ORGANIZED CRIME

INVESTIGATION
Organized Crime
Investigation
 What is Organized Crime?
 An organized crime is any crime committed
by a person occupying, in an established division
of labor, a position designed for the commission
of crimes providing that such division of labor
includes at least one position for a corrupter, one
position for a corruptee, and one position for an
enforcer. (Donald Cressey, 1969:319)
 Organized Crime-are American inventions
that have been superimposed on a
heterogenous European crime landscape. It
becomes a criminal activity by an enduring
structure or organization developed and
devoted primarily to the pursuit of profits
through illegal means. It is sometimes
referred to as the MOB, MAFIA, “syndicate”
or the COSA NOSTRA. (Dr. Mario A. Garcia)
Organized Crime
Investigation
 An organized crime is all illegal activities
engaged in by members of criminal syndicates
operative throughout the country and all illegal
activities engaged in by known associates and
confederates of such members. (USDOJ)
Organized Crime
Investigation
 These are group of activities of three or more
persons, with hierarchical links or personal
relationships, which permit their leaders to earn
profits or control territories or markets, internal
or foreign , by means of violence, intimidation,
or corruption, both in furtherance of criminal
activity and to infiltrate the legitimate economy.
(International Conference in Warsaw on the
problem of Organized Crime)
Organized Crime
Investigation
 Organized criminal group - shall mean a
structured group of three or more persons,
existing for a period of time and acting in
concert with the aim of committing one or
more serious crimes or offences established in
accordance with this Convention, in order to
obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other
material benefit.
Organized Crime
Investigation
 What are the attributes of an organized crime
group?
 No political goals
 Hierarchical
 Limited or exclusive membership
 Unique subculture
 Self-perpetuating
Organized Crime
Investigation
 Willing to use illegal violence and bribery
 Specialization/ division of labor
 Monopolistic
 Governed by explicit rules and regulations
Organized Crime
Investigation
 What are the different kinds of organizational models
of organized crime?
 Bureaucratic/Corporate Model – this is a rational
organization with the following common attributes:
 A complicated hierarchy
 An extensive division of labor
 Positions assigned on the basis of skill
 Responsibilities carried out in an impersonal manner
 Extensive written rules and regulations
 Communication from the top of the hierarchy to
persons on the bottom usually in written (memo)
form
Organized Crime
Investigation
 Patrimonial/Patron-Client Model – this
center around families, patrons and their
clients, and other personalistic networks. The
emphasis is on traditional rituals that
demonstrates the emotional bonds among
men.
Organized Crime
Investigation
 What is the organizational structure of a
typical Mafia Family?

 Boss — the head of the family, usually reigning as

a dictator, sometimes called the Don or
"Godfather". The boss receives a cut of every
operation taken on by every member of his family.
Depending on the family, the boss may be chosen
by a vote from the Caporegimes of the family. In
the event of a tie, the Underboss must vote.
Organized Crime
Investigation
 Underboss —usually appointed by the boss, is
the second in command of the family. The
underboss often runs the day-to-day
responsibilities of the family or oversees its
most lucrative rackets. They usually get a
percentage of the family's income from the
bosses cut. The underboss is usually first in line
to become acting boss if the boss is
imprisoned, while also frequently seen as a
logical successor.
Organized Crime
Investigation
 Consigliere —an advisor to the family and
sometimes seen as the Boss's "right-hand
man". They are used as a mediator of disputes,
representatives or aides in meetings with
other families. In practice the consigliere is
normally the third ranking member of the
administration of a family and was
traditionally a senior member familiar with
how the organization is run. A Boss will often
appoint someone close to him who they trust
as their consigliere.
Organized Crime
Investigation
 Caporegime (or capo, captain or skipper) —in
charge of a crew – a group of soldiers who
report directly to him. Each crew usually
contains 10-20 soldiers and many more
associates. A capo is appointed by the boss
and reports to him or the underboss. A captain
gives a percentage of his (and his underlings)
earnings to the boss and is also responsible for
any tasks assigned, including murder. In labor
racketeering it is usually a capo who controls
the infiltration of union locals. If a Capo
becomes powerful enough he can sometimes
wield more power than some of his superiors.
Organized Crime
Investigation
 Soldier (soldato) — a member of the family, and
traditionally can only be of full Italian
background (although today many families
require men to be of only half Italian descent on
their father's side). Once a member is made, he
is untouchable, meaning permission from a
soldier's boss must be given before he is
murdered. When the books are open, meaning
that a family is accepting new members, a Capo
(or several Capos) may recommend an up-and-
coming associate to be a new soldier.
Organized Crime
Investigation
Soldiers are the main workers of the family,
usually committing crimes like assault,
murder, extortion, intimidation, etc. In return,
they are given profitable rackets to run by
their superiors and have full access to their
family's connections and power.
Organized Crime
Investigation
 Associate — not a member of the Mafia, but
works for a crime family none-the-less. An
associate can include a wide range of people
who work for the family. This is where
prospective mobsters ("connected guys") start
out to prove their worth. Once a crime family is
accepting new membership, the best associates
are evaluated and picked to become soldiers. An
associate can have a wide range of duties from
virtually carrying out the same duties as a soldier
to being a simple errand boy.
Organized Crime
Investigation
 They are usually a go-between or sometimes
deal in drugs to keep the heat off the actual
members, or they can be people the family does
business with (restaurant owners, etc.) In other
cases, an associate might be a corrupt labor
union delegate or businessman.
Organized Crime
Investigation
 What are the Mafia Rules and Customs?
 Omerta- is the oath or "code of silence", never talk
to the authorities.
 "Ethnicity" - only men of Italian descent are
allowed to become full members (made man)
 "Family secrets" - members are not allowed to talk
about family business to non-members.
 "Blood for blood" - if a family member is killed (by
another member) no one can commit murder (in
revenge) until the boss gives permission.
Organized Crime
Investigation
 "No fighting among members" - from fist fights to
knife fights.
 "Tribute" - every month; member must pay the
boss; also giving the boss a cut on any side deals.
 "Adultery" - members are not allowed to commit
adultery with another family member’s wife.
 "No facial hair" - members were not allowed to
grow mustaches.
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 What are the activities of organized crime

groups?
 In general:
 Parasitic – members of a criminal organization extort
money from illegal entrepreneurs under a threat of
violence.
 Reciprocal – members of a criminal organization require
illegal entrepreneurs to pay a fixed or percentage
amount but in return provide services such as debt
collection or restricting market entry.
 Entrepreneurship – a member of a criminal organization
provides an illegal good or service.
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 Specifically:
 Extortion
 Gambling
 Loansharking
 Theft, robbery and fencing
 Sex business
 Human trafficking
 Drug business
 Labor racketeering
 Business racketeering
 Money laundering
 Legitimate business
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 What is extortion?
This is obtaining money from people in
order to remain in business, be protected
against violence, or to monopolize a certain
territory. This may be in a form of street taxes
or rispetto.
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 What is gambling?
 This includes a wide array of games of chance and
sporting events on which wagers are made which
includes:
 Bookmaking
 Lotteries/Numbers game
 Casino gambling
 Miscellaneous gamblings e.g., bingo, poker
machine, video karera and fruit game
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 What is bookmaking?
This is the “booking’ of bets on some
types of events – horse, and sometimes dog
races and sporting events such as football,
basketball, baseball, and boxing.
 Horse-race wagering – this is the oldest of
bookmaking activities.
 Sports wagering – this is considered as the king of
bookmaking. The sports bookmaker seeks to act
as a broker, not a gambler.
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 What is loansharking?
This is the lending of money at exorbitant
interest rates. And if, the borrower will not be
able to pay on time, threats and violence will
be used by the loanshark in collecting debts.
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 What is payday loansharking?

 This is a form of salary lending wherein a
payday lender accepts a postdated check,
which is deposited after a specified period
usually during payday.
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 In recent times, the borrower will

surrender his ATM card to the lender and the
latter will be the one who will withdraw the
salary of the former. The lender will take the
amount due for that payday and give the rest
of the money to the borrower, if there is any.
The card will be in the lender’s possession
until the interest and the principal is paid.
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 What are the two basic types of usurious

loans?
 Knockdown – this requires a specified schedule of
repayment, including both principal and interest.
 Vig – this is a “six-for-five” loan. If a total
repayment of the vig loan, principal plus interest,
is not forthcoming on the date it is due, the
borrower must pay the interest, and the interest is
compounded for the following week.
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 What are the sex businesses of organized

crime groups?
 Prostitution
 Pornography
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 How organized crime groups make money

out of prostitution and pornography?
 Most organized crime groups do not
usually maintain brothels or prostitute houses
or pornography business rather they extort
money from these establishments for
protection against violence or from raids.
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

 What is human trafficking or trafficking in

persons?
 This refers to the recruitment,
transportation, transfer or harboring, or receipt
of persons with or without the victim’s consent
or knowledge, within or across national borders
by means of threat or use of force, or other
forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception,
abuse of power or of position, taking advantage
of the vulnerability of the person, or the giving or
ORGANIZED CRIME ACTIVITIES

receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the

consent of a person having control over another
person for the purpose of exploitation which
includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the
prostitution of others or other forms of sexual
exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery,
servitude or the removal or sale of organs.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 Italian Organized Crime
 Sicilian Mafia
 Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia
 ’Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia
 Sacra Corona Unita or United Sacred Crown.
 Their criminal activities are international with
members and affiliates in Canada, South
America, Australia, and parts of Europe. They are
also known to collaborate with other
international organized crime groups from all
over the world, especially in drug trafficking.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 These groups don’t limit themselves to
drug running, though. They’re also involved in
illegal gambling, political corruption,
extortion, kidnapping, fraud, counterfeiting,
infiltration of legitimate businesses, murders,
bombings, and weapons trafficking. Industry
experts in Italy estimate that their worldwide
criminal activity is worth more than $100
billion annually.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 An underground secret society formed initially
as resistance fighters against the invaders and to
exact frontier vigilante justice against
oppression.
 A member was known as a “Man Of Honor,”
respected and admired because he protected his
family and friends and kept silent even unto
death.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 Charles “Lucky” Luciano, a Mafioso from
Sicily, came to the U.S. during this era and is
credited for making the American La Cosa
Nostra what it is today. Luciano structured the
La Cosa Nostra after the Sicilian Mafia. When
Luciano was deported back to Italy in 1946 for
operating a prostitution ring, he became a liaison
between the Sicilian Mafia and La Cosa Nostra.
 Luciano is considered the father of modern
organized crime in the United States for
splitting New York City into five different
Mafia crime families
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 Sicilian Mafia (based in Sicily)
 The Sicilian Mafia formed in the mid-1800s to
unify the Sicilian peasants against their enemies.
In Sicily, the word Mafia tends to mean “manly.”
The Sicilian Mafia changed from a group of
honorable Sicilian men to an organized criminal
group in the 1920s.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
The Sicilian Mafia specializes in heroin
trafficking, political corruption, and military arms
trafficking—and is also known to engage in arson,
frauds, counterfeiting, and other racketeering
crimes. With an estimated 2,500 Sicilian Mafia
affiliates it is the most powerful and most active
Italian organized crime group in the U.S.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
The Sicilian Mafia is infamous for its aggressive
assaults on Italian law enforcement officials.
In Sicily the term “Excellent Cadaver” is used to
distinguish the assassination of prominent
government officials from the common criminals
and ordinary citizens killed by the Mafia.
High-ranking victims include police commissioners,
mayors, judges, police colonels and generals, and
Parliament members.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia (based in
Naples)
 The word “Camorra” means gang. The
Camorra first appeared in the mid-1800s in
Naples, Italy, as a prison gang. Once released,
members formed clans in the cities and
continued to grow in power. The Camorra has
more than 100 clans and approximately 7,000
members, making it the largest of the Italian
organized crime groups.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
In the 1970s, the Sicilian Mafia convinced the
Camorra to convert their cigarette smuggling
routes into drug smuggling routes with the
Sicilian Mafia's assistance. Not all Camorra
leaders agreed, leading to the Camorra Wars
that cost 400 lives. Opponents of drug
trafficking lost the war.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
The Camorra made a fortune in
reconstruction after an earthquake ravaged the
Campania region in 1980. Now it specializes in
cigarette smuggling and receives payoffs from
other criminal groups for any cigarette traffic
through Italy. The Camorra is also involved in
money laundering, extortion, alien smuggling,
robbery, blackmail, kidnapping, political
corruption, and counterfeiting.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 ’Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia (based in
Calabria)
 The word “’Ndrangheta” comes from the
Greek meaning courage or loyalty. The
’Ndrangheta formed in the 1860s when a
group of Sicilians was banished from the island
by the Italian government. They settled in
Calabria and formed small criminal groups.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
They specialize in kidnapping and political
corruption, but also engage in drug trafficking,
murder, bombings, counterfeiting, gambling,
frauds, thefts, labor racketeering,
loansharking, and alien smuggling.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 Sacra Corona Unita or United Sacred Crown
(based in the Puglia region)
 Like other groups, it started as a prison
gang. As its members were released, they
settled in the Puglia region in Italy and
continued to grow and form links with other
Mafia groups. The Sacra Corona Unita is
headquartered in Brindisi, located in the
southeastern region of Puglia.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
The Sacra Corona Unita consists of about 50
clans with approximately 2,000 members and
specializes in smuggling cigarettes, drugs,
arms, and people. It is also involved in money
laundering, extortion, and political corruption.
The organization collects payoffs from other
criminal groups for landing rights on the
southeast coast of Italy, a natural gateway for
smuggling to and from post-Communist
countries like Croatia, Yugoslavia, and Albania.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 La Cosa Nostra
 Literally translated into English it means “this
thing of ours.” It is a nationwide alliance of
criminals—linked by blood ties or through
conspiracy—dedicated to pursuing crime and
protecting its members.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
La Cosa Nostra consists of different
“families” or groups that are generally
arranged geographically and engaged in
significant and organized racketeering activity.
It is also known as the Mafia, a term used to
describe other organized crime groups.
The LCN is most active in the New York
metropolitan area, parts of New Jersey,
Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, and New
England. It has members in other major cities
and is involved in international crimes.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
Today, La Cosa Nostra is involved in a broad
spectrum of illegal activities: murder,
extortion, drug trafficking, corruption of public
officials, gambling, infiltration of legitimate
businesses, labor racketeering, loan sharking,
prostitution, pornography, tax-fraud schemes,
and stock manipulation schemes.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 The Genovese Crime Family
 Named after legendary boss Vito Genovese,
the Genovese crime family was once
considered the most powerful organized crime
family in the nation. Members and their
numerous associates engaged in drug
trafficking, murder, assault, gambling,
extortion, loansharking, labor racketeering,
money laundering, arson, gasoline
bootlegging, and infiltration of legitimate
businesses.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
Genovese family members are also involved
in stock market manipulation and other illegal
frauds and schemes as evidenced by the
recent FBI investigation code named
“Mobstocks.”
The Genovese crime family has its roots in
the Italian criminal groups in New York
controlled by Joseph Masseria in the 1920s.
The family history is rife with murder, violence,
and greed.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 Asian Criminal Enterprises
 The first of these groups evolved from Chinese
tongs—social organizations formed by early
Chinese-American immigrants. A century
later, the criminalized tongs are thriving and
have been joined by similar organizations with
ties to East and Southeast Asia.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 Members of the most dominant Asian criminal
enterprises have ties—either directly or
culturally—to China, Korea, Japan, Thailand,
the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
Other enterprises are emerging as threats,
however, including groups from the South
Pacific island nations.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 There are two categories of Asian criminal
enterprises. Traditional criminal enterprises
include the Chinese triads (or underground
societies) based in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and
Macau as well as the Japanese Yakuza or
Boryokudan.
 Non-traditional criminal enterprises include
groups such as Chinese criminally influenced
tongs, triad affiliates, and other ethnic Asian
street gangs found in several countries with
sizeable Asian communities.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 Balkan Criminal Enterprises
 The term “Balkan Organized Crime” applies to
organized crime groups originating from or
operating in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Croatia, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro,
Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 Philippine Organized Crime
 Organized crime is a multibillion-peso industry
in the Philippines, its earnings, by conservative
estimates, equivalent to 10 to 20 percent of
the Philippine gross domestic product, or
anywhere from P300 to P600 billion every
year.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 The most successful criminals are part of well-
organized and well-funded syndicates that use
their connections with police, military, and
civilian officials so they can operate with
virtual impunity. Despite occasional high-
profile arrests and killings of crime bosses, the
syndicates thrive, often with the authorities
turning a blind eye while lining their pockets
with illicit proceeds from criminal activities.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 As shown by the following reports on two
notorious criminal gangs — the Pentagon and
the Kuratong Balaleng — the syndicates are
nurtured by a complex layer of protection
involving police and local, even national,
officials. So tight are these gangs' connections
to the authorities that even when their top
leaders are arrested, they are often allowed to
escape, as in the case of the notorious
Pentagon boss Marahomsar Faisal and many
others .
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 Several of the gangs also draw their
membership from rogue elements of rebel
groups like the Moro National Liberation
Front, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, and
the New People's Army. After all, gangs thrive
on the kind of camaraderie and trust that bind
comrades in the battlefield. Both the
Pentagon and the Abu Sayyaf gangs, which
specialize in kidnapping, bombings, and
extortion, were formed from disgruntled
chunks of the MNLF and the MILF.
ORGANIZED CRIMINAL
ORGANIZATIONS
 The Red Scorpion Group, which was into
kidnapping and bank robberies, was made up
of former NPA guerrillas. The notorious P50-
Million Gang, named after the amount of
ransom that its members demand from kidnap
victims, has an ex-NPA commander in its
ruling council, which is headed by a former
bodyguard of an Ilocano politico.
 How do Organized Criminal Group
Works
a. An Enforcer- one who make arrangement for
killing and injuring the member or non-member.
b. A Corrupter- one who bribes, buys, intimidates,
threatens, negotiates, into a relationship with
the law enforcers, public officials or anyone else
who might help the member security.
c. A Corruptee- a public official, usually not a
member of the organization family, who can
wield influence on behalf of the organization.
 Characteristics of Organized Crime
a. It is conspiracy activity
b. Economic gain
c. Thru illegal means
d. Employs predatory tactics such as
intimidation, violence and corruption
e. Effective control over members, associates
and victims
f. Organized crimes, not includes terrorist.
 Generic Types of Organized Crimes
a. Political Graft-manned by political criminals, who use
force and violence of a means to profit or gain and or
achieving political aims, like, vote-buying, employment
of private armies
b. The Mercenerary /Predatory Organized Crime-crimes
committed by groups for direct personal profit but prey
upon unwilling victims
c. In –Group Oriented Organized Crime- group manned by
semi organized individual whose major goals are for
psychological gratification such as adolescent gangs.
d. Syndicated Crimes- organization that
participates in illicit activity in society by the
use of force, threat or intimidation

What is Professional Crime

-refers to occupation or their incumbents,
which posses various traits including useful
knowledge that requires lengthy training,
service orientation and code of ethics.
China Organized Criminal Groups

1. Gangs (triads)- work in cooperative ventures

involving black market activities, large
burglaries, thefts, high jacking and extortion.
2. Criminal Syndicates- commonly involved in
more sophisticated crimes such as prostitution,
illegal migration, slavery and vices.
 Hong Kong Criminal Groups
1. Triad groups like; “Wo Sing Wo”
2. 14K
 Japan
1. Yakuza or Boryokudan
2. Sokoiya
 Cambodia
1. Chinese
2. Myanmorese
Involved in drug trafficking and human
smuggling, gambling, prostitution, etc.
 Republic of Korea
a. Keandal Emening Scarups

 Myanmar
a. United Wa State Army
b. Konkang Chinese
c. Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army of
-involved in protection of cultivation and refining of
illegal drugs
 What are Transnational Crimes?
- are crimes that have actual or potential effects across national
boarders and crimes which are intra-State but which offend
fundamental values of the international community.
Modern types of Transnational Crimes
1. Terrorism
2. Arms Smuggling
3. Computer crimes
4. Trans-chemical Environmental Crimes
5. Drug Trafficking
6. Human Trafficking
 Investigating Bodies for Transnational Crimes
 INTERPOL- by name of the International
Criminal Police Organization, an organization
established to promote international criminal
police cooperation.
 Interpol Three Core Services

 a unique global police communication

system.
 a range of criminal data bases and analytical
services.
 proactive support for police operations
throughout the world.
INTERPOL’s Five Types of Notices
a. Red notices-used to seek arrest and extradition of
suspects.
b. Blue notices- are used to seek information on the
identity of persons or on their illegal activities related to
criminal matters.
c. Green notices- used to provide warnings and criminal
intelligence about persons who have committed
criminal offenses.
d. Yellow notices- used to help locate missing persons .
e. Black notices- used to determine the identity of
deceased person.
Thank You

And

God Bless