Chapter 1 header slide

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Howard Abadinsky
ORGANIZED
CRIME
Eighth Edition
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CHAPTER
ONE
The DEFINITION and STRUCTURE of ORGANIZED CRIME
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DEFINING ORGANIZED CRIME There is no widely
accepted definition. Some suggest entrepreneurial
conception that avoids ethnic overtones of the
term organized crime. Others cite a semantics
problem most definitions call a specific
behavior or act OC the generic meaning usually
refers to a group of people or an entity.
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ATTRIBUTES INDICATIVE of OC

• Lack of political goals.
• Hierarchical structure.
• Limited or exclusive membership.
• Constitution as a unique subculture.
• Self-perpetuation.
• Willingness to use illegal violence and
  bribery.
• Demonstrated specialization/division of labor.
• Monopolism.
• Governance by explicit rules and regulations.

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TERRORISM and OC

• They are differentiated by means and ends.
• Terrorists use their funds to further political
  
• ends, overthrow governments, and impose
• their worldview.
• OC seeks to form a parallel government that
• coexists with the legitimate government.
• Criminal and terrorist motivations may overlap.

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THE STRUCTURE of OC

• Two contrasting organizational models
• The bureaucratic/corporate model.
• The patrimonial/patron-client network.
• A bureaucracy is the mode of organization
• that is essential for efficiently carrying
  out
• large-scale tasks.

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THE ATTRIBUTES of BUREAUCRACIES

• Bureaucracies
• are complicated hierarchies
• employ an extensive division of labor
• assign positions on the basis of skill
• are guided by extensive rules and regulations
• communicate from top to bottom, usually in
• written form.

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PATRIMONIAL/PATRON-CLIENT NETWORKS

• Fear of compromised communications makes
• the bureaucratic model impractical for OC.
• As a result
• Face-to-face interactions/transactions are
  typical.
• Span of control is limited.
• Control is problematic.
• Geographic expansion leads to feudalism.
• Decentralized control is advantageous for both
• business and security reasons.
• Patrimonial/patron-client networks characterize
• most American Mafia groups.

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An unbalanced social exchange relationship is a
patron-client relationship. Patrons provide
economic aid and protection, act as power
brokers. Clients repay with esteem and
loyalty. Independent criminals in patrons
territory are referred to as outlaws. Patrons
will not help if outlaws are arrested will quash
outlaws who conflict with patrons own criminal
activities and may force outlaws to share their
illegal profits (pay tribute) to receive
protection.
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Outlaws pay financial tribute to patrons
to demonstrate rispetto (respect). Respect is
important element of OC subculture. Non-OC
affiliated criminals render respect to secure
vital information and assistance and ensure their
operations are not jeopardized by other
criminals. A patrons blessing on an outlaws
activities shields those activities from
interferenceand provides a steady, and highly
lucrative, income flow to the patrons coffers.
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The American Mafia Family network is a natural
system that includes

• the boss (paterfamilias) who is the patron
• an underboss (sottocapo)
• a counselor/advisor (consigliere)
• captains (capiregime) who are clients of the
• boss and patrons to their own underlings
• members or soldiers (soldati) who are
• clients of the captains and
• other non-OC affiliated clients of the boss.

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Members of natural systems

• are not necessarily guided by organizational
  goals
• share a common interest in the survival of the
  system
• engage in collective activities informally
  structured to
• secure system survival.

• As a natural system, organized crime is
  fundamentally a collection of social groups
  attempting to adapt to and survive in a
  dangerous environment.

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Mafia Family members, or made guys, are
essentially franchisees. As independent
entrepreneurs, members a. share their
criminal profits with the captain/patron
b. are protected by the Family from
other criminals and c. have unlimited access
to the Familys network.
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