The World System: White Collar Crime &

Organized Crime

Cultural dynamics carry within them the meaning of crime

If DEVIANCE is relative (or a matter of perspective) then the behaviors we identify as deviant (or crimes) are a function of the changing values, beliefs and practices of a population

Crime and Deviance constitute more than the simple enactment of a static group culture-pg3

People’s cultural views and practices don’t just stay the same they are always changing, therefore you cannot suggest that a population is inherently criminal or inclined toward deviant behavior

Crucial to criminology is a critical understanding of current times (late modernity)

Criminology seeks to understand a world in flux, those who are marginalized and excluded economically as well as those who are exalted via forms of mass communication

“a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation” E. Sutherland 1949

Behavior that doesn’t violate criminal law should not be considered a crime, no matter how harmful it may be

Sutherland’s definition rules out lawbreaking behavior by the wealthy, such as tax evasion, that is not committed in the course of their occupation

Sutherland’s definition excluded crimes by blue-collar workers and businesses that share features of crimes committed by persons of high social status

Sutherland’s book, White-Collar Crime focused almost entirely on crime by corporations…did this mean that white-collar crime is something that only corporations and businesses can do?

Occupational crime-committed by individuals in the course of their occupation for personal gain Corporate crime-

committed by corporations (some prefer the term organizational crime over the term corporate crime)

:Coordinated efforts to acquire illegal profits

*when the public demands or desires goods or services, organized criminal efforts are often there to provide them (even if the products are legal)

*organized crime is believed to be involved in several legitimate businesses (trash-hauling, vending and amusement machines) as well as toxic-waste disposal

*primary sources of income for organized remain illegal activities and products: drugs, prostitution, pornography, gambling, loan sharking and extortion

Organized crime has existed for centuries. Earliest examples: Piracy

>Phoenicians, Vikings, buccaneers in the 1600’s

-by the end of the 1600s pirates openly traded their plunder with merchants in Boston, NY, Philadelphia and other port cities (golden age of piracy)

Piracy faded by late 1720s after “honest” officials exposed corruption and several pirate leaders were killed.

Understanding economic context

>major reason piracy ended was that merchants began to realize they could get greater profits by trading with England; after that, “the markets for pirate goods dried up, and the public demand for their services and support for their existence disappeared.” (Dennis Kenney, James Finckenaeur 95)

Began anew in NY in early 1800s (1mil people-most poor & half immigrant and unemployed-lived crammed into 2 square miles)

>young women were forced into prostitution, young men formed gangs that allowed them to commit crime more effectively and evade police; these early gangs were the forerunner of today’s organized crime groups (like previous org. criminal enterprises, relied on public officials)

By the end of the 1800s gangs had developed in NY and other eastern cities into extensive operations

Ethnic makeup of the groups reflected the great waves of immigration into the U.S. during the 19th century; as immigrants settled into cities many inevitably turned to organized crime to make ends meet

The Irish were the first to take up organized crime and became dominant in many cities

Later in the century Italians and Jews immigrated and got their share of the vice trade

In the 20th century African Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos have become more involved in organized crime

Organized is the one area where diverse groups have pursued economic opportunity and the American Dream

While urban gangs were the forerunners of organized crime, 19th century white collar criminals (robber barons) were the role models

Examples: Leland Stanford (railroads) bribed congressmen to gain land grants and federal loans for Central Pacific Railroad; JD Rockefeller (Standard Oil) forced competitors our of business with price wars and bombings; Du Pont family (gunpowder) cornered the market after the Civil War with bribery

Both Organized Crime and White Collar crime involve careful planning and coordinated effort to acquire illegal profits; both rely on active or passive collusion of public officials and on public willingness to buy the goods and services they provide

Rise of Organized Crime during Prohibition

After Prohibition: gambling

>starting in 1960’s moved into drug trade (50-150billion), reducing interests in gambling

Suggests that organized crime today is controlled by a highly organized, hierarchical group of some 24 Italian families (Alien Conspiracy Model or Mafia mystique)

Popularized in congressional hearings in the 1950s (see the Godfather II)

Sociologist Donald Cressey’s book Theft of the Nation articulated this model and argued that organized crime was largely unknown before Italians immigrated to the U.S. Assumed that organized crime exists because immigrants corrupt good U.S. citizens and prey on their weaknesses