An incipient taxonomy of organised crime

Alach, Zhivan

doi:10.1007/s12117-011-9119-z

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In the common lexicon, moreover, the term mafia is used to refer metaphorically to situations marked more by particularism and clientelism than on universal or meritocratic dynamics. By contrast, we will use the concept of mafia in a more circumscribed sense: as a form of organized crime, with unique attributes of its own (e.g., Finckenauer, 2005;von Lampe, 2005;Sciarrone, 2009;Alach, 2011).…”

Section: Mafia: a Possible Ideal-typementioning

confidence: 99%

The territorial expansion of mafia-type organized crime. The case of the Italian mafia in Germany

Sciarrone

Storti

2013

Crime Law Soc Change

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The present paper deals with the territorial movements of the mafia groups. Dopo aver postulato che il concetto di mafia fa riferimento a una forma di criminalità organizzata con caratteristiche sui generis, il paper presenta: i) un repertorio dei meccanismi sottesi ai processi espansivi delle mafie in territori estranei a quelli della loro origine; ii) una tassonomia delle forme che assume la presenza mafiosa nei territori non tradizionali. By a case study approach, il quadro concettuale delineato viene applicato alla presenza della mafia in Germania, ricostruita mediante il ricorso a fonti di tipo documenatle. Pur trattandosi di un'indagine di tipo esplorativo, emergono alcune chiare acquisizioni: i) il maggiore coinvolgimento della 'ndrangheta rispetto alle altre mafie italiane tradizionali (Cosa Nostra e Camorra); ii) il fatto che anche nelle espansioni di "successo" la mafia non riproduce il radicamento tipico dei territori originari, incentrando la sua presenza intorno prevalentemente all'infiltrazione dell'economia e alla conduzione di attività nei mercati illegali.

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Section: Mafia: a Possible Ideal-typementioning

confidence: 99%

The territorial expansion of mafia-type organized crime. The case of the Italian mafia in Germany

Sciarrone

Storti

2013

Crime Law Soc Change

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“…It is vital to understand, then, that CGRAM rests philosophically on a conceptualisation of organised crime where what matters is the existence of some sort of organisation -whether called a group, a gang, a network, or anything else -for the purposes of promoting, encouraging, or enabling criminal activity (Alach, 2010). CGRAM could have been used on the rape gang that terrorised Sydney, Australia, in 2000(Unknown Author, 2003.…”

Section: Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rather, dissatisfaction with existing definitions led to a range of work on varied topics, of which CGRAM was one. The causal flow is thus: dissatisfaction with definitions and theory leading to applied work, including CGRAM (see Alach, 2010).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Zealand approach to prioritising criminal groups

Alach¹

2012

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies &Amp; Management

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to develop a better method for prioritising organised criminal groups, utilising the existing literature on organised crime and risk assessment. Design/methodology/approach -The study began with an existing prioritisation model, and then involved a review of relevant literature in the fields of organised crime and risk assessment tools. It was then followed by iterative development of a new tool, the Criminal Group Risk Assessment Model (CGRAM), including semi-structured discussions with subject matter experts to ensure the validity of the tool. Findings -There is little agreement on key concepts and definitions of organised crime, and perhaps because of this, a large number of prioritisation tools with widely differing methodologies and guiding philosophies. A better tool can be developed through a closer examination of the academic literature and careful consideration of all relevant factors, including control measures and ease of use.Research limitations/implications -Research was limited by the unavailability of source material on other risk assessment tools, and in particular any documents explaining the conceptual underpinnings of those tools. Practical implications -CGRAM provides an easy-to-use tool for the prioritisation of organised criminal groups and could be of substantial use to law enforcement agencies worldwide due to its universal approach. Originality/value -While there are many prioritisation tools around, most of them are constrained by a limited conception of organised crime and a seeming lack of attention to the academic literature. CGRAM, while simple and easy to use, is founded on a sound research base and could provide a universal aid to law enforcement agencies.

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“… 2. Eck and Gersh (2000); Pearson and Hobbs (2001, 2003); Cornish and Clarke (2002); Browne Mason, Murphy, and Rachel (2003); Clarke and Brown (2003); May & Hough (2004) Dorn, Levi, and King (2005); Finckenauer (2005); Ritter (2006, 2010); Desroches (2007); Murji (2007); Gamella and Jimnez (2008); Sandberg (2008, 2012); Dickson-Gomez (2010); Malm, Bichler, and Van De Walle (2010); Alach (2011); Bouchard and Ouellet (2011); Lauchs, Keast, and Yousefpour (2011); Malm and Bichler (2011); Bright, Hughes, and Chalmer (2012); Kostelnik and Skarbek (2013); Nguyen and Bouchard (2013); Le (2013); Le and Lauchs (2013); Bouchard and Morselli (2014); and Shammas, Sandberg, and Pedersen (2014). Calderoni (2012) recently used the typology in describing two drug trafficking groups that belonged to the ’Ndrangheta , a mafia from the Italian region of Calabria.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Classifying the Variety of Drug Trafficking Organizations

Natarajan

Zanella²,

2015

Journal of Drug Issues

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A standard typology of drug trafficking organizations would assist in interpreting the results of studies made of these organizations. Several such typologies have been proposed, and this study examines a widely cited typology that was developed in the 1990s using New York City court data. The typology has two dimensions, organizational tasks and structure. It satisfactorily encompassed the trafficking organizations identified in two new samples: 39 organizations prosecuted in New York City in 1997-2007 and 50 organizations prosecuted during the same period by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The findings supported the generalizability of the typology. They also suggest that drug trafficking organizations adopt a structure congruent with their external environment, including the market for drugs, the type of drugs, ethnicity of those involved in distribution, use of technology in communication and distribution, and levels of law enforcement. Implications of fuller knowledge about the structure and functioning of drug trafficking organizations for research and policy are discussed.

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An incipient taxonomy of organised crime

Cited by 17 publications

References 17 publications

The territorial expansion of mafia-type organized crime. The case of the Italian mafia in Germany

The territorial expansion of mafia-type organized crime. The case of the Italian mafia in Germany

A New Zealand approach to prioritising criminal groups

Classifying the Variety of Drug Trafficking Organizations

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