Organized Crime--Violence and Corruption
![handle is hein.journals/emlj20 and id is 65 raw text is: ORGANIZED CRIME-VIOLENCE AND CORRUPTION
William S. Lyncht & James W. Phillips
THE OMNIBUS CRIME CONTROL AND SAFE STREETS ACT OF 1968 defined
organized crime as those unlawful activities in which members of a highly
organized, disciplined association engage to supply illegal goods and
services.' Thus, Congress stated what organized crime is, and the President in
his Organized Crime Message of April 23, 1969, stated how organized crime
was able to maintain its empire. [T]he organized criminal relies on physical
terror and psychological intimidation, on economic retaliation and political
bribery, on citizen indifference and governmental acquiescence. He corrupts
our governing institutions and subverts our democratic processes.2
To maintain its exclusive markets for illegal goods and services and to
insulate its activities from governmental interference, organized crime
enforces, disciplines and controls its members and potential competitors by
fear and violence, and it nullifies civil and criminal sanctions of governments
by corrupting public officials. Organized crime's enforcement patterns can
be observed in the factual situations reflected in appellate review of
prosecutions undertaken in the past.
I
THE PROBLEM
Discipline and Control Through Violence
Organized crime maintains organizational integrity and business
continuity by arranging for the maiming and killing of recalcitrant members,
potential competitors, or witnesses against the group. In Patriarca v. United
States,3 the court in affirming the conviction of the leader of the organized
crime syndicate in New England4 stated that:
The gist of the alleged conspiracy was a plan involving the
appellants and [another] to kill. . the proprietor of a gambling
establishment in Providence. This establishment, which continued
to operate after once being raided, had caused overt police
tB.S., Fordham University; LL.B., Harvard University Law School. Chief, Organized
Crime and Racketeering Section, Criminal Division, Department of Justice.
'Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3781(b) (Supp. V, 1969).
'115 CONG. REc. 1041 (1969).
1402 F.2d 314 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1022 (1968).
'Hearings on Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics Before the Perm. Subcomm.
on Investigation of the Senate Comm. on Gov. Operations, 88th Cong., Ist Sess., pt. 1, at 284
and pt. 2, at 549-64 (1963).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/emlj20&div=10&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Organized Crime--Violence and Corruption
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