Mob Life
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Centralized enterprises established in order to
engage in illegal activities, most commonly for
the purpose of generating substantial profit for
the criminals involved.
Types:
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Terrorist Organizations are politically motivated
Mafia are motivated by profits
Gangs – some gangs will become disciplined enough
to be considered organized
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All organized crime has the following qualities:
Durability over time
 Diversified interests
 Hierarchal structure
 Capital accumulation
 Access to political protection
 Use of violence to protect interests
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How they make their money
Violence
•A
common tactic in support of other
enterprises was the use of violence
or at least the threat of violence.
•Violence may also prove profitable
as in the cases of arson, and
protection rackets.
•Murder was used in retaliation to
acts of violence against the group or
more recently as a way of expressing
power.
•Murder and violence were also used
to gain power when used against
government officials, courts and / or
police.
•Terrorist groups will use violence as
a way of forwarding their political
or ideological goals.
Financial
Money Laundering
•Largely a bi-product of other
illegal activities.
•It is the process of taking dirty
money (Money from illegal
activities) and making it clean
(giving it the appearance of having
come from a legal activity).
Counterfeiting
•Often tied to money but is not
limited to it as any product may be
counterfeited.
•Not necessarily small scale
anymore as some organizations
and/or nations have entire plants
operating.
Cyber Crime
Identity Theft
•One of the more rapidly growing
forms of crime.
•Organizations profit from this by
either selling identities or using
the identity themselves for
fraudulent purposes.
Internet Fraud
•This involves things like email
fraud where someone is tricked
into giving money or more direct
fraud such as banking or credit
fraud where money is directly
taken.
Cyber Crime
Computer Viruses
•This may include spyware,
malware, Trojan horses, and
computer worms.
•The financial gain from these
may be significant in terms of
identity theft, access to trade
secrets or blackmail.
Cyber Warfare
•This is politically motivated
hacking to conduct sabotage or
espionage.
•Most often conducted by
nations but may also be done
by terrorist organizations.
Morality
Drug Trafficking
•A prime source of profits for
every group from street gangs
up to and including terrorists.
Sex Trafficking
•At its most basic this is
prostitution.
•Can range to human
trafficking where people are
moved from one nation to
another for the purposes of
prostitution.
Morality
People smuggling
•Illegally moving people into a
nation.
•Sometimes just a simple business
agreement with people who are
either desperate or other criminals.
•Often tied with human trafficking
where people believe they are
being helped and are then forced
into prostitution.
Slavery
•Contemporary slave numbers
range as high as 27 million people.
•Most common in South Asia.
•Many are debt slaves.
Al Capone
AKA Scarface
Location:
Chicago
Time Period:
1920s and 1930s
Illegal Acts:
Gambling, Prostitution, Protection
rackets, robbery, narcotics
trafficking, and murder
Ending:
October 1931 sentenced to 11 years
for failure to pay income taxes
Salvatore “Lucky”
Luciano
Location:
New York
Time Period:
1920s and 1930s
Illegal Acts:
Narcotics trafficking, prostitution,
murder
Ending:
1935 was convicted on 61 counts of
prostitution and sentenced to 30-60
years
Used his mob connections to help
US during WWII and was released
from prison in 1946 and then
deported to Italy
Benjamin “Bugsy”
Siegel
Location:
New York, L.A., Las Vegas
Time Period:
1920s to 1940s
Illegal Acts:
Murder, narcotics trafficking,
gambling
Ending:
Murder by the mob in 1947
John Gotti
AKA: Teflon Don
Location:
New York
Time Period:
1970s to 1990s
Illegal Activities:
Murder, Narcotics Trafficking,
Prostitution, Gambling
Ending:
In 1992 was sentenced to life in
prison with no chance of parole
for 43 federal charges including 6
murders. He died of cancer in
2002.
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There are several different theories on why
people commit crime. They are:
Classical Theory
 Psychobiological Theory
 Interactionist Theory
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Crime is caused by the individual free will.
Human beings are rational, and make decisions
freely and with understanding of consequences.
Crime is an immoral form of behaviour.
Immoral behaviour will weaken the society.
Crime prevention is possible through swift and
certain punishment that counters any possible
gains from criminal behaviour.
More prisons and stiffer criminal laws with greater
penalties for offenders are the best solutions to
crime.
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The basic determinants of human behaviour are, to a
considerable degree, determined by genetics.
These basic determinants of human behaviour may be
passed from one generation to the next; criminal
behaviour is genetically inherited.
Chromosomal anomalies, reactions to foods, vitamin
deficiencies, or environmental allergies, combined with
a particular genetic makeup, will predispose some
individuals to criminal behaviour.
Prevention of additional offspring would end the
genetically criminal cycle.
Research to find the gene responsible for crime will
allow medical science to turn off the gene in question
once located.
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Association with other criminals is the factor
most contributing to criminal behaviour among
individuals.
Failure of self-direction, and inadequate social
roles are the root causes of criminal behaviour.
Opportunities for positive interaction with
society will enable the criminal, or would be
criminal, to choose productive and lawful
behaviours to meet needs.
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Age – most likely to have started criminal
career by age of 18
Gender – males are more likely than females to
commit crimes but this is changing
Poverty – a variety of factors related to poverty
can lead to crime
Association with delinquents – you are more
likely to act like people you associate with, so if
you associate with criminals you are more
likely to become one