Lecture Notes in Specialized Crime 2

MW

Week 3

Nature of Transnational Crime and Organized Crimes

a. Organized Crime (Criminal Organization)

Organized Crime or Criminal Organization - 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.

Criminal Syndicate - A syndicate is a general term describing any group that is

formed to conduct some type of business. Syndicates can be organized as
corporations or partnerships.

A syndicate is an association of people or organizations that is formed for

business purposes or in order to carry out a project.

Criminal Gangs - Gang, also called street gang or youth gang, a group of
persons, usually youths, who share a common identity and who generally engage
in criminal behavior. In contrast to the criminal behavior of other youths, the
activities of gangs are characterized by some level of organization and continuity
over time.

A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a

defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control
over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in
illegal, and possibly violent, behavior.
 Terrorists – A group persons who uses unlawful violence and intimidation,
especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.

Types of Terrorists are the following:

a. Social Revolutionary Terrorists
b. Nationalist-separatist terrorists
c. Religious extremist or Religious Fundamentalist Terrorists
d. Right-Wing Terrorists
e. Left-Wing Terrorists
f. Communist Terrorists

Week 4

b. Organizational Structure of Organized Crime Group (based on Models)

1. Hierarchical model of organized criminal groups

The hierarchical model defines organized crime as a group of

interdependent actors in which there is a clear ranking among participants
that distinguishes leaders from other members in the criminal enterprise.
This structure has been termed the "bureaucratic," "corporate," or
"organizational" model of organized crime. This description of organized
criminal groups sees it as a government-like or military-like structure, in
which illegal activities are organized and approved by superiors and
carried out by lower-level operatives who are part of the group (Albanese,
2015; von Lampe, 2016).

Early accounts by informants described mafia groups in the United States

and Italy as consisting of bosses, lieutenants and soldiers who controlled
territories and run profitable criminal enterprises with these groups
("families"). These accounts provided the essence of the hierarchical
model of organized crime, operating with a clear structure, ranking, and
organization (Anastasia, 2004; Demaris, 1980; Maas, 1968; Shawcross
and Young, 1987; Teresa and Renner, 1973; U.S. Senate; 1965).

The hierarchical approach to organized crime was adopted in official

reports and it was used widely to characterize all forms of organized crime
beyond mafia-type organizations. This characterization influenced the way
in which organized crime was perceived and responded to around the
world (Albanese, 1988; Di Ronco and Lavorgna, 2016; Standing, 2003).

An unfortunate outcome of widespread adherence to the hierarchical

model of organized crime was the assumption that successful prosecution
of organized crime bosses would eliminate organized criminal groups
altogether by collapsing crime families. However, many successful mafia-
related prosecutions to the present day found that the continuing demand
for illicit goods and services led to the emergence of new leaders and new
illicit enterprises to exploit these profitable illegal markets.

2. Local, cultural model of organized crime

Beginning in the 1970s and extending to the present day, many empirical
studies and analyses of the operations and structure of organized criminal
groups have occurred in different locations around the world. A significant
number of these studies found that cultural or ethnic ties, rather than
hierarchy, connected organized criminals together, and that many groups
are local in nature without significant connections to larger groups or
distant locations (Abadinsky, 1981; Albini, 1971; Coles, 2001; Ianni with
Reuss-Ianni, 1972; Reuter, Rubinstein and Wynn, 1983; Chin and Zhang,
2002).

The local, cultural model of organized crime structure highlights the

importance of heritage (i.e., racial, ethnic, national, or other cultural ties)
as the basis for trust, which is fundamental to establish working
relationships in illegal activities (Smith and Papachristos, 2016; von
Lampe and Johansen, 2004). These groups are often smaller, operate in
neighbourhoods, or smaller regions or territories, and control some
portion of the illicit activity there. Studies also found that some organized
criminal groups operate with relatively little direction or supervision in
their day-to-day activities. The difference from the hierarchical model lies
in how relationships within the group are structured, because the types of
criminal activities are similar among groups, as they all exploit illicit
markets for products and services.

3. Enterprise or business model of organized crime

The enterprise model of organized crime grew from the realization that the
regulatory framework and economic factors were the primary
determinants behind the formation of organized criminal groups.
Organized criminal groups were found to structure their illicit activities
around the demands of customers. (e.g., for illicit drugs, firearms, or
stolen property.) The groups find ways to supply those goods and services
while navigating among the risks posed by law enforcement, as well as
legal and illegal competitors (e.g., other illicit products and groups). Their
ultimate objective is to make a profit out of these activities.

The enterprise model of organized crime focuses on how economic

considerations lie at the heart of the formation and success of organized
criminal groups, more importantly than hierarchical or cultural
considerations, The enterprise model labels economic concerns as the
primary cause of organized criminal behaviour. In a study of drug markets,
for example, it was found that groups consisted of "individual
entrepreneurs and small organizations rather than massive, centralized
 bureaucracies," which were "competitive" rather than "monopolistic" in
nature (Adler, 1985).

Other studies found that the supply of illegal goods is usually provided by
small-scale criminal groups, and highlighted that the illegal economy
functions like the legal one: it involves supply and demand, customer
preferences and competition. These factors, rather than relationships
based on hierarchical or cultural ties dictate the operation and
organization of organized criminal groups (Paoli, 2002; Rege and
Lavorgna, 2017). The enterprise model sees organized criminal groups as
the product of illicit market forces, similar to those that cause legitimate
businesses to flourish or die in the legal sector of the economy (Gottschalk,
2009; Reuter, 1983; Reuter, 1993; Windle, 2013; Yeager, 2012). The
centrality of economic relationships, rather than personal relationships,
was found even in accounts of contract killers, who described it as
paramount in profiting from and surviving a vicious way of life (Shaw,
2017; Carlo, 2009).

Week 5

4. New forms of organized crime: networked structure

Organized criminal groups are characterized by their ultimate purpose,

which is to obtain a financial or other material benefit. With this aim,
some organized criminal groups are connected by shared ethnicity or
friendship and family ties, but many others are organized as less formal
networks.

The models of organized criminal groups can be grouped into three

general types: those that adopt a hierarchical structure, those that
emphasize local cultural connections, and those that emphasize the
economic, business nature of organized crime. There is some degree of
overlap among the models. But in all cases, organized crime functions as
entrepreneurial activity in which economic criminal opportunities are
exploited based on their availability, the demand for an illicit product,
competition from other groups, and the regulatory and enforcement
capacity of the jurisdictions involved.

Less formal, more fluid networked connections among members of

organized criminal groups have developed, given the changing nature of
the criminal marketplace, the changing nature of cyber communications
and the illegal products available via the Internet and the Darknet. This
situation enables offenders to avoid face-to-face contact with each other -
and in many cases with their victims -, causing changes in the way that
organized criminal groups are structured.
5. Cyber Organize Crime

i. Concept of Cyber Organized Crime

Many crimes and cybercrimes have some level of organization

(Wall, 2017); that is, these crimes and cybercrimes are "planned,
rational acts that reflect the effort of groups of individuals". To
differentiate between organized crime and cyber organized crime.
The cyber organized crime focuses on the "cyber" component of
cyber organized crime (Wall, 2017).

Cyberspace and the organization of criminal groups - Many

organized criminal groups simply use Internet technologies to
communicate with one another and conduct their business. This
"business" may create "ephemeral" forms of organization where the
Internet is used to link up offenders to commit an offline crime,
after which they dissipate to form new alliances. Alternatively,
organized criminal groups may use networked technologies to
create more "sustained" organizational forms, [meant to last in time
and to offer] protect[ion to] the criminals operating under its wing
from other criminals in the field and also law enforcement agencies
(Varese, 2010, p. 14). Between these two extremes of the spectrum,
there are also 'hybrid' forms in which a more broadly accepted
criminal goal is widely circulated 'virtually' by a small core group,
but its physical expression is conducted by individual lone wolves or
localized cells - as found with some types of hacker groups or in
offline situations where a linkage is established between crime and
terrorism. It is important to note that while the "activities of
terrorists and organized criminal groups can overlap (Bassiouni,
1990)," "they generally pursue different objectives" (i.e., terrorists
primarily pursue political or social objectives, whereas organized
criminal groups primarily pursue "financial or other material
benefits”.

Most organized criminal groups tend to exist on a continuum

between ephemeral and sustainable with hybrids in the middle and
use Internet technologies to organize themselves to a lesser or
greater extent.

Cyberspace and the organization of cybercrime - Whilst almost all

organized criminal groups will use some type of networked
technology to organize themselves and their crimes, some are also
using those technologies to commit cybercrimes. The actual nature
of the organization of cybercrimes varies according to the level of
digital and networked technology involved, the modus operandi and
the intended victim groups, which also help to define the
differences between them (see Wall, 2017).
 The level of use or transformation by digital and
networked technology

The more traditional organized criminal groups tend not to

be involved in committing cyber-dependent crimes, which
are those crimes that disappear when the Internet is
removed (Wall, 2015, also see Lavorna and Sergi, 2014; and
others). They are, however, increasingly using networked
technologies to communicate with each other to organize
crimes or seek intended victims, for example, to sell drugs
over the Internet or darknet. These forms of cybercrime are
either "cyber-assisted" (usually using communications
technology), because without the Internet the offending
would still take place but by other means of communication,
or they are "cyber-enabled", when long-standing (usually
localized) forms of offending, such as illicit gambling, frauds
and extortion, are given a global reach by digital and
networked technologies. If the Internet is removed, then the
offending would revert from the global to the local form.
They contrast sharply with "cyber-dependent" crimes such as
hacking, distributed denial of service and ransomware
attacks, and spamming which, as indicated above, disappear
when the Internet is removed from the equation.

 Modus Operandi

Cybercrime also varies according to the modus operandi of

the offending involved, which is linked with the motivations
and profile of the criminal actors. The organization of
"cybercrimes against the machine" such as computer misuse
offences by hackers, for example, are very different to
"cybercrimes using the machine" such as, scams, frauds, and
extortion. Both of these are also very different from
"cybercrimes in the machine" such as child sexual abuse
material, hate speech, terrorist materials (where the offence
is actually in the computer content) (Wall, 2017).

 Target Victim Groups

The final factor that has to be considered when looking at

cybercrime and its organization is who the targeted victim
groups are. Some criminal groups deliberately target
 individual users, for example, by spamming deceptive emails
to scam or defraud them. Other groups deliberately target
businesses or governmental organizations, to commit larger
scale frauds, obtain trade secrets or to disrupt their business
flows (to extort or at the behest of a rival). Finally, other
groups, usually State actors, deliberately target the
infrastructures of other States to create distrust or discontent
and/or to cause harm (Wall, 2017).
ii. Criminal groups engaging in cyber organized crime

Cyber organized crime can include organized criminal groups

engaging in cybercrime and cybercriminals or other groups that do
not meet the criteria established by the Organized Crime
Convention, that engage in activities typically associated with
organized crime. Regarding the first type of cyber organized crime,
there is evidence that traditional organized criminal groups have
engaged in cybercrime (UNODC, 2013; UNODC, 2012). Studies
have also shown that organized criminal groups have exploited the
opportunities afforded to them by information and communication
technology to commit cybercrime. Specifically, research has shown
that organized criminal groups have utilized information and
communication technology to exploit new online criminal markets
(e.g., Internet gambling) (Wang and Antonopoulos, 2016; Kshteri,
2010). For example, in 2016, members of Camorra and 'Ndrangheta
were arrested for their role in an Internet gambling ring (OCCRP,
2016; Reuters, 2016). What is more, organized criminal groups
have also engaged in cybercrime to facilitate offline organized crime
activities. For example, an organized criminal group that trafficked
drugs hired hackers to gain access to the information technology
systems of the Antwerp port in Belgium that housed data about
containers (Bateman, 2013; Glenny, 2017).

Organized criminal groups engaging in cyber organized crime may

or may not exclusively operate in cyberspace. In fact, studies have
expanded the notion of organized crime to include activities driven
by some direct or indirect benefit that occur in whole or in part
online (Grabosky, 2007; Broadhurst, et al., 2014). These groups can
thus operate either partially, predominately, or solely online. While
there have been cases of networks that have been formed and/or
operated exclusively and/or predominantly online.

iii. Cyber organized crime activities

Cyber organized criminals have engaged in a variety of cybercrimes,

including fraud, hacking, malware creation and distribution, DDoS
attacks, blackmail, and intellectual property crime, such as the sale
of counterfeit or falsified trademarked products (e.g., apparel,
accessories, shoes, electronics, medical products, automobile parts,
etc.) and the labels, packages, and any other identifying designs of
these products (Albanese, 2018; Europol, 2018; Broadhurst et al.,
2018; Maras, 2016). These types of cybercrimes cause financial,
psychological, economic, and even physical harm (especially
counterfeit electronics and automobile parts, as well as falsified
medical products, defined by the World Health Organization as
"deliberately/fraudulently misrepresent their identity, composition
or source," see WHO, 2017), and have been used to fund other
forms of serious crime, such as terrorism (Binder, 2016).

Criminal groups that engage in cyber organized crime also provide

services that facilitate crimes and cybercrimes (crime as a service),
such as data and identity documents (e.g., financial and health data,
passports, voter registration identifications); malware (i.e., made to
order or known malware - e.g., Zeus, a banking Trojan, designed to
surreptitiously capture users' banking details and other information
needed to log in to online accounts); distributed denial of service
(DDoS) attacks and botnet services; keyloggers;
phishing/spearphishing tools; hacking tutorials; and information
about vulnerabilities and exploits and instructions on how to take
advantage of these (Broadhurst et al., 2018; Maras, 2016). For
instance, the Shadowcrew, "an international organization of
approximately 4,000 members … promoted and facilitated a wide
variety of criminal activities [online] including, among others,
electronic theft of personal identifying information, credit card and
debit card fraud, and the production and sale of false identification
documents" ( United States v. Mantovani et al., criminal
indictment, 2014).

Organized criminal groups have also profited and/or otherwise

benefited from illicit products and services offered online. For
example, the creator of the Butterfly Bot advertised this malware
online as capable of taking control of Windows and Linux
computers (BBC News, 2013). The creator of the Butterfly Bot also
sold plug-ins that modified the functions of the malware, and also
offered to create customized versions of the malware for paying
customers (FBI, 2010). Various online criminal networks deployed
the Butterfly Bot, the largest application of this malware resulted in
the Mariposa botnet, which infected 12.7 million computers around
the world (BBC News, 2013).

Cyber organized criminals also provide bulletproof hosting services,

which enable criminals to utilize servers to commit cybercrime and
does not remove criminal content from these servers (National
Cyber Security Centre, 2017, p. 8). Because of low trust in criminal
transactions online and the existence of scammers, escrow
services provided by cyber organized criminal groups are high in
demand. These escrow services enable the funds criminal
customers pay for illicit goods and services to be sent only after they
confirm that the goods or services they paid for were received in
good order (National Cyber Security Centre, 2017, p. 8).

Illicit goods and services are primarily purchased

with cryptocurrency (i.e., "a digital currency that utilizes
cryptography for security reasons;" Maras, 2016, p. 337). There are
numerous cryptocurrencies on the market (e.g., Bitcoin, Litecoin,
Dogecoin, Ethereum, and Monero, to name a few). While most
darknet markets primarily use Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies (e.g.,
Ethereum and Monero) are being utilized, and in some cases,
preferred over Bitcoin (US Department of Justice, 2017; Broadhurst
et al., 2018; Europol, 2018). Certain darknet sites use what is
known as a 'tumbler,' which sends 'all payments through a complex,
semi-random series of dummy transactions … making it nearly
impossible to link … [a] payment with any … [cryptocurrency]
leaving the site' ( United States v. Ross William Ulbricht, Criminal
Complaint, 2013, p. 14).

Cyber organized criminals also provide money-laundering (i.e.,

"the process whereby criminals conceal and legitimate illicit funds")
as a service (Maras, 2016). The proceeds from the services provided
by cyber organized criminals are also laundered. Money-laundering
involves three stages: placement of illicit proceeds in financial
system (placement), concealment of the origin of illicit funds
(layering), and reintroduction of funds into the economy with
concealed origin (integration). Money is laundered utilizing digital
currency (i.e., unregulated currency only available virtually);
prepaid credit and debit cards (even Bitcoin-based cards); gift
cards; money mules' bank accounts; fake name/shell company bank
accounts; PayPal accounts; online gaming sites (via virtual gaming
currency); and illicit gambling sites (McMullan and Rege, 2010;
Maras, 2016; Europol, 2018).

Furthermore, cyber organized criminals engage

in microlaundering "a process whereby criminals launder large
amounts of money by engaging in numerous small transactions".
Online, these types of transactions can occur on commercial sites,
auctions sites, and even employment sites (Maras, 2016).

Cyber organized criminals have utilized information and

communication technology (ICT) to facilitate various forms of
traditionally offline organized crime activities, such as the
smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons, wildlife, drugs,
firearms, and cigarettes trafficking.

"recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt

of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other
forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the
abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the
giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the
consent of a person having control over another person, for
the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a
minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or
other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services,
slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the
removal of organs."

ICT has been used by traffickers to identify and recruit victims

using false promises of work, fame, and love, advertise victims,
communicate with clients and other traffickers, plan, organize and
arrange meetings with clients and victims, and monitor victims'
whereabouts and control their activities.

iv. Preventing and countering cyber organized crime

The measures implemented to counter cyber organized crime have

focused on law enforcement and prosecution efforts, technical
solutions, and education campaigns. Criminal justice efforts include
the monitoring of online sites (both the visible and Deep Web) that
facilitate cyber organized crime and/or promote the services of
cyber organized criminals, the take down of these sites, and
prosecutions of those engaging in cyber organized crime.

Technological solutions can (and have been) implemented to

counter cyber organized crime. Software has been used to detect
language in advertisements that points to trafficking. This software
needs to be updated regularly to anticipate the measures that
traffickers take to evade detection by this software. For example,
human traffickers use emojis (e.g., growing heart) to depict a minor
being advertised and wildlife traffickers "misspell… or use creative
words for their goods, for example, for the word "ivory," a reseller
might use 'ivoree,' 'ivori,' 'i v o ry' or 'iv*ry'" or use the terms "white
plastic" to refer to ivory or "black plastic" to refer to a rhino horn
(IFAW, 2008; Maras, 2016; Maras, 2018).

Facial recognition technology has also been deployed to identify

trafficked persons, and sexually exploited children. Image
recognition software has further been utilized to identify child
sexual abuse material. Image recognition software can also be used
 to identify wildlife and illicit goods in images, such as drugs or
firearms. This software can speed up the identification of illicit
goods online and flag illicit content for review by moderators of the
online platforms (Drange, 2016).

Education campaigns have been used as a tool of (cyber) crime

prevention and have focused on raising awareness on cyber
organized crime, by for example, informing the public about the
ways in which individuals can protect themselves from cybercrime,
such as fraud, malware (e.g., remote access Trojans, spyware, and
ransomware), social engineering tactics (e.g., Europol's Public
Awareness and Prevention Guides ), and the risks, warning signs,
and consequences of being a money mule (e.g., Europol's Money
Muling Guide ). With regards to cyber-facilitated crimes
perpetrated by cyber organized criminals (e.g., malware
distribution and hacking), practical cybersecurity measures have
been proposed that are designed to identify vulnerabilities and
prevent exploits of vulnerabilities, such as strong authentication
measures and intrusion detection and intrusion protection systems.

Public awareness and education campaigns also focus on certain

forms of trafficking. For instance, the United Nations Blue Heart
Campaign , seeks to raise awareness on human trafficking through
advertisements online (e.g., social media, international
organization websites and government websites) and in person
(e.g., billboards) (US Department of States, 2018), and the United
Nations Wild for Life campaign, raises awareness of wildlife
trafficking issues and seeks to mobilize public action to end this
form of trafficking.

c. Characteristics of Organized Crime Group

The characteristics of organized crime are as follow:

1. Continuity

The criminal group operate beyond the lifetime of individual members and
is structured to survive changes in leadership. The gang remains
continuously involved in criminal activity. These group are not formed on
a temporary basis. But, the groups are into existence for a long time.
Similarly, an exploratory research shows that children of organized crime
offenders appear to be much greater risk of following in their parents’
footsteps than children of “general” offenders.

2. Structure
The criminal group is structured as a collection of hierarchically arranged
interdependent persons devoted to the accomplishment of a particular
function. They are distinguishable as the rank are based on power and
authority. United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime also provides that structured group shall mean a group that is not
randomly formed for the immediate commission of an offense and does
not need to have formally defined roles for its members, continuity of its
membership is important.

3. Corporate Structure

Organized crime functions like corporation. They appoint a leader who is

assisted by other members in hierarchical structure. Members are
appointed on the basis of skill, relationship with existing members, etc.
Group continuously remains engaged in committing a crime. Thus,
organized crime has a structure with grades of authority from the lowest to
the highest, involving a system of specially defined relationships with
mutual obligations and privileges. Organized crime has a boss, advisors
who work closely with the boss and assign task to different crews, captains
who run the different crews, soldiers who carry out the physical work an
act out tasks from collecting money to killing people, and men with special
skills.

4. Centralized Authority

Organized crime functions on the basis of centralized control and

authority which is vested either in the hands of one individual or a few
members. Everybody respects the leader of the group. No member of the
group defies the order of the leader. For members, the organization comes
before themselves and their family members.

5. Membership

The membership of the core criminal group is restricted and based on

common traits such as ethnicity, criminal background or common
interests. Potential members are subjected to immense scrutiny and are
required to prove their worth and loyalty to the criminal group. Rules of
membership include secrecy, a willingness to commit any act for the group
and interest to protect the group. In return for loyalty, the member
receives economic benefits, certain prestige and protection from law
enforcement agencies.

6. Teamwork

Organized crime involves association of a group of criminals which is

relatively permanent and may even last for decades. Members respect each
other the most, behave honestly with each other, and never harm each
other in any way. The members are obliged to each other and provides
reciprocal services to each other. For members, the organization comes
before themselves and their family members.

7. Criminality

The criminal group relies on continuing criminal activity to generate

income. Thus, continuing criminal conspiracy in inherent in organized
crime. Some activities such as supplying illegal goods and services directly
produce revenue, while others including murder, intimidation and liberty
contribute to the group’s ability to earn money and enhance its power. The
criminal group may be in legitimate as well as illegitimate business activity
at the same time.

8. Planning

The organized crime involves advance arrangements for successfully

committing crimes, minimizing risks and ensuing safety and protection.
The members of group work like professionals whose duties and
responsibilities are predefined.

9. Secrecy

In organized crime group high secrecy is maintained. Only people holding

higher posts know what crime has to be committed, sometimes even
criminal working at the grass-root level does not know who is the boss is.
Head of the organization issue order to the person and second in
command who in turn may instruct others to commit the crime. There is
possibility that the members are unaware of other members in the group.

10. Specialization

Some groups specialize in just one crime while some others may be
simultaneously engaged in multiple crimes are more powerful and
influential.

11. Division of Labor

The organized crime involves delegation of duties and responsibilities and

specialization of functions. There is a division of labor among members
based on their skills. The members work like professionals whose duties
and responsibilities are predefined. Organized criminal groups and their
protectors rely on skilled individuals or specialist support to assist in the
attainment of group’s goal. The specialist assists the criminal groups on an
ad-hoc basis and not permanently. They are non-the-less considered part
of the organized crime. The specialist includes pilots, chemists, arsonists,
hijackers, shooters, etc.
12. Violence

Organized crime depends upon the use of force and violence to commit
crimes and to maintain internal discipline and restrain external
competition. Violence and the threat of violence are an integral part of
criminal group. The violence or threat of it is used against the members of
the group to keep them in line as also against the outsiders to protect the
economic interest of the group. Members are expected to commit, condone
or authorize violence.

13. Profit Goal

The goal of organized crime group is to make money; members also gain a
sense of pride, power, and protection. The political power is achieved
through the corruption of public officials, including legislators and
political executive. Sometimes, such group may also penetrate the
legitimate economy, through construction, financing business or in the
case of the Mafia, assume quasi-governmental roles.

14. Monopoly

Organized crime has expensive and monopolistic tendencies. Initially,

organized criminal gangs operate in a limited area, and are engaged in a
limited type of crime with a limited number of persons, but, gradually they
expand into a wider range of activities extended over large geographical
areas, involving a large number of carefully selected criminals. They secure
monopoly in their criminal enterprise using violence or threats of violence
to eliminate competition.

15. Protectors

Organized crime arranges permanent protection against interference from

law-enforcement authorities and other agencies of government. The
protective measures including contracts with policemen, lawyers, doctors,
politicians, judges, and influential persons in society. There are corrupt
public officials, politicians, attorneys and businessmen who individually or
collectively protect the criminal group through abuses of status and or
privilege and violation of the law. Corruption is the central tool of the
criminal protectors. A criminal group relies on a network of corrupt
officials to protect the group from the Criminal Justice System. Corruption
involves giving money in cash or in gifts, providing help in elections,
threatening their competitors, providing helicopters, and arranging their
foreign trips.

16. Conspiracy
Organized crime is conspiratorial in nature. Members of syndicate indulge
in criminal activity after having a consensus of its members. It is
committed through planning and coordination of individual efforts with
the prior meeting of minds. Conspiracy is hatched in all the members
should be involved in conspiracy. But, in reality only people holding higher
posts know what crime has to be committed, sometimes even criminal
working at the grass-root level does not know who the boss is. Head of the
organization issue orders to the person and second in command who in
turn may instruct others to commit a crime.

17. Reserved Fund

Organized crime group maintains a reserve fund from profits which serves
as capital for criminal enterprises, seeking the help of the police, lawyers
and even politicians, and for providing security to the arrested members
and their families.