Perspectives on Organizing Crime

Block, Alan A.

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-3344-9

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…The first organizing crime scenario was documented in particular work settings, such as the maritime ports that Block studied (Block & Chambliss, 1981;Block, 1991). More recent illustrations include McIllwain's (2004) study of New York City's Chinatown at the turn of the twentieth century and two studies on human smuggling channels (Zhang & Chin, 2002;Kleemans & van de Bunt, 2003).…”

Section: The Criminal and Legitimate Enterprise Overlapmentioning

confidence: 96%

“Legitimate Strengths in Criminal Networks”

Morselli

Giguère

2006

Crime Law Soc Change

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Extending from the organizing crime perspective, we study how legitimate world actors contribute to structuring a criminal network. This focus also underscores the facilitating role that some participants have in criminal settings. Based on a case study of an illegal drug importation network that was monitored by law-enforcement investigators over a two-year period, we find that although most legitimate actors (or non-traffickers) had nominal roles and contributed minimally to the criminal network's structure, a minority of these actors were critical to the network in two ways: (1) they were active in bringing other participants (including traffickers) into the network; and (2) they were influential directors of relationships with both non-traffickers and traffickers. The presence of such influential participants from legitimate occupational settings illustrates how upperworld figures can facilitate criminal enterprise beyond the mere contributions of legitimate status and expertise.The presence of legitimate actors in criminal networks has been a consistent concern for criminologists studying criminal markets, organized crime, economic crime, and other forms of criminal enterprise. The overlap between legitimate and criminal settings is evident, but the presence of legitimate actors in criminal contexts is still ambiguous. Legitimate actors connected to networks designed for criminal ventures may serve as tokens or exploited prey, but they may also be consensual actors pursuing their own interests. Although their place in a criminal operation may be justified by the contribution of a legitimate status or facade to the network, they may also have a more active and critical involvement.Past research has provided opposing perspectives on this issue. The first follows a traditional organized crime framework and places the legitimate actor under the control of the criminal entrepreneur. The second follows an organizing crime framework that emphasizes the symbiotic relationships that emerge between actors from upper-and underworlds. Our study applies social network analysis in weighing the traditional organized crime framework against its organizing crime alternative. Whether their functions are nominal or critical, legitimate actors are generally facilitators in criminal settings. We evaluate the contribution of legitimate actors in a case study of a hashish and cocaine importation network and highlight the various ways that nontraffickers contribute to the structuring of illegal drug trafficking operations. Our analysis illustrates that, at least for a minority of legitimate actors involved, their contribution as facilitators goes beyond the mere token role.

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Section: The Criminal and Legitimate Enterprise Overlapmentioning

confidence: 96%

“Legitimate Strengths in Criminal Networks”

Morselli

Giguère

2006

Crime Law Soc Change

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“…The garbage crisis in Naples displays some traits that enable this analysis to be taken further, approaching definitions provided by Block (1991) and Chambliss (1978). The former suggests that the term "organised crime" should be abandoned altogether in favour of the term "illegal enterprise".…”

Section: From Landesco To Block and Chamblissmentioning

confidence: 99%

Green Criminology and Dirty Collar Crime

Ruggiero

South

2010

Crit Crim

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“…Depicted as a self-perpetuating criminal conspiracy, organised crime is viewed through the notion of bureaucracy, whereby it is described as hierarchically structured, characterise by formal rules and consisting of individuals with specialised and segmented functions within the hierarchy (Cressey 1969). Critics of this characterisation regard as credulous a sociology focused on big conspiracies and reject the ideas that crime groups are run by centralised syndicates, 'commissions' or 'boards of directors' who have a feudal-like control over their members (Albini 1971;Block 1991;Calder 1992;Chambliss 1978;Smith 1991). Despite such criticism, the above institutional definition has been reiterated for decades, while other analyses have simultaneously focused on strictly quantitative aspects, namely the number of individuals involved in a criminal group (Johnson 1962;Ferracuti 1988); the larger scale of its illegal activity (Moore 1987); and on a temporal variable, that is on the time-span during which illegal activities are conducted (Ianni 1972).…”

Section: Families and Enterprisesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Organisation of Drug Supply: South Asian Criminal Enterprise in the UK

Ruggiero

Khan

2007

Asian Criminology

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This paper examines the structure and modus operandi of South Asian criminal organisations operating in the UK. It is based on empirical research conducted between 2005 and 2006 among prisoners sentenced for drug offences, a number of drug distributors operating in the market, and observers with a knowledge of the drugs business working for the police force or for rehabilitation services. First, the paper offers an overview of the debate on organised crime, and after a methodological note, the research findings are utilised to propose a typology. Hypotheses are formulated around the illicit drug enterprises involved in British markets. Finally, the implications for law enforcement with respect to these enterprises are discussed.

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Perspectives on Organizing Crime

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

“Legitimate Strengths in Criminal Networks”

“Legitimate Strengths in Criminal Networks”

Green Criminology and Dirty Collar Crime

The Organisation of Drug Supply: South Asian Criminal Enterprise in the UK

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