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22 Am. Inst. Crim. L. & Criminology 652 (1931-1932)
Some Observations Concerning Organized Crime

handle is hein.journals/jclc22 and id is 616 raw text is: SOME OBSERVATIONS CONCERI-NG ORGANIZED CRIME HENRY BARRETT CHAMBERLIN' Organized crime is a manifestation of economic movement. In its present form it is the result of an increasing intelligence on the part of the criminal class-the application of the capitalistic system by the predatory who are not openly protected by the forms of law. Organized crime is as ancient as civilization. It begins at a time older than recorded history. It is a tradition dating back farther than the days when Hiram Abif, grand architect of the Temple of Solomon, was slain by ruffians who attempted to wrest from him the secret that would enable them to ply their vocation successfully in new fields of endeavor. It is basically founded on an economic condition and its historical aspects carry the student into almost every field of human activity. It is only slightly less basic than the sex relation- ship and those two other fundamentals with which mankind is most concerned, the providing of food and a place of habitation. A competent history of organized crime carried through to the development of the movement under present day conditions, -with its underlying sources and philosophy, would require a treatise dealing with human relationships over the centuries. It would concern the feudal system, the feats of the old buc- caneers, the slave traders, the caravan highwaymen of the far east, the smugglers, the mafia of Italy, the Molly Maguires of more recent times and the many others of their ilk. It would ponder alliances between those frowned upon by the law and the allegedly respectable folk who profited by their misdeeds; it would note the frequent paraly- sis of justice; and it would trace these characteristics of criminal history in times agone down to the present day conditions and the activities of the modern gangster and racketeer. It would concern not only the material but the spiritual, with considerations of reli- gion. environment and geographical mobility; the passions and the greed of men; and it would lead logically to those operations of crim- inal groups which we face today. And if there could be reached an understanding of the mental processes of the individuals of the various groups there could be had an understanding of the modern gangster. 'Operating Director, Chicago Crime Commission.

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