Defining organised crime in Australia and the USA

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 1990, Pages 39-59

  Bersten, Michael ^a  

^a Commonwealth Attorney General's Department ^*  (United States)

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EID: 84970651544     PISSN: 00048658     EISSN: 18379273     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/000486589002300104     Document Type: Article

References (85)

1. For example, Royal Commission into Allegations of Organised Crime in Licensed Clubs (1974) Report, Sydney: D West, NSW Govt Printer para 119 (Moffitt, 1974); Australian Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drugs (1980) Report, Canberra: AGPS pp A322-3; Charles H Rogovin, Assistant Director for the Organized Crime Section of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice (1967), cited in Pennsylvania Crime Commission (1980) A Decade of Organized Crime 1980 Report, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania p 2. There are no substantive definitions of organised crime in Australian and Federal US statute law relating directly to law enforcement operations. Neither the definition of “relevant offence” in s 4 of the National Crime Authority Act 1984 (Cth) nor the definition of “relevant drug offence” in s 3 of the State Drug Crime Commission Act 1985 (NSW) is a definition of organised crime and will not therefore be considered in this article; see also discussion of Type 1 definitions.
2. National Crime Authority (NCA) (1985-1986) Annual Report, Canberra: AGPS p 2.
3. Joint Parliamentary Committee on the NCA (PJCNCA) (1988) The National Crime Authority: An Initial Evaluation, Canberra: ParHament of the Commonwealth of Australia para 2.1.
4. There is a considerable amount of literature on the definition of organised crime, for example, Smith, D (1975) The Mafia Mystique, London: Hutchinson; Maltz, M (1976) “On Defining ‘Organized Crime'”, Crime and Delinquency 22 pp 338-46; Maltz, M (1985) “Towards Defining Organized Crime in The Politics and Economics of Organized Crime (eds H E Alexander and G B Caiden). Massachusetts: Lexington Books pp 21-35; Doleschal, E, Newton, A and Hickey, Q (1981) A Guide to the Literature on Organized Crime, an Annotated Bibliography Covering the Years 1967-1981, New Jersey: National Council on Crime and Delinquency; Hagan, F E (1983) “The Organized Crime Continuum: A Further Specification of a New Conceptual Model” Criminal Justice Review 8, pp 52-7; lanni, F and E (1983) “Organized Crime: Overview” in Encyclopaedia of Crime and Justice (ed S Kadish) New York: Free Press pp 1094-1107; Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drug Trafficking (1983) Report, Canberra: AGPS pp 496-505 (Stewart, 1983); Morash, M (1984) “Definitions of Crime: Fact or Fiction?” in Major Forms of Crime (ed R F Meier) Beverley Hills: Sage pp 191-220; Rhodes, R (1984) Organized Crime: Crime Control v Civil Liberties, New York: Random House; Bynum, T (ed) (1987) Organized Crime in America: Concepts and Controversies, New York: Willow Tree pp 3-5.
5. For an American example: Pennsylvania Crime Commission (1980) p 2.
6. Bottom B (1979) The Godfather in Australia, Sydney: Reed; (1984) Without Fear or Favour, Melbourne: Sun; (1985) Connections, Melbourne: Sun; (1987) Connections II, Melbourne: Sun; (1988) Shadow of Shame, Melbourne: Sun/Macmillan; Bottom does seem to have produced a formal definition, but research has yet to reveal where it is published, see Select Committee on Crime Control (1978) Interim Report, Sydney: D West, NSW Govt Printer p 65.
7. Bottom; B (1979) pp 13.
8. (1984) ch 13 discussing Broken Hill and the Barrier Industrial Council. (1984) p 158.
9. (1979) p 14; (1984) pp 28, 157.
10. (1984) pp 26, 158; (1985) p 20.
11. (1988) pp 211-17.
12. (1985) p 25.
13. (1984) p 158.
14. (1979) p 13.
15. Haupt, R., Sydney Morning Herald 15 September 1984 p 46.
16. Whitton, E (1986) Can of Worms, Sydney: Fairfax Library p 9; (1987) Can of Worms II, Sydney: Fairfax'Library; see also Sydney Morning Herald 17 October 1984 p 13; 8 April 1986 pp 13-16; 29 ApriJ 1987 p 35; Whitton claims that his 1986 piece “Crime and Justice” was a 20,000 word “stab at defining” organised crime - see Sydney Morning Herald 5 April 1986 p 15.
17. Whitton, E (1986) p 9.
18. Whitton, E (1986) pp 29-39; Sydney Morning Herald 8 April 1986 p 13.
19. Maltz, M (1976).
20. Moffitt, A., (1974) para 119.
21. Lindesmith, A. R. (1941) “Organized Crime” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 217 pp 119-27, 119.
22. Pace, D.F. and Styles J. C. (1975) Organized Crime: Concepts and Control, New Jersey: Prentice Hall p 18; O'Malley P (1985a) Marxist Theory and Marxist Criminology (paper delivered at the 1985 Law and Society Conference Canberra, Australia December 1985) treats organised crime as corporations in the illegal sector of capital.
23. Reckless, W. C. (1973) The Crime Problem, New Jersey: Prentice Hall (5th ed) p 296.
24. Sellin, T (1963/1970) “Organized Crime: A Business Enterprise” reprinted in Crime In America (ed Cohen, B) Illinois: Peacock; Cressey, D (1969) Theft of the Nation, New York: Harper & Row; Cressey, D (1972) Criminal Organizations: Its Elementary Forms, London: Heinemann Educational Books; McIntosh, M (1975) The Organization of Crime, London: Macmillan pp 50-51.
25. Moynihan, D. P. (1961) “The Private Government of Crime” 25 The Reporter (6 July 1961) reprinted in Cohen, B (1970); Bequai, A (1979) Organized Crime: The Fifth Estate, Massachusetts: Lexington Books.
26. Freney, D. (1984) “Rightwing Labor and Crime” Australian Left Review (Autumn) pp 34-7, 59; 35.
27. Whitton, E (1986) 29; (1987) p 110.
28. USPC (1967) ch 7, especially p 192.
29. Cressey, D (1969) (1972).
30. Galliher, J. F. and Cain, J. A. (1974) “Citation Support for the Mafia Myth in Criminology Textbooks” The American Sociologist 9 (May) pp 68-74; Sutheriand, E and Cressey, D (1978) Criminology, Philadelphia: Lippincott (10th ed) pp 285-289; Void, G B and Bernard, T J (1986) Theoretical Criminology, New York: Oxford University Press (3rd ed) pp 322-9.
31. Pace, D. F. and Styles, J. C. (1975) especially ch 14; Meagher, D (1983) Organised Crime, Canberra: AGPS pp 20-22; USPC (1986) The Impact: Organized Crime Today, Washington: US Govt Printing Office pp 19-33.
32. Meagher, D (1983) p 20.
33. Costigan, F. X. (1986) “Control of Organized Crime with Reflections on Sydney” in SUIC (1986) pp 10-17.
34. Meagher, D (1983) pp 20-21.
35. (1983) p 53.
36. Maltz, M (1985) pp 24-35.
37. Smith, D (1975) pp 246-7.
38. Kefauver, E (1952) Crime in America, London: Victor Gollancz; cf Bequai, A (1979) p 6; Pace, D F and Styles, J C (1975); Moffitt, A (1985): 5-6; Sydney Morning Herald 17 October 1984 p 13.
39. Smith, W F (1983) “Organized Crime Today” Drug Enforcement (Spring) pp 7-9.
40. Reagan, R (1983) “A Turning Point in the Battle Against Crime” Drug Enforcement (Spring) p 3.
41. Executive Order No 12435 July 28, 1983, 48 FR 34723.
42. USPC (1986) p 25.
43. Reagan, R (1983) p 3.
44. Philcox, N. W. (1978) pp 5-6.
45. Reuter, P (1983) Disorganized Crime, Boston: MIT ch 6.
46. Maltz, M (1976) pp 342-3.
47. Cressey (1972) ch 1.
48. Hagan, F E (1983).
49. Findlay, M (1986) “Organised Crime as Terrorism” Australian Quarterly (Spring) pp 286-96.
50. Reuter, P (1983) p 174.
51. Findlay, M (1986).
52. Bell, D (1960) “Crime as an American Way of Life” reprinted in Cohen B (1970).
53. Martens, F. T. (1986) “Organized Crime Control: The Limits of Government Intervention” Journal of Criminal Justice 14 pp 239-47; cf McIntosh, M (1975).
54. Packer, H (1968) The Limits of the Criminal Sanction, Stanford University Press; Morris, N and Hawkins, G {1911) The Honest Politicians’ Guide to Crime Control, Melbourne: Sun.
55. lanni, F.E. (1983) 1096; Reuter, P (1983).
56. Lupsha, P A (1981).
57. Lea, J. and Young, J. (1984) p 43.
58. Schelling, T C (1967) “Economic Analysis and Organized Crime” in USPC (1967) Task Force Report: Organized Crime, Washington: US Govt Printing Office: pp 114-126; Clark, R (1970) Crime in America, New York: Simon & Schuster pp 68-69; lanni, F and E (1983); Reuter, P (1983); Brown, D (1985) “Organized Crime: Changing Practices Markets and Relations” Australian Left Review 10; Brown, D (1986) “Organized Crime: An Evil or a Business” Sydney Morning Herald 6 June 1986 p 17; Martens, F T (1986); Australian Institute of Criminology (1984) Corruption and Illegal Markets, Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
59. Smith, D (1975) pp 324-47; Block, A A and Chambliss, W J (1981) Organizing Crime, New York: Elsevier p 11; Maltz, M (1985) pp 24-35. '
60. O'Malley, P. (1985a); O'Malley, P (1985b) “The Illegal Sector of Capital: A Theoretical Examination of Organizing Crime'' Contemporary Crises 9 pp 81-92.
61. Bacon, W. and Mowbray, M. (1987) “Crime, The State and Social Policy” in Zdenkowski, G, Ronalds, C and Richardson, M (eds) (1987) Criminal Injustice System vol 2, Sydney: Pluto pp 158-70.
62. McIntosh, M (1975); Martens, F T (1986).
63. Bacon, W and Mowbray, M (1987) p 170.
64. Schwendinger, H.J. (1975) “Defenders of Order or Guardians of Human Rights?” in Critical Criminology (eds Taylor, I, Walton, P and Young, J) London: Routledge Kegan Paul pp 113-47; Quinney, R (1970) The Social Reality of Crime, Boston: Little, Brown; Quinney, R (1974) Critique of Legal Order: Crime Control in Capitalist Society, Boston: Little, Brown; Quinney, R and Wildeman, J (1977) The Problem of Crime, New York: Harper & Row (2nd ed); Quinney, R (1980) Class, State and Crime, New York: Longman (2nd ed); Brown, D (1977) “Criminal Justice Reform: A Critique” in The Australian Criminal Justice System (eds Chappell, D and Wilson, P), Sydney: Butterworths pp 471-91; Miliband, R (1980) The State in Capitalist Society, London: Quartet; Pearce, F (1973) “Crime, Corporations and the American Social Order” in Politics And Deviance (eds Taylor, I and L, Middlesex: Pelican pp 13-42; Pearce, F (1976); Wilson, P and Braithwaite, J (1978) Crimes of the Powerful, St Lucia: UQP.
65. Bacon, W and Mowbray, M (1987) p 170.
66. Brown, D (1987) “The Politics of Reform” in Zdenkowski, G, Ronalds, C and Richardson, M (1987) pp 254-81; Jones, K (1979) “Crimes of the Powerful and Beyond: An Essay Review” Contemporary Crises 3 pp 317-31; Taylor, I, Walton, P and Young, J (1973) The New Criminology, London: Routledge Kegan Paul: ch 8; Carson, W G (1974) “The Sociology of Crime and the Emergence of Criminal Laws” in Deviance and Social Control (eds Rock, P and McIntosh, M), London: Tavistock pp 67-90; Thompson, E P (1978) The Poverty of Theory, London: Merlin; Thompson, E P (1982) The Making of the English Working Class, Middlesex: Pelican pp 8-13; Thompson, E P (1985) Whigs & Hunters, Middlesex: Peregrine pp 258-69; O'Malley, P (1983) Law, Capitalism And Democracy, Sydney: George Allen & Unwin: ch 1 & 2; Reuter, P (1983) p 174.
67. McCoy, A (1980), Drug Traffic, Sydney: Harper & Row.
68. (1980) p 22.
69. Block, A A and Chambliss, W J (1981); for specific criticism see O'Malley, P (1985b).
70. McCoy, A (1980) p 337; see Moffitt, A (1974) p 4.
71. PJCNCA (1988) paras 2.19-2.20.
72. McCoy, A (1980) pp 334-7; this kind of analysis has been updated, see NCAPJC (1988) paras 2.2-2.22.
73. Taylor, I, Walton, P and Young, J (1975) articles by Taylor and Walton and Paul Hirst; Zdenkowski, G and Brown, D (1982) The Prison Struggle, Ringwood: Penguin ch 4.
74. Zdenkowski, G and Brown, D (1982) p 44.
75. Thompson, E P (1982) p 8.
76. O'Malley, P. (1985a), (1985b).
77. McCoy, A (1980) ch 2-6; pp 334-7.
78. Moffitt, A (1985) pp 43, 70; Hall, R (1986) Disorganized Crime, St Lucia: UQP p 69.
79. Hickie, D (1985) The Prince and the Premier, Sydney: Angus & Robertson.
80. Bottom, B (1985) (1987).
81. Whitton, E (1986).
82. Hall, R (1986) ch 5.
83. NCA (1987-1988) Annual Report, Canberra: AGPS p 2.
84. Pearce, F (1976) p 15.
85. A question related to the definition of organised crime is the definition of crime. This problem will not be considered for reasons of space.