Running head: SOCIAL ORGANIZED CRIME PERSPECTIVE PAPER

Social Organized Crime Perspective Paper

Barbi Malone
CJA/384
April 14, 2014
Marco Faggione

SOCIAL ORGANIZED CRIME PERSPECTIVE PAPER

Social Organized Crime Perspective

Paper
Prohibition is the term used to describe a law being passed which makes the sale, transportation,
manufacture, import and export of any alcoholic beverages illegal.

Prohibition
It was midnight of January 16, 1920, when American went dry. One of our habits,
privileges and everyday practices for most Americans disappeared. The Eighteenth Amendment
was passed, and all importing, exporting, transporting, selling, and manufacturing of intoxicating
liquor were put to an end. The Volstead Act, also known as the "National Prohibition Act",
determined intoxicating liquor as anything having an alcoholic content of more than 0.5 percent,
excluding alcohol used for medicinal and sacramental purposes. The act also set up a guiding
principle for enforcing the law. However, some of the United States' communities had already
prepared for Prohibition. In fact, it started earlier. "Ministers shall not give themselves to excess
in drinkinge, or riott, or spending their tyme idellye day or night," ruled the Virginia Colonial
Assembly in 1629 (Cherrington, 1920:16). Massachusetts ordered that no person shall remain in
any tavern "longer than necessary occasions" in 1637, while Plymouth Colony in 1633
prohibited the sale of spirits "more than 2 pence worth to anyone but strangers just arrived"
(Cherrington, 1920: 18). In the several months leading up to the Eighteenth Amendment and
before it became effective, liquor worth half a million dollars was stolen from Government
warehouses. Prohibition was actually a reaction because it actually made breaking the law a

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common event for people, because people would bootleg and make their own liquor, and then
get sent to jail.

Organized crime
Organized crime has become a threat for the United States in the modern days
including its economy as well as our nations security. The criminality of persons in
organized crime differs from that of your everyday common criminals. In case of the organized
crime, the organization offers an opportunity to commit crimes of various kinds and generally on
a larger scale than the conventional criminals. (Byrnes, J.P. 2007). Organizational affiliation
offers them a sense of officiality and the ability to network which facilitates support between
criminals. This is generally not possible in the case of conventional everyday crimes. The crime
organizations provide their franchises protection unlike everyday criminals which is causes
entitlement and a sense of belonging and being involved in criminal acts. These criminals enjoy
protection from other criminals as well as have access to the network in which the organization is
embedded. These criminals are able to navigate the underworld reasonably unharmed as
compared to the conventional criminals. The credibility that is given or earned by these criminals
affords them the ability to negotiate transactions which are not possible for the conventional
criminals. (Abadinsky, 2013) some of these organizations even use trademarks to confirm their
membership. It has been identified, the criminals in crime operations operating in a manner
similar to the business organizations. Additionally, the reputation that comes from the criminal
provided by the organization is not available to the conventional criminals. The memberships or
trademarks or the affiliations make several things possible which cannot be possible for the

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conventional criminals. As a result, it is the criminality in case of organized and conventional

crime differs as do the variety and scale of crimes in both the cases. For nearly three quarters of a
century, beginning during the time of Prohibition and extending into the 1990s, the LCN was
clearly the most prominent criminal organization in the United States (Finckenauer, 2007. P. 1).
Bound by many things including oath and conspiracy, members are sworn to secrecy with a very
complex and organized organization with strong political ties with dedication to practice crime
and protect its members. As the organization began to grow so did its involvement in the drug
association, political dishonesty, and other illegal actions. La Cosa Nostras activities cover a
wide range of illegal criminal activities. Criminal activities ranging from loan sharking, drugs,
gambling, and prostitution are among a few.

18th Amendment
This 18th amendment was the ultimate victory of the age old self-control movement that
had been fighting for the illegalization of the transportation, consumption and sale of alcohol
since as far back as the late 1780s. The dawn of Prohibition seem to come as quickly as it ended
but during its short lived failure as a movement crime rate increased tremendously due to the
new illegal business of the illicit manufacturing, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcohol
based beverages. By these statistics it can be seen all the negative effects brought on the
romantic self-control movement. Along with these statistics, mob crime on a whole rose to
incredible heights. The patriarch and conductor for a lot of the illicit alcohol production and
distribution during Prohibition of was a virulent Brooklynite by the name of Alphonse Capone,

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also known as Al Capone. Everyone has heard of Al Capone and what terrible crimes he inflicted
on his community.
Although alcohol was still sold illegally, it was done at a much higher price because
Whiskey on average was worth 520% of what it was before prohibition, the money went straight
into the underground; illegal culture, and even into other countries. Therefore, almost 100% of
this money, in the short term at least, was lost as it circulated, causing even greater crime sprees;
more crimes being committed with this new money such as prostitution, illegal gambling, and
money laundering, and, as all these deeds were illegal and also generally associated with
gangsters, the money stayed where the gangsters wanted it, making them richer. The gangster
culture that was established almost ninety years ago in the USA still exists today, and has spread
to other countries.

Drugs and Organized Crime

Until 1914, there were not laws or limitations in place to prevent the sale of drugs or
against the drug industry. The Boylan anti-drug Law, passed by the New York state legislature
on March 28, 1914, was the first regulatory limitations seen against drugs (Schaffer,nd). This law
prevented the sale of habit-forming drugs. This law was not truly enforced until the 1920s, with
legitimate businesses continuing to serve recreational drugs to people who were addicted. This
law required doctors to have prescriptions for people rather than they obtain it through other
means.

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References

Abadinsky, H. (2012). Organizesd Crime. : Wadsworth Pub Co.

Byrnes, J. P. (2007). Cognitive Development and Learning in Instructional Contexts (3rd ed.).
Finckenauer, J. O. (n.d). LA COSA NOSTRA IN THE UNITED STATES. National Institute of
Justice, ().
Shaffer Library (n.d) retrieved from
http://druglibrary.net/schaffer/History/e1910/newantidruglaw.htm