Essay On Organized Crime

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The scene of organized crime has long since changed after the reign of Italian and Sicilian mafia, and has evolved into modern terms. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines organized crime as "any group having some manner of a formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through through illegal activities.". The motive is almost always to gain money, as stated in the definition given by the FBI, or significant power over a region. For such a large feat of gaining significant power or essentially stealing large sums of money, the groups of organized crime get their job done rather swiftly. A group that is defined as partaking in organized crime typically specializes in a range of crimes by which they can obtain the goals they aim for. The most renowned techniques of crime involve extortion, blackmail, gambling, loan-sharking, political corruption, and the manufacture of illicit narcotics. Surely these crimes sound like something any old criminal of the modern day would do, so much more lies behind the workings of an organized crime group. One of the main components of organized crime is the structure and levels of power within an organized crime group. To explain this we will be looking at the Russian Bratva structure, shown in simpler terms in this visual representation. The "Elite Group" sits at the top of the chain with the responsibility of management, organization, and ideology of the group. Also they are in charge of the "obochek", or the funds used in the crimes utilized to gain more money, such as bribery or blackmail. Underneath the "Elite Group" in power is the "Support Group" and "Security Group", which are basically equal in power in the group. The support group handles the organizati... ... middle of paper ... ...tion that combats transnational organized crime is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The UNODC holds a convention under the name of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, or the Organized Crime Convention. This is the only international convention held on the topic of organized crime. The convention offers framework for State parties to fight against the issue of transnational organized crime, and how the States could cooperate to employ the frameworks. The following video is an interview with one of the United States representatives at the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. He speaks of the goals of the UNODC and some of the issues which the group hopes to address. This video is a popular campaign ad of the UNODC explaining what organized crime looks like and how the system may work.

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