It is not just a national problem, as the site shows; it is a world-wide problem. I thought that the website was extremely informative. I was not aware at just how many organized crime groups there were, especially ones that operated inside the U.S. I knew that there was the “Mafia” simply because there are so many movies about them. I also was aware that there were African organizations that did a lot of the financial, email operations.
Last year, I was looking for a job and found a posting for a nanny. I emailed the person and gave them my qualifications. I then received an email saying they found someone but their friend needed help with something. Their friend emailed me and said they had a job for me. They needed someone to help them run their business, which was based in London or something. In order to get their money from buyers in the U.S., they needed someone who could collect the money orders, cash them, and send a portion of the money in another money order to the company. I thought this sounded pretty fishy, so I figured I’d bite and see what it was about. I said okay and a week later, a money order was Fedexed to me. I thought it was pretty strange that the address on the money order was not the same address from where it was sent. It was an “official” U.S. Post Office money order. I took it to the post office to show it to them since I was pretty sure it was fraudulent. In fact, it was. They wanted me to continue contact with this guy, “Mr. Gleason”. So I told him that my bank would not cash it right away. It had to be processed to make sure it wasn’t fraudulent. I strung him around for a couple weeks. He had begun calling me, asking nicely where his money was. After a couple times, he began demanding I send him his money and all that. From his voice, it was very evident he was not from London, but had an African accent. Every email I received, I was supposed to forward to a federal post office official who handled these financial scams. Eventually, I got sick of playing the game. I had received several more money orders in the mail and was tired of getting them. I emailed him and said I could no longer work for him. I think he got the hint and quit asking for his money. I felt pretty good that I was able to spot this and help the feds. I don’t know what happened with it, but it is scary that such organizations exist and can get to anyone, especially when fronting as looking for a nanny.
It was pretty scary to know that these things exist. Looking through the website, seeing the vast amount of organized crime groups was the part that frightened me. To see all the crimes they commit and projects they do also scared me. I thought that the website did a good job at describing each group, their history, what they do, and what is being done to stop them. I also thought that the section they had with terms and definitions was great. They described organized crime, enterprises, and such in a way that everyone can understand them. A lot of times, places describe things in terms that are hard to understand, but the FBI does a good job at reaching toward the general public.
As for the economics of violence, as said, violence is big business. Violence is a main way to get what you want, whether it is money, drugs, people, etc. As we have discussed in other topics, people use violence to gain respect. If organized crime groups have respect, they are more likely to obtain their goods and money more easily. They may not even use actual violence, but the threat of violence. As the FBI’s website states, organized crime rakes in over $1 TRILLION of illegal income a year! Obviously, violence pays. Violence works so well because there are so many unconventional ways to go about it. You do not have to live within society’s rigid rules. You use your talents, which for organized crime groups is violence, to accomplish your goals. This violence gives these groups and individuals power, instills fear in others, and makes them “invincible”. They feel that even if they get into trouble they have something that person needs so they can get away with whatever they want. If history has shown anything, it is that violence is a quick fix to control others and get your way. This is why violence is promoted and encouraged to continue.
The FBI website encompasses a lot of information, and I thought the segment covering organized crime was sufficient in keeping everything relevant. There were most wanted segments explaining who was considered the most harmful to the public, as well as what organized groups there are in existence as of now. There was some explanation about how organized crime groups have changed from the time of Al Capone, but the website seemed more interested in enlightening the public on who is criminally dangerous now which is perfectly fine depending on what information is pertinent.
Also, when reading over the website, one sentence helped me to understand how organized crime is different from other gangs or violent groups. It was the mention of formalized structure that made all the difference. Other crime-oriented groups all seem to be locally-oriented in their harm to communities, but the entrance of structure leads to harm on a much more global level.
There seems to be so much money to be made when involved in organized crime. On the website, there were many reports of bribery, prostitution, gargantuan sums of money being transferred to bank accounts and more. And of course, the newest form of robbery: online scams. This was also discussed in class, but I was surprised in the absence of importance it seems to portray on the FBI website. There are many different scams to use over the internet, and I wish the website would have portrayed the new danger of technology more thoroughly. I have mentioned the boon of technology and the internet mainly because I believe this is an important area of prosperity for any organized crime, due to the easy access of billions of people each day (which can only lead to some being manipulated).
The topic of violence being a big business was something I thought the website delved into pretty well. For example, the inclusion of the many organized crime groups mentioned engage in many violent acts to keep their business in prosperity and are not afraid to kill to stay in their acquired lifestyle. Many times bribery is used on higher officials to keep out of trouble which leads to further violence from lack of authority where it needs to be. The human trafficking and prostitution rings I think would be horribly rampant with abuse and violence. There are no laws to protect the people (mostly women) from whatever the person in charge of them does. As I mentioned earlier, the effect of many officials not doing what needs to be done only increases violence and in a passive way, encourages and promotes violence’s continuing.
This website was very interesting and informative to say the very least. I was also amazed at some of the information presented on the site. Obviously organized crime is a huge issue as the FBI is dedicating an entire site to providing general information, specific targets, etc to the public in hopes to educate the general public about this persistent issue. The website makes a good point about how when people usually think about organized crime they think about the Italian and Sicilian mafia groups we usually see on TV. Today, there are multiple groups within and outside of the U.S. that pose a huge issue to our country: Russian mobs, groups from Nigeria, Chinese tongs, other Asian crime rings, crime rings based in Eastern European nations, etc. The website also states that these groups are starting to figure out that working together is more beneficial for both groups….which is a very scary thought!! Organized crime deals with crimes such as murder, drug trafficking, prostitution, human trafficking, intimidation, extortion, fraud, financial scams, etc. To fight organized crime, the FBI has developed an organized crime program dedicated to eliminating organized crime not only in our country but worldwide as well. The Organized Crime Section at the FBI is divided into three units. It’s somewhat comforting to know that the FBI is working with other countries to fight organized crime groups because, just like the crime groups themselves, they know that working together will get them farther than working alone.
One part of the website that I really found interesting was the link to past and present major cases the FBI has dealt with concerning organized crime going all the way back to Al Capone and Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano. I also found the section about sports bribery very interesting to read about. I never really thought about how betting on sports could qualify has part of organized crime, but I guess it does make sense after reading more about it—people can definitely make a lot of money doing it!
I would definitely have to agree that violence is big business. The economics of violence related to organized crime promote these types of enterprises in continuing to do what they do because there is so much money to be made. The FBI estimates that global organized crime groups bring in profits around $1 trillion per year. That’s ridiculous!!! I don’t think so many people would be involved in organized crime if what they were doing wasn’t going to give them a lot of money. Obviously some people out there don’t want to follow conventional means to get a job and get paid for various reasons…clearly they don’t like the sound of working at a fast food place when they could make a quick buck selling some drugs or shooting a couple people.
I found the FBI’s website on organized crime to be very informative. Of course, most of it was a surprise to me, as I don’t know a lot about organized crime in the first place. However, one of the things that wasn’t a surprise was some of the names of the organizations; I used to play Mafia Wars on Facebook, and they use the names of the groups. They also have you complete “jobs” to advance in the Mafia. I thought it was incredibly interesting that the one place all of these groups go to is New York. It makes me very glad I don’t live there, although the things these groups do I don’t. I know a guy whose parents (actually, I think it was just his dad) were low-level employees of the Mob, although from what I understand, his father was high enough up to make very good money. He lived in New York and after he grew up, he decided not to join the Mob life and left. He’s now a preacher, if that isn’t ironic enough. Like most everyone else, the biggest shock was the amount of money that these people pull in a year. If we could use their profits, we could pay off the national debt in under 15 years! Shocking! Obviously, there is a lot of money to be made by doing violence, which is probably one of the reasons it continues. If crime didn’t pay so well, no one would do it. Some of the other interesting things that I found were that the Italian mafia was about the only criminal group that doesn’t engage in human trafficking or prostitution. Also, I thought it was interesting how the FBI has 3 different branches to fight 3 different kinds of mob groups. I appreciate the fact that they take it so seriously and apparently are able to be pretty effective. The last thing I want to mention that I found interesting was that they didn’t have a lot of information about Middle Eastern groups. I don’t know if it’s because this is a relatively new threat, or if they don’t want to put all they have up there so anyone can read it. I thought it was quite funny that they deal in stolen baby formula, as this was something I’d never heard of before. I suppose in some countries it would be much more valuable than it is here.
Why do these groups continue in their violent ways? There are probably many answers to that. One is, as I noted before, that there is a huge profit for it. There are very few businesses where a bunch of someones can profit over a trillion dollars a year. Actually, none come to mind. As long as it continues to be profitable, people will continue to do it. Also, I would like to point out that it isn’t just us greedy Americans. People from countries where money is not seen as important (Asian countries in particular) are some of the biggest and worst groups out there. Clearly, there is more going on. One of the other reasons that violence continues is because it gives people power. If people are afraid of you, they will do what you want. How do you acquire power like that? Be violent. These people than teach that lesson on to their children and great-grandchildren, and suddenly, you have a whole system of children who think that this is the way the world is, because that’s what they’ve learned. Someone else mentioned that in their blog post, and I believe that it’s entirely valid. Finally, I think a reason for the violence is to ensure cooperation from the people inside. If they don’t fear you, who knows what they’ll tell the cops. Violence is a very effective way of scaring people into keeping secrets.
The FBI website was much more interesting than the previous website we looked at regarding hate crime. The most interesting thing that I found was the list of the most wanted white collar criminals, which I can only assume links them to organized crime like we have been discussing. This just goes to illustrate the point that the police and FBI know the people behind the crimes. What is really unnerving is that they cannot seem to catch or reprimand them at all for the crimes they have commited.
Another intersting aspect of their webiste was the list of scams that they knew about. This is also something that was both incredibly interesting and incredibly scary at the same time. If they know who is commiting the crimes and what the crimes look like when they happen, then why are we not able to stop it? This is a question that we may never be able to answer by ourselves.
The website also has a lot of other interesting lists that I want to look through more in-depth at a later time. They have lists that show missing people and lists of people who have kidnapped children that haven't been caught. Although these lists are very unsettling, it is still very interesting to look at the number of cases that are still open. It is hard to know which is more unsettling, though: the amount of cases that have been reported, or the knowledge that there could very well be other cases that we do not even know about. Either way, it is nice to know that there are things being done to at least attempt to offest these horrendous crimes.
One reason I think that it is so hard for us to capture these criminals is because, by the time we realize who they are and the crime they committed, they crimes have already spread like wild-fire and the criminals have more money than they can ever imagine hidden away. Because of this, the only thing we can do is educate the public about what is going on and give the criminals some jail time (to which they would only be bailed out or have lawyers who are in on the scam come and get them out of a hefty sentence). Either way, we can't truly win.
Overall, I was shocked by the website. I was expecting it to be a lot more formal than what it was. Then again, who knows? That could just be me. Despite that opinion, however, I feel that the website did a fantastic job with giving viewers an overview of the FBI's mission and what they do. The overview was also nice as it was made easy to understand and read by someone who might not fully understand what the FBI is. For example, I would feel totally comfortable showing this to my nine-year-old brother and knowing that he would be able to at least get a general understanding of the FBI.
And now...the more difficult question: Violence is big business. How do the economics of violence encourage and promote it continuing?
I think the biggest way that the economics encourage violence is just having people be able to see how easy it is to get away with some of the crimes that have been commited. Since we have made it clear (whether we wanted it to work out that way or not) that these criminals can get away with their crime and walk away with little more than a metophorical slap on the wrist, that would encourage other criminals to join in and make buttloads of money.
Economics also come into play with the equipment and manpower that these crimes have behind them. With the massive amounts of money these people make from their crimes, they are able to afford top-notch equipment that helps them escape and move their illegal merchandise more quickly. We saw this in the video with the fast boats the criminals used that would need six FBI boats chasing it before they were able to be caught.
Also, the more money made makes it possible for them to hire more powerful lawyers. This makes it easier for them to get less jail time and other punishments if they should get caught and go to court. If that is not enough, the more people they have working for them makes it more difficult for the crimes to be traced back to them in the long run. It also helps the illicit materials to travel the world at a more rapid rate. This makes it possible for them to do more damage in a shorter amount of time.
What it all boils down to, in my opinion, is that the sheer force of greed is strong enough to get people to commit these horrendous organized crimes. These people do not care who they hurt because their victims, in their mind, do not have a face. Organized criminals will stop at nothing to earn that extra dollar.
The FBI has spent decades tracking organized crime groups. Their website is a great resource for tracking the way organized crime has evolved over the years. It was interesting to look through the past cases documented on the web site and see how organized crime groups have changed the way they do business to keep up wiht growing technological advancements. what use to be families doing dirty business in racketeering and drug trafficking has now become international internet scams and large scale movement of illegal goods.
The FBI seems to have a good handle on who is involved in organized crime. As we discussed in class, it's not that they don't know who the "bad guys" are, they just can't touch them. Unfortunately the FBI has rules they must follow to be able to prosecute the bad guys effectively while those who run the organized crime groups don't tend to really follow the rules. Theres far less red tape to deal with.
One big problem with the organized crime as it is today is that many people do not know the extent to which this kind of crime effects thier lives. like we discussed in class, how do we ensure that the goods we purchase everyday are from legal sources? How do we know our jeans are not from sweat shops? how do we know our columbian coffee beans aren't part of a columbian drug lords money laundering plan?
Organized crime is a lucritive business and will continue to be as long as there is someone who wants "bad things" they shouldn't have. When the government got rid of alcohol, organized crime brought it to us. The government says we can't legalize certain drugs, and organized crime makes sure it is still readily available to those who want it. The violence that occurs throughout this whole process is usually invisible to those at the recieving end of the drug deals, and if they don't see it, it is not going to stop them from obtaining their illegal goods. I don't think we will ever find a time that organized crime will no longer have a market to work with.
This website was really cool. I’m glad that the FBI takes the time to put out real information about organized crime and what the government is doing to stop and prevent these criminals. I think that a lot of times the public gets incorrect ideas of what is happening in the crime world because of TV dramas that focus on these types of crimes. Shows like Criminal Minds and Law & Order show a world of certainty and predictability with these crimes, and that is not the case. We gain a distorted view of our police force from watching these shows, and when they don’t perform up to those standards in real life the media goes mad. I think that this website does a great job of standing up for the FBI and police forces, and demonstrates how difficult their jobs truly are.
I spent a lot of time clicking through the various case loads and finding out more about each individual crime that was listed there. It was really interesting to see the different methods that were used to catch these criminals, and see behind the criminal’s point of view and reasoning behind their absurd actions. I read up on some of the mob cases and the Italian organized crime groups, and it’s really disturbing to see how much power these people really have. While discussing the main goals of Italian organized crime, the website describes that these criminals are more influential than anyone could have imagined possible. “These groups don’t limit themselves to drug running, though. They’re also involved in illegal gambling, political corruption, extortion, kidnapping, fraud, counterfeiting, infiltration of legitimate businesses, murders, bombings, and weapons trafficking. Industry experts in Italy estimate that their worldwide criminal activity is worth more than $100 billion annually.”
With profits like that, it is clear what the motivations are and why these people commit such unthinkable and immoral crimes. Money is often times the main factor in dealing with this type of crime. It also demonstrates why it can be so difficult to put a stop to their sting of crimes. Money tends to be a good tool when covering trails, and when you have people that are “at your disposal,” it makes for a chain of command that leaves the top dogs more anonymous, and even more powerful. The FBI provides information on this topic, down to the very last details of the case of Al Capone.
I also thought it was interesting that they included information on Sports Bribery in this section. While interesting, it doesn’t seem to really fit in with general notion of organized crime. After reading the overview, I see why they decided to fit this topic in with organized crime. It is really like its own separate line of business…with a lot of money to be made. I think that this is one topic that is not really discussed among violence classes or even among the general public-which is another reason that people get away with it. The sports nation is one like any other; if you have skill and talent you can get away with a lot more than the average person. Sports figures have ever re-newing respect from their observers, you can commit any crime and be back out on the field, court, golf course, etc… with your fans still cheering your name within weeks.
The FBI's website is very informative about organized crime. The website describes organized crime much like we saw it in the video lecture that we viewed in class. What I thought was very interesting is how organized crime can affect Americans, even if the criminals are not in the United States. They are able to do this because of the internet and other technologies that we have today. Much of this organized crime is done by conning and scamming money from American people or corporations, especially in stocks. The FBI is doing all that they are able to in order to fight these organized crime groups and keep them from harming Americans.
The website also discusses the different organized crime groups and what crimes they typically commit. These crimes range from drug trafficking to human trafficking and money scams. The website also has a really neat list of past organized crime cases, news and updates about organized crime, different crime groups, a glossary about organized crime, reports, and the current most wanted criminals. This website is extremely interesting and very detailed. It's great the the FBI is able to have such detailed information on their website.
Organized crime produces a huge economic revenue, as well as scams an unreal amount of money from Americans. Violence is most certainly a huge business, which does help it thrive and continue. This is due to the amount of people that work in organized crime. Organized crime continues to thrive because it is able to slip through the cracks of law enforcement and other investigations. People continue to work organized crime because of the money that they are able to make from it. Organized crime has people working in all levels of the crimes. For example, with internet money scams, there must be someone with the knowledge and technology to create the scams. They also have connections within law enforcement. With these resources, organized crime will continue to thrive.
Even though we have so much crime here in the United States, it is also important to focus on the organized crime that extends past our borders. It was interesting to see the different categories of threats they are focused on: African, Asian, Balkan, Eurasian, Italian, and Middle Eastern. This shows that our government is keeping tabs on organized crime all over the world that may still affect us here in the US. I think it’s important to note that these are not just violent crimes, although we have been focused on violence in this class. The FBI must target all kinds of crimes across the board, as they could all lead to worse crimes in the future.
Violence itself has become a business, whether it be through drug trade, sex trafficking, or fraud. All of these crimes are a continuing problem, as well as they are money-making crimes. Those less violent crimes are more difficult to catch compared to the violent crimes such as murder, yet they are just as important to stop. The money will continue to fund these crimes worldwide, making them harder to stop. As soon as we target one source, there’s going to be more that open up. I appreciate that the FBI has a section devoted to organized crime to show that they are intent on trying to stop as much of it as possible.