The Pros And Cons Of Fighting Organized Crime

Although it is no longer headlining the evening news, organized crime still poses a very real and dangerous threat to both society and the government. Corruption of influential people has always played a vital role in the success of organized crime but this issue has grown tremendously in modern time as organized criminals try so much harder to stay in the shadows. Even with the attempt of various governments to limit the power of these groups and the increasing resources of law enforcement officials, the influence of organized crime on various aspects of society and its disastrous impact on the economy continues to intensify. All of these issues contribute to the need for the government to develop new practices when fighting organized crime. Viable new approaches include the creation of new policies to address the issue of corruption, reducing the opportunities for crime, and amending the initiatives and beliefs of law enforcement officials so that they place …show more content…
As previously stated, law enforcement focuses heavily on the Italian American Mafia structure and tend to try to take down the ruling boss of the family or go after the street level drug dealers. The issue with this is that if a boss is arrested, another person will step up and take their place. Likewise, if a street level dealer is arrested, another bum or loser can be found to replace them. If the person in the middle communicating between the dealers and the boss is eliminated, the cash flow stops and there are two potential outcomes. First, if the boss cannot find another person they trust to run the operation, they and higher-level members are forced to get their hands dirty and can therefore be charged with more and potentially apprehended all at once. Second, the path between the street and the boss is cut off so the cash flow stops and the organization slowly begins to crumble. (Pearson & Hobbs