Thinking about Organised Crime

THE RUSI JOURNAL

THINKING ABOUT ORGANISED CRIMESTRUCTURE AND THREAT

MICHAEL LEVI

The term organised crime suggests a greater level of coherence than exists in reality, while the major threat imagery it evokes is useful for some purposes but

Organised crime is a curious The

Godfather Goodfellas or The Sopranos Underbelly

gestalt

banker or accountant wonders how

1

not have been

2

3

mujahedeen

vide

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7

Courtesy of Andrew Milligan/AP Photo.

4

capacity to predatory

5

Costs, Harms and Threats

and

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THINKING ABOUT ORGANISED CRIME

6

intriguing that when asked which crimes

did not

7

8

9 this

x

explicit

10

evidence about actual risks and costs

11

12

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MICHAEL LEVI

them to organised crime and assessing

13 This

grounds that without organised crime

14

strong enough to threaten or resist the

15

occur within

some

16

Table 1: Minimum

Direct Economic Cost ()

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THINKING ABOUT ORGANISED CRIME

17

A high level of

criminal group creates economies of scale

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public

Organising Crimes

19

rate of growth

20

21

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MICHAEL LEVI

associated with serious organised crime

organised-crime-related

22

Intervening Against Organised Crimes

the dynamics

23 This

caudillos

24

commit crime

25 This

concept

26

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THINKING ABOUT ORGANISED CRIME

reduced

Concluding Thoughts

organised crimes and the networks

Few individual elements of organised

threat

their crimes in their totality

countermeasures are needed to monitor

Michael Levi is Professor of Criminology

the control of white-collar and organised

Senior Research Fellow at RAND Europe.

is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the

The author would like to thank John

and the anonymous reviewers

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MICHAEL LEVI

individuals as crimes such

13 Ibidnet

The :

16 Ibid

Second Report of the Inter-Departmental

Counts

Notes

Criminology th

The Character

in Control

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THINKING ABOUT ORGANISED CRIME

Territories

Crime Strategy

Journal

Further Insights into Aspects of the EU Illicit Drugs Market

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