1. Political-Social Organized Crime: This category best fits into the “political criminal” activity discussed in the previous chapter. It refers to crime by guerilla and terrorist groups and various militant social movements that use violence, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Molly Maguires, and the Palestinian
Liberation Organization.
2. Mercenary (Predatory) Organized Crime: This category refers to crimes committed by groups for direct personal profit, crimes that prey on unwilling victims, such as juvenile and adult criminal gangs who engage in larceny, burglary, and robbery. The Mano Nera (Black Hand) is an example of the last of these. These 1880s extortionist gangs (there was no one Black Hand) in the United States sent threatening notes to fellow Italian immigrants …show more content…
3. In-Group–Oriented Organized Crime: This refers to crimes committed by groups, such as motorcycle gangs and some adolescent gangs, whose major goals are psychological gratification, “kicks,”
“rep,” “highs,” “bopping,” and “trashing,” rather than financial profit. Motorcycle gangs—the post–
World War II prototype is Hell’s Angels—have branched out since Hollywood portrayals such as
Marlon Brando’s in The Wild One. These gangs are sometimes used as “muscle” (enforcers) and for low-level jobs by larger syndicate groups (see Abadinsky, 1994, p. 282). The Pagans, begun in Prince
George’s County, Maryland, in 1959 (White Prison Gangs, 2009), now have local chapters all along the East Coast, from Connecticut to Florida, with the heaviest membership in the Middle Atlantic states (Pennsylvania Crime Commission, 1980, p. 27). Such groups are involved in narcotics distribution, prostitution, extortion, bribery, contract murders, pornography distribution, and other activities. The Hell’s Angels have also moved extensively into drug trafficking, allegedly controlling as much as 90 percent of the “speed” market in northern California
Liberation Organization.
2. Mercenary (Predatory) Organized Crime: This category refers to crimes committed by groups for direct personal profit, crimes that prey on unwilling victims, such as juvenile and adult criminal gangs who engage in larceny, burglary, and robbery. The Mano Nera (Black Hand) is an example of the last of these. These 1880s extortionist gangs (there was no one Black Hand) in the United States sent threatening notes to fellow Italian immigrants …show more content…
3. In-Group–Oriented Organized Crime: This refers to crimes committed by groups, such as motorcycle gangs and some adolescent gangs, whose major goals are psychological gratification, “kicks,”
“rep,” “highs,” “bopping,” and “trashing,” rather than financial profit. Motorcycle gangs—the post–
World War II prototype is Hell’s Angels—have branched out since Hollywood portrayals such as
Marlon Brando’s in The Wild One. These gangs are sometimes used as “muscle” (enforcers) and for low-level jobs by larger syndicate groups (see Abadinsky, 1994, p. 282). The Pagans, begun in Prince
George’s County, Maryland, in 1959 (White Prison Gangs, 2009), now have local chapters all along the East Coast, from Connecticut to Florida, with the heaviest membership in the Middle Atlantic states (Pennsylvania Crime Commission, 1980, p. 27). Such groups are involved in narcotics distribution, prostitution, extortion, bribery, contract murders, pornography distribution, and other activities. The Hell’s Angels have also moved extensively into drug trafficking, allegedly controlling as much as 90 percent of the “speed” market in northern California