Organized crime

Rare card · No. 29833

Organized crime refers to groups of centralized enterprises that engage in, and aim to profit from, illegal activities. Some forms of organized crime exist simply to meet demand for illegal goods or to facilitate trade in products and services banned by the state, such as illegal drugs or firearms. In other cases, criminal organizations force people to do business with them, as when gangs extort protection money from shopkeepers. In the United States, the Organized Crime Control Act (1970) defines organized crime as "[t]he unlawful activities of [...] a highly organized, disciplined association [...]". Criminal activity as a structured process is referred to as racketeering. In the UK, police estimate that organized crime involves up to 38,000 people operating in 6,000 various groups. Historically, the largest organized crime force in the United States has been Cosa Nostra (Italian-American Mafia), but other transnational criminal organizations have also risen in prominence in recent decades...

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