225-C16 - Street and Organized Crime

Question 1

The Criminal Code of Canada’s four criteria for organized crime include:

Answer 1

1. 3+ people involved
2. working together or coordinated
3. conducting 1 or more serious offences
4. for a material benefit

Question 2

What are the (4) ways criminologists study organized crime?

Answer 2

1. structural
2. institutional
3. commercia
4. behavioural

Question 3

Structural Characteristics of Organized Crime (5)

Answer 3

1. 2+ people
2. pattern of relationship within the group
3. exclusivity
4. delegation of tasks
5. many locations

Question 4

Institutional Characteristics of Crime (5)

Answer 4

1. legacy (maintenance of group after current membership)
2. career criminals involved
3. group protection implementations (e.g. loyalty and secrecy
4. complexity and sophistication of crimes and tech
5. recruitment of new members

Question 5

Commercial Characteristics of organized crime (2)

Answer 5

1. financially oriented
2. for the profit of consensual and predatory crimes

Question 6

behavioural characteristics of organized crime

Answer 6

1. established flow of logic, rationale
2. contempt for civility
3. rules established within the group.
4. discipline to maintain said rules
5. financially motivated

Question 7

Three Italian Organized crime groups in Canada

Answer 7

1. ‘Ndgrangheta
2. American La Cosa Nostra
3. Sicilian

Question 8

‘Ndgrangheta

Answer 8

ITALIAN
- from Calabria, Italy
- powerful in Italy, Europe, Toronto

Question 9

La Cosa Nostra

Answer 9

ITALIAN
- from Bunanno or Magaddino families
- from New York

Question 10

Sicilian Mafia

Answer 10

ITALIAN
- most powerful in Canada
- took over via coup the Cotroni group

Question 11

Six Chinese and Asian organized crime groups in canada

Answer 11

1. gangs –> 2. triads
2. non-triads - 1 specialty
3. criminals from mainland china - most dominant, varied crimes
4. viet groups - weed
5. indo-canadian groups - in BC

Question 12

OMGs

Who are they? What crimes did they commit?

Answer 12

Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs

• drug trafficking

Question 13

(3) Russian/Eastern European organized crime groups

and what they do

Answer 13

1. Russian - debit card fraud
2. Hungarian - human trafficking
3. Romanian - distraction theft

Question 14

4 etiological theories of organized crime

Answer 14

1. alien conspiracy
2. ethnic succession
3. economic theories
4. the role of state and public policy

Question 15

Alien conspiracy theory of organized crime

What are its’ flaws?

Answer 15

immigration brings the organized crime culture into canada

flaws
- racist
- refuted

Question 16

Ethnic Succession Theory of organized crime

And its critiques

Answer 16

Lack of legitimate opportunities for minority groups leads to criminal innovations such as organized crime

FLAWS:
- little evidence, and logic doesn’t track, as OC still persists in more equal environments today

Question 17

Economic theory of organized crime

and its flaws?

Answer 17

OC is a response to laws of supply and demand

FLAWS
- simplifies OC
- ignores predatory crimes

Question 18

The Role of State and Public Policy on Organized Crime

Answer 18

OC is a response to teh criminalization of certain vices

Question 19

Models of Organized Crime Structures

Answer 19

1. Bureaucratic/hierarchical model
2. kinship model
3. Network model
4. patron-client model

Question 20

Bureaucratic/Hierarchical Model

and shortcomings

Answer 20

• its a hierarchy of specific divisions of labour. NOT just CEO –> manager –> worker

FLAWS:
- does not apply as well to Mafia families

Question 21

Kinship model

Answer 21

organized crime is based on family, strengthen by culture, blood, marriage, and shared ethnicity

Question 22

Patron-Client model

Answer 22

loose system of power and relationships
CEO –> manager –> worker

Question 23

Network Model

Answer 23

OC is a loosely-knit network of independent criminals