Choose one of the organized crime groups detailed in the text and describe some of its elements, including the origin of the group, the typical crimes the group engages in, and what special challenges the organization creates for investigators

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Italian organized crime in the United States actually comprises four separate groups: the Sicilian Mafia? the Neapolitan Camorra? the 'Ndrangheta, or Calabrian Mafia? and Sacra Corona Unita, or "United Sacred Crown.". These four groups have thousands of members and affiliates throughout the United States, but the largest percentage of them operate out of New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. Italian organized crime groups are heavily involved in drug trafficking and money laundering, as well as illegal gambling, political corruption, extortion, fraud, counterfeiting, weapons trafficking, infiltration of legitimate businesses, bombings, kidnappings, and murders. Italian criminal groups persist as the stereotypical organized crime threat to American society and are indeed the most organized criminal presence in America, making the criminal system that much more difficult to crack.
• Asian organized crime groups, referred to as Asian criminal enterprises by the FBI, are involved in murder, kidnapping, extortion, prostitution, pornography, loan-sharking, gambling, money laundering, alien smuggling, trafficking in heroin and methamphetamine, counterfeiting of computer and clothing products, and various protection schemes. Asian organized crime is often well run and hard to crack, using very fluid, mobile global networks of criminal associates. Asian criminal enterprises are classified as either traditional, such as the Yakuza and Triads, or nontraditional, such as ethnic Asian street gangs. Asian organized crime investigations present some unique challenges, primarily because of cultural and social differences. Many Asians are suspicious of the police and the U.S. criminal justice system. Asian criminals exploit this distrust by preying on other Asians, secure in the knowledge that their crimes will most likely go unreported. Another challenge is that many Asian groups are very mobile and have associates or family scattered throughout the United States.
• Latino organized crime groups within the United States include Cubans, Colombians, Mexicans, Dominicans, and El Salvadorians. These criminal enterprises are heavily involved in drug trafficking, typically bringing their criminal organization into this country along with the drugs they sell. In the United States, cartel representatives serve as brokers to coordinate cocaine deliveries to various drug networks. Because of Mexico's proximity to the United States, its organized crime groups are becoming an increasing threat to the United States and are among the fastest-growing gangs in the
country. Mexican drug trafficking has had an enormous impact on the United States, as organizations smuggle heroin, cocaine, marijuana and, most recently, meth. The Mexican Mafia is a prison-based gang that has been growing within the U.S. correctional system for nearly 50 years and is found in several state prison systems.
The Mexican Mafia also has links to Hispanic street gangs and controls, to varying degrees, their drug trafficking activities.
• African criminal enterprises, an emerging criminal threat facing law enforcement agencies worldwide and known to be operating in at least 80 other countries, have proliferated in the United States since the 1980s. Although some groups comprise members originating in Ghana, Liberia and Somalia, by far the predominant nationality in African organized crime is Nigerian. Financial frauds and advance fee schemes, often perpetrated over the Internet, are common methods used by Nigerian organized crime groups. Known as "4­1­9 scams," after Section 4­1­9 of the Nigerian Penal Code relating to fraudulent schemes, these scams prey on victims' sympathy, naïveté and, often, greed, promising a handsome monetary reward in exchange for help making a financial transaction.
• Russian organized crime has gone international since the collapse of the Soviet Union and poses a great threat to and challenge for U.S. justice. The FBI refers to these groups as EOC. Former FBI director Louis Freeh has called the Russian Mafia the fastest-growing criminal organization in the United States. Unlike members of organized crime groups originating from economically and educationally disadvantaged

areas, EOC members tend to be well educated. EOC has had little to no involvement in some of the more traditional organized crime activities, choosing instead to focus on a wide range of frauds and scams, including insurance scams, securities and investment fraud, and fuel oil scams. In the United States, EOC has become the primary purveyor of credit card scams. Contract murders, kidnappings, and business arson are also common. In addition to transnational money laundering, Russian organized crime is known to traffic in women and children. EOC members also traffic in such hazardous commodities as weapons and nuclear material smuggled out of their homeland.
Investigating Russian organized crime is challenged by several factors. First, the EOC consists of hundreds of groups, all acting independently. Russian crime groups in the United States are loosely structured, lacking any formal hierarchy. They tend to be fluid with membership fluctuating between 5 and 20 people, depending on the operation. Most members are already hardened criminals, have military experience, and are highly educated. As with cases involving other immigrant organized crime groups, language barriers present a challenge to investigators. Another problem lies in the cooperation among and pooling of resources between Russian and other organized crime groups.