Posted: February 14th, 2023

Intro to criminology

Intro to criminology
The scenario: you are a newly hired FBI agent working in the organized crime unit as part of your training you are learning about the use of racketeer influence and corrupt organization on Act Rico which was passed by Congress was the declare purpose of seeking to eradicate organized crime in the United States
Instructions 1) you should demonstrate your understanding of organized crime and be sure to explain and discuss the RICO act including the nature of what the fact covers what types of incidences are involved in organized crime what prosecutions have happened under the RICO act
2) provide a justification for keeping me organized crime unit in place
3) support your arguments with citations and sources in APA format.

Organized crime is distinctive because it is organized. The crimes are rational acts that are planned, and they reflect the effort of individuals or groups. Acts of organized crime are known as racketeering. The Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Act (RICO) is a law that was passed by Congress in 1970. The law prosecutes and defends the people who perpetrate or gate involved in organized crime. The law has been used to prosecute corrupt police and criminals from motorcycle gangs. Racketeering is detrimental to private and public institutions; thus, the law is designed to persecute these criminals even when they evade the police. Organized crime keeps the business profitable. The everyday illegal activities include drug trafficking, weapon trafficking, sex trafficking, prostitution and counterfeiting. According to (Blakey and Greetings,2013), when racketeering cases rise, the mobs can rob corporations, thus ruining companies.
Before Congress passed the racketeering laws, the lower-ranked members of the organized were often prosecuted. These members were the ones that carried out the illegals deals. Convicting the lower members protected the masterminds of the crime and made it hard to prosecute them. The RICO law provides the necessary tools to convict the offenders. For example, convicting a suspect under RICO does not necessarily require proof that the individual convicted the crime. However, the prosecutor must prove that the defendant regularly performs illegal activities and owns the organization. The RICO law has been used in many other scenarios, such as blocking abortion clinics (Gabor,2003). The law has also been used to prosecute priests who molest children.
Keeping an organized crime unit in place is useful to prosecute multiple people who are part of a racketeer organization. An organized crime unit, like the RICO Act, can completely cripple a criminal organization. The ACT eliminates the people at the top instead of taking out just fewer lower-level members.
Research shows that some racketeering offenses can be too organized for a prosecutor’s successful convict. However, if the RICO cannot prosecute the notorious criminal for the crimes, they can prosecute them for other crimes such as tax evasion (Đorđević,2009). On the contrary (Gabor,2003) argues that prosecuting these groups’ leaders can disrupt the criminal organization. Moreover, critics claim that prosecuting the leader does not disrupt criminal groups because they often replace the incarcerated leaders with other suitable individuals from groups. Headhunting can be effective when the prosecutor’s arrest the low-level offenders and get them to flip. The low-level offenders can get arrested for minor charges, and the plea bargain can get used to secure their testimony against the organization leaders (Đorđević,2009).
The RICO act focuses on racketeering cases and allows the prosecution of the leaders and organized crime members. The law has been able to shut down illegal practices. Also, the law has been used to prosecute corrupt police and child molesters. The RICO law has managed to convict the members and leaders of crime families. Some of the crime leaders in the New York City mafia include (Bonano, Gambino, Colombo, Lucchese, and Genovese, who were convicted and sent to prison. The RICO law created instability in the crime families, thus attributing the government’s success.

References
Blakey, G. R., & Gettings, B. (2013). Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO): Basic Concepts-Criminal and Civil Remedies. Temp. LQ, 53, 1009.
Đorđević, S. (2009). Understanding transnational organized crime as a Security threat and Security Theories. Western Balkans Security Observer-English Edition, (13), 29-39.
Gabor, T. (2003). Assessing the effectiveness of organized crime control strategies: a review of the literature. Research and Statistics Division,[Department of Justice Canada].