Criminology

Organized crime exists in almost all societies of the world. They control the dark world and are involved in a range of criminal acts such as drug trafficking, contracted murderers, kidnapping and supply of illegal goods such as weapons. Most criminal gangs are linked with international gangs which make them difficult to control. Organized crime has been considered as the greatest threat to security in the world due to its social, political and economical impact of international organized criminal syndicates.

In Japan, organized criminal syndicates are known as Yakuza. There are over eighty six thousand members of organized criminal gangs in Japan. Japan has the highest number of organized crime figures ever. Their main occupation of making money is from illegal activities such as prostitution, drug trade and control of real estates and constructions. They also control the entertainment industry. The Yakuza is closely linked with the organized crime syndicates in Korea and the Russian mafia. The organized crime groups in Korea control entertainment and media business and are influential politically. They also control the dark world such as extortion, drug trafficking, sale of illegal arms, prostitution, money laundering and gambling. Similar to the yakuza, they have characteristic tattoo that identifies them. The Russian mafias are organized crime groups that originated from the Soviet Union. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian mafias have spread to all parts of the world where there are Russian societies. They are involved in illegal fuel and weapon trade and money laundering.

With its large population, China has a very large number of criminal gangs. They are active in all parts of the country but the most affected towns are Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. There are over one and half million criminal groups which are active in China. The number of these gangs has risen tremendously in the last two decades of the 20th century with the number rising from a hundred thousand to about 1.5 million at the end of the 20th century. There are a very large number of small organized crime syndicates in the country who are involved in robbery, smuggling of illegal goods, drug trafficking, gambling, racketeering and contracted murder. There are other larger organized gangs such as the Triads and the Big Circles. Triads are a family of organized criminal syndicate that operates in Hong Kong and Macao. These criminal gangs are involved in a range of criminal operations including human trafficking. The rise in organized crime syndicate activities in Mexico has attracted a lot of attention. Between 2005 and 2008, organized crime syndicates were reported to have killed about eleven thousand people in the country. Moreover, organized criminal gangs in Mexico are responsible for drug trafficking from the Latin America to the United States. The illegal drug industry in Mexico is a billion dollar industry where the gangs invest their gains in real estate and entertainment industry.

Organized criminal gangs in the United States have not been different from the above mentioned countries. Criminal gangs in the United States are commonly known as mafia, mob or La Cosa Nostra. Like organized crime syndicate in other countries, the Mafia in the United States are very organized groups and their organization may be similar to that of large multinational companies. They are involved in drug trafficking, racketeering and extortion. The criminal gangs in the United States are also involved in white collar crimes which are very rare in other parts of the world. There is a rise in the number of criminal syndicates being involved in unlawful business in the stock market, health insurance and mobile communication (Wright, 2006).

Combating organized crime
Combating organized crime has been a big challenge to the federal security systems. It has become increasingly difficult to investigate, arrest and prosecute organized criminal gangs in the United States. The level of organization of the organized crime syndicates makes it a difficult task to deal with them. Their administrative organization is as advanced as the organization in some of the multinational companies. This effective organization and highly technical skills in their criminal activities makes it difficult to investigate cases involving organized crime and come up with substantial evidence that can be used to prosecute them. Moreover, the major perpetrators of the crimes are isolated from the operations and therefore even if people are arrested and prosecuted, most probably the main criminal will evade arrest. The racketeering operations involve complicated commercial transactions which are very similar to normal transactions and are therefore not easily suspected. Another major setback is the lack of witnesses to testify on the inner businesses of these syndicates. The members of the criminal syndicates are highly secretive and may be unwilling to disclose some secret information about the business even if they are arrested (Miller, 1963).

However, the organized criminal gangs activities can be dealt with by the relevant law enforcement agencies. Through capacity building and international cooperation, the federal security agencies can be able to investigate, arrest and prosecute the main perpetrators of organized crimes. Organized crime syndicates and their activities can be eradicated in the society not by prosecuting the individuals directly involved in the crimes but the leaders of the criminal syndicate. Professional assistance from relevant bodies such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and crime is essential in dealing with organized crimes.  

By approaching the problem internationally will aid in the dealing with organized crime groups. Most organized criminal groups have oversea linkages which makes their operations complex. By investigating their allies at the international levels, most of which are linked in drug trafficking or even human trafficking, the security agencies will be able to understand the dealings of these criminal groups. This requires cooperation with international security agencies through exchange of information and ideas. In this respect, the federal bureau of investigation, FBI has senior agents all over the world who provide useful information about organized criminal gangs in different countries. However, most of these agents operate secretly. The FBI has also established partnership with other police forces in the world in dealing with international organized crimes syndicates.

Based on the level of organization and complexity of organized crime syndicates, investigation of these syndicates cannot rely upon spying. Prosecution requires concrete information and evidence of criminal act because in many of these cases, it is difficult to obtain witnesses to testify in the court of law. It is also clear that some government and agencies aid in the complexity of organized crime groups by either hiding their bank accounts, international partners or sealing their activities such as their drug manufacturing plants and storage activities. Another challenge is the unlikelihood of the organized crime group to disintegrate even after some of their leaders have been prosecuted. These groups more often change their tactics in case of such incidences and promote some of the members to leadership position. This makes these groups difficult to eradicate from the society (Wright, 2006).

Another important tool in dealing with organized crime both at the local and international level is the use of intelligence. The use of intelligence has been a useful tool in dealing with security threat since the start of the cold war. Intelligence provides useful information on criminal gangs which include religious extremists involved in terrorist attack. They provide information that lead to further investigation of gangs involved in smuggling of fire arms and transportation of illegal drugs. It is a difficult task to investigate the relationship between international organized criminal gangs or their cooperation with greedy government official or terrorists using the normal technical methods of criminal investigation. Incase substantial evidence is collected through cooperation of different law enforcement agencies, it is important for the federal agencies to assure witness protection. In many cases involving organized criminal gangs, witnesses are not willing to testify in court of law due to fear of intimidation and threat from the gang. Both the law enforcers and the criminal judicial systems authorities should cooperate and provide adequate security to the witnesses.

In conclusion, collection of accurate information is the most important prerequisite in dealing with organized crime. This has been a challenge due to the complexity of internationally linked organized crime organization. Coordinating intelligence service and investigation with cooperation from international agencies and foreign law enforces, it is possible to correct substantial evidence that can be used to arrest and prosecute the leaders of these groups.