Organized Crime

Professor Brown

• Final Project• • For your Final Project, you will conduct an organized crime investigation on a well-known organized crime

figure/organization. In a three- to five-page paper, explain in detail, what strategies, tools, and Federal Statutes you would use in your investigation and subsequent prosecution in Federal Court.

• You should:• Research law enforcement strategies, tools, and federal statutes used in investigating/prosecuting an organized

crime case.• Evaluate the law enforcement strategies, tools, and federal statutes used in the investigation and prosecution of

organized crime members. • Identify the law enforcement strategies, tools, and federal statutes you used in your investigation/prosecution.• Apply your knowledge of law enforcement strategies, tools, and federal statutes to the investigation and

prosecution of organized crime members.• Clearly explain the area you have chosen to investigate.

– Why you feel it is important– What you have learned through your investigation

• You must use two sources to support your project excluding the assigned text. You are encouraged to use the Kaplan online library and writing center.

• Appropriate reference materials are nonfiction books, academic journal articles, research projects, professional publications, research-based material from university websites, theses, or dissertations.

• Inappropriate material consists of newspaper editorial columns, magazine articles, unsupported websites, and academic papers that have not been subject to peer review.

• Your paper should be between three and five double-spaced pages, not including title or references page.

Unit 9: Statutes and Enforcement

• This unit addresses the use of federal statutes in combating organized criminal enterprises. Federal prosecutors have a powerful tool available in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). RICO carries stiff prison terms and also allows the government to seize the property and assets of criminals. In addition, investigative methods employing the use of informants and electronic eavesdropping equipment will be discussed.

What should you learn in this unit?

• The importance of the RICO statue• The four basic criticisms against the RICO statue• Three basic types of conspiracies• The roles of the various law enforcement

agencies in combating organized crime in the United States

• The various restraints imposed by the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution

• Why Immunity is a valuable investigatory tool

Chapter 15: Organized Crime Statutes and Law Enforcement

• Congressional interest in OC in 1950 resulted in Kefauver Committee hearings during which crime bosses from throughout the country were subjected to televised questioning most refused to answer. Committee preoccupation with ethnic conspiracies equated Italians with OC.

• In 1963, a successor committee chaired by Senator McClellan held televised hearings on OC and introduced the public to Joseph Valachi. His revelations became part of the report of a presidential task force on OC that concluded OC in the United States consists of 24 groups of exclusively men of Italian descent, The Task Force continued what the Kefauver Committee had begun, equating OC with Italians. But its work resulted in the passage of the most important legislation to deal with OC: RICO.

Chapter 15: Organized Crime Statutes and Law Enforcement

• Part of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, RICO defines racketeering in an extremely broad manner, and it includes many offenses that do not ordinarily violate a federal statute. In place of having to prove a series of separate conspiracies, under RICO, it is a crime to belong to an enterprise, for example, an OC Family or outlaw motorcycle club, that is involved in a pattern of �racketeering, even if the racketeering was committed by �other members. Lack of precision coupled with the substantial penalties makes RICO a tempting tool for federal prosecutors to use against persons who are not connected to OC. Civil provisions of RICO have been criticized for threatening triple damages and referring to defendants as racketeers in cases unrelated to OC.� �

What have we learned? • CJ350-1: Evaluate the origins and history of organized crime in the United

States.• CJ350-2: Analyze learning and social control theories associated with

organized criminal activity and known organized crime figures.• CJ350-3: Evaluate African American gang types and their reasons for drug

usage and distribution. • CJ350-4: Compare the history and recent trends of international organized

criminal activity to their U.S. counterparts.• CJ350-5: Assess law enforcement strategies, tools, and federal statutes

used in the investigation and prosecution of organized crime members. • GEL-1.1: Demonstrate college-level communication through the

composition of original materials in Standard American English• GEL-4.2: Distinguish among different theoretical perspectives in the social

sciences.• GEL-8.3: Formulate a logical solution to a problem

RICO

• What is the importance of the RICO Statue?

RICO

• What is a criticism on RICO?

In Investigating..

• …why is immunity an important investigative tool?

I HAVE ENJOYED…

• …being your instructor! Any questions?