THEORIES OF ORGANIZED CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR - …

1 592 THEORIESOF ORGANIZEDCRIMINAL BEHAVIOR Understand the fundamentals behindrational choice theory See how deterrence theory affectscrime and personal decisions tocommit crime Learn about THEORIES of crime Learn about social disorganizationtheories of crime Explain the enterprise theoryof ORGANIZED crime Learn how ORGANIZED crime can beexplained by organizational theoryThis chapter will enable you to:INTRODUCTIONIn 1993, Medellin cartel founder Pablo Escobar was gunned down by policeon the rooftop of his hideout in Medellin, Colombia. At the time of his death,Escobar was thought to be worth an estimated $2 billion, which hepurportedly earned during more than a decade of illicit cocaine wealth afforded him a luxurious mansion, expensive cars, and worldwiderecognition as a cunning, calculating, and ruthless CRIMINAL mastermind.

2 Therise of Escobar to power is like that of many other violent criminals beforehim. Indeed, as history has shown, major ORGANIZED crime figures such asMeyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano, the El Rukinses, Jeff Fort, and AbimaelGuzm n, leader of Peru s notorious Shining Path, were all aggressivecriminals who built large CRIMINAL enterprises during their existence of these criminals and many others like them poses manyunanswered questions about the cause and development of CRIMINAL are some criminals but not others involved with ORGANIZED crime?

3 Is organ-ized crime a planned CRIMINAL phenomenon or a side effect of some other socialproblem, such as poverty or lack of education? As we seek answers to thesequestions, we are somewhat frustrated by the fact that little information isavailable to adequately explain the reasons for participating in ORGANIZED might argue that individual characteristics such as greed, opportunism,and a propensity for violence were the primary factors contributing to Escobar srise to prominence in the CRIMINAL underworld. Although there are many causesof individual crime, sociologists have argued that there must be a broadexplanation of CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR .

4 But sociologists explanations have 12/17/08 3:19 PM Page 59 ISBN: 0-558-13856-XOrganized Crime, Fourth Edition, by Michael D. Lyman and Gary W. Potter. Published by Prentice 2007 by Pearson Education, CRIME addressed the specific phenomenon of ORGANIZED crime. Explanations of individ-ual CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR can provide some insight into theory is rooted in the causes of CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR . Suchtheory considers the characteristics of individuals and society that result incrime. For example, we know that the cause of a murder could be anindividual psychological condition or something in the social a theory proposes an individual personality or social condition,experts agree that no single theory serves to explain all types of chapter considers the THEORIES that are most applicable to explain mem-bership in ORGANIZED crime, and although we use the word theory , we shouldpoint out that not all explanations discussed are THEORIES per se.

5 THEORIES areexplanations that consist of clearly defined, interrelated, and measurable propo-sitions. Many explanations in this chapter fall short of that definition and can becharacterized as ORGANIZED hypotheses, paradigms, conjectures, and specula-tions. Nonetheless, in this chapter we offer a glimpse of both empirical andspeculative THEORIES that explain different aspects of ORGANIZED CONSPIRACY THEORYOne of the most widely held THEORIES of ORGANIZED crime today is known asthe alien conspiracy theory blames outsiders and outsideinfluences for the prevalence of ORGANIZED crime in society.

6 Over theyears, unsavory images, such as well-dressed men of foreign descent standingin shadows with machine guns and living by codes of silence, have becomeassociated with this theory . The alien conspiracy theory posits that organizedcrime (the Mafia) gained prominence during the 1860s in Sicily and thatSicilian immigrants are responsible for the foundations of organizedcrime, which is made up of twenty-five or so Italian-dominated crimefamilies. Also known as the La Cosa Nostra, the families are composed of wiseguysor made menand number about 1,700 some skeptics insist that the alien conspiracy theory was bornout of hysteria incited by the media, it has received considerable support overthe years from federal law enforcement organizations, public officials, andsome researchers.

7 It has been argued, however, that federal law enforcementorganizations have self-serving reasons to promulgate this theory : It explainstheir inability to eliminate ORGANIZED crime, it disguises the role of politicaland business corruption in ORGANIZED crime, and it provides fertile ground fornew resources, powers, and bureaucratic expansion. In fact, almost a centuryof CRIMINAL investigations, public hearings, and studies by presidentialcommissions have produced conflicting information regarding the existenceof the Italian American group known as the Mafia. That Italians are involvedin ORGANIZED crime is certainly not a point of debate; the degree of intercon-nectedness between Italian crime syndicates and their overall power in theworld of ORGANIZED crime is considerably more or Cosa Nostra families are thought to control well-defined geographicareas and specific CRIMINAL enterprises.

8 Five families are said to dominate NewYork City: the Colombo, Lucchese, Bonanno, Genovese, and Gambino families,each named after its founder. Also representing a large geographical area isthe alleged Mafia family in Chicago, which is known as the outfit. Influencefrom the Chicago outfit reaches to other cities, including Phoenix, Milwaukee,Kansas City, and Los Angeles. In addition to the individual families, a 12/17/08 3:19 PM Page 60 ISBN: 0-558-13856-XOrganized Crime, Fourth Edition, by Michael D. Lyman and Gary W. Potter. Published by Prentice 2007 by Pearson Education, 2 THEORIES OF ORGANIZED CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR61commission exists whose function is to arbitrate disputes between families andassign territory (discussed later in the chapter).

9 Ethnicity is a key to the alien conspiracy theory of the ORGANIZED crimephenomenon. Many criminologists argue, however, that available empiricalresearch indicates that this theory misinterprets and overstates the role ofethnicity in ORGANIZED crime. Some evidence suggests that many organizedcrime groups consist of persons of a specific ethnic background who cooperateon a regular basis (Block 1979; Abadinsky 1985; Potter and Jenkins 1985;Pennsylvania Crime Commission 1986), but Haller s (1990) study of Lansky sand Capone s enterprises makes clear that ORGANIZED criminals who wish tosurvive and prosper quickly learn the limits of kinship, ethnicity, and violenceand proceed to form lucrative partnerships on the basis of rational businessdecisions and common apparent contradiction of the alien conspiracy theory is the simple factthat virtually every city had well-developed ORGANIZED crime syndicateslong before the large-scale Italian immigration of the late nineteenth andearly twentieth centuries.

10 If Italians and other immigrants played a major rolein developing ORGANIZED crime, they were only joining and augmenting wide-spread crime corruption already native to the United CHOICE THEORYWhen we consider THEORIES of ORGANIZED CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR discussed in thischapter, we consider why some people conduct themselves in a manner thatpotentially entails risk, personal injury, arrest, or imprisonment. Sometheorists believe that regardless of the reason for committing crime, thedecision to do so is a rational choice made after weighing the benefits andconsequences of the of this theory include a man who discovers that his wife ishaving an affair and chooses to kill her, her lover, or both; the bank teller whois experiencing personal financial difficulty and decides to embezzle fundsfrom the bank to substantially increase her earnings.