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NSfK’s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998 According to this list of features, organized crime can be both a crime and a criminal organization, as indicated in the introduction to the eleven characteristics. This dual nature is important because it opens up the possibility that a series of criminal acts in itself can be characterized as organized criminality, even if there is no actual organization involved. This means that ad hoc cooperation in crimes, such as bank robberies or smuggling expeditions, can be characterized as organized crime if the other required criteria are met. 1. Collaboration of more than two people. The first condition for the presence of organized crime is the existence of a (rudimentary) organization, assumed here to mean more than two persons, i.e. a group of persons. However, this introductory and obligatory characteristic contains no requirement of an organization in the traditional sense: with a division of labor among various functions, with formalized relations among participants, or with a ranking of the participants. Thus, cooperation can include all forms of social organization from the loosest and most temporary form of cooperation to the most traditional forms of hierarchic and continuous organizations. This primary condition of cooperation among a group of persons is an important criterion for distinguishing between a specific and a common sense form of organized crime. While in everyday speech we may speak of a planned and continuous form of criminality that is carried out by individuals, such as repeated, unlawful smuggling of foreign women for prostitution, as crime that is (well) organized; it is clear here that such criminality can be designated as organized crime only under certain conditions. Thus, it is not sufficient for crime to be organized. It must be committed within (as opposed to by) an organization—understood here to be cooperation by a group of more than two persons. The wording of the first criterion for classification as organized crime is in close accord with criminological research on this type of criminality. This research shows that organized crime is not necessarily committed by or within bureaucratic structures, but it is carried out just as frequently in loosely structured net<strong>works</strong> (Potter, 1994). 2. Each with own appointed tasks. Division of labor is the expression normally used in organizational sociology to indicate “predetermined tasks” and it is customary to view an organization with a division of labor as more advanced or developed than an organization without a division of labor. After all, the division of labor indicates that the tasks the organization undertakes are so varied and specialized that the individual tasks must be divided among persons with various qualifications, functions, or rankings. In this context, the division of labor should be understood in a broad sense, meaning that a hierarchical system within an organization can also be seen as a kind of division of labor. This hierarchical form of the division of labor means there is a power structure and a built-in inequality within the organization. Both the functional and the hierarchical division of labor are well known in the international literature on criminal organizations, but there is hardly agreement among researchers, however, as to <strong>what</strong> form of power structure is characteristic of organized crime. Abadinsky maintains that organized criminal groups have a vertical power structure with three or more permanent levels and that authority is linked to ranking and that this is true regardless of which person assumes a position (Abadinsky, 1994: 6). Kenney & Finckenauer also stress the structural aspects. Organized criminals have a well structured hierarchy with leaders and subordinates, but also a number of “hangers-on” and people who are loosely connected to the organization (Kenney & Finckenauer, 1995: 4). Maltz, on the other hand, asserts that even though a well-defined (albeit informal) hierarchy maintained by force is usually in place, a definition of organized crime cannot be based on a particular form of structure, since these structures can be rather volatile (Maltz, 1985: 28). 24
NSfK’s 40. forskerseminar, Espoo, Finland 1998 3. For a prolonged or indefinite period of time. This characteristic entails an expectation that the criminal organization comprises a stable structure that is permanent or at least is not ad hoc in nature. As with the second criterion, the purpose is to qualify the organized aspects. We are not dealing here with temporary or spontaneous working forms, but more permanent formations. Both Abadinsky and Kenny & Finckenauer assume in their definitions of organized crime that the organized groups comprise a stable and continuous conspiracy, meaning there is an organization that can exist independently of its actual members—when leaders die or are imprisoned the organization does not collapse because they are replaced by others. Continuity is not crucial for Maltz. He stresses that there are both noncontinuous and continuous forms of organized crime. The noncontinuous forms are situational ad hoc groups that appear in order to profit from individual situations. For stable criminal organizations, however, it is their continuous activity, such as narcotics distribution, extortion, or illegal gambling that is the cohesive element (Maltz, 1985: 28). 4. Using some form of discipline and control. This characteristic of organized crime describes internal social control within the criminal organization. However, it is difficult to imagine any form of social organization without “some form of discipline and control.” A “particular form of discipline or control” would have been more meaningful, since without question it is a means of maintaining an organization and protecting the organization against legal measures that is meant. Abadinsky maintains that, like legitimate organizations, an organized criminal group has rules and regulations that its members are expected to follow (Abadinsky, 1994: 8), and Kenney & Finckenauer point out that membership, initiation rites, rules and regulations, activities, and leadership in an organized criminal group comprise the formal aspects of internal social control. These rules and rituals are surrounded by an oath of secrecy that, if broken, results in expulsion or death (Kenney & Finckenauer, 1995: 6). Maltz points out, however, that the use of force as an internal disciplinary means within criminal organizations has been on the decline and that the oath of secrecy mentioned above has been far from total, since there are numerous examples of members who have witnessed against their organization. Maltz also stresses that discipline in an organization in which most members are armed and ready to use their weapons must be based on a high degree of acceptance on the part of its members. Although there must, of course be some form of internal social control before a group of individuals can be called an organization, it is not—for Maltz—a decisive factor in the definition of organized crime (Maltz, 1985: 29). 5. Suspected of the commission of serious criminal offences. The fifth characteristic, which is one of the three obligatory ones, contains three significant elements. First of all, it is sufficient if there is suspicion of illegal activity, i.e. the lowest degree of crime assumption by police. Moreover, it is not specified as to how such suspicion is grounded, but since these criteria are based on international police cooperation, it may be assumed that the usual requirements in provisions regarding suspicion must be met: the suspicion must have a certain strength, the suspicion must be directed against a certain action, the suspicion must be directed against a certain person (or perhaps an organization in this case), the suspicion must be directed against an action that has been committed (Koch, 1980: 89). The latter condition is dubious, however, since “commission” may vaguely refer to either a criminal act already committed or the assumption of future criminality. Secondly, there are some (unspecified) requirements on the seriousness of the crime. It may be assumed, however, that there is a concept of proportionality built into these criteria. 25
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