The following is a listing of enterprises, gangs, mafias, and criminal syndicates that are involved in organized crime. Tongs and outlaw motorcycle gangs, as well as terrorist, militant, and paramilitary groups, are mentioned if they are involved in criminal activity for funding. However, since their stated aim and genesis is often ideological rather than commercial, they are distinct from mafia-type groups.
In several drug-producing or transit countries, drug traffickers have taken advantage of local corruption and lack of law enforcement to establish cartels turning in millions if not billions of dollars each year. Sometimes if government enforcement is particularly poor, the cartels become quasi-paramilitary organizations.
Italian immigrants to the United States in the early 19th century brought with them the underground government many Americans refer to as "Cosa Nostra" (Our Thing) along with its traditions and formal induction rituals along with the concepts and precepts of Omerta, which espouses honorable and manly behavior at all times and under all conditions, taking care of your own problems and assisting your community, as well as non-cooperation with corrupt law enforcement and government officials. Many Italian-Americans around this same time also formed various small-time gangs which gradually evolved into sophisticated crime syndicates, but the nationwide organization known as "Cosa Nostra" has traditionally dominated organized crime in America for several decades. Although government crackdowns and a less-tightly knit Italian-American community have largely reduced its power, the American Mafia remains an active force in the underworld
Organized crime in Italy, especially the south, has existed for hundreds of years and has given rise to a number of notorious organizations with their own traditions and subculture which have managed to infiltrate almost every part of Italian society.[44] The Italian mafia is often thought of as being the archetype for organized crime worldwide.
Balkan organized crime gained prominence in the chaos following the communist era, notably the transition to capitalism and the wars in former Yugoslavia.
Although organized crime existed in the Soviet era, the gangs really gained in power and international reach during the transition to capitalism. The term Russian Mafia, 'mafiya' or mob is a blanket (and somewhat inaccurate) term for the various organized crime groups that emerged in this period from the 15 former republics of the USSR and unlike their Italian counterparts does not mean members are necessarily of Russian ethnicity or uphold any ancient criminal traditions, although this is the case for some members.
Hangure (半グレ, literally "half-grey") are considered to be “jun-bōryokudan(準暴力団, quasi-yakuza)” groups. The term half-grey in Japanese refers to groups that commit crimes, yet are not considered to fit the description of criminal organizations (referring to yakuza clans in this context). They mostly consist of former Bōsōzoku teenagers and former juvenile delinquents (also known as furyō(不良)) in middle and high schools, who became an adult[67] and refuse to join the Yakuza because of their dislike for the traditional code of the Yakuza. Sometimes they outsource their crimes to their kōhai delinquents at Old Bōsōzoku group or Alma Mater as Senpai.[68][69]
As society enters the Information Age, certain individuals take advantage of easy flow of information over the Internet to commit online fraud or similar activities. Often the hackers will form a network to better facilitate their activities. On occasion the hackers will be a part of a criminal gang involved in more 'blue collar crime', but this is unusual.
Smuggling is a behavior that has occurred ever since there were laws or a moral code that forbade access to a specific person or object. At the core of any smuggling organization is the economic relationship between supply and demand. From the organization's point of view, the issues are what the consumer wants, and how much the consumer is willing to pay the smuggler or smuggling organization to obtain it.
Prisons are a natural meeting place for criminals, and for the purposes of protection from other inmates and business prisoners join gangs. These gangs often develop a large influence outside the prison walls through their networks. Most prison gangs do more than offer simple protection for their members. Most often, prison gangs are responsible for any drug, tobacco or alcohol handling inside correctional facilities. Furthermore, many prison gangs involve themselves in prostitution, assaults, kidnappings and murders. Prison gangs often seek to intimidate the other inmates, pressuring them to relinquish their food and other resources. In addition, prison gangs often exercise a large degree of influence over organized crime in the "free world", larger than their isolation in prison might lead one to expect.
Youth gangs have often served as a recruiting ground for more organized crime syndicates, where juvenile delinquents grow up to be full-fledged mobsters, as well as providing muscle and other low-key work. Increasingly, especially in the United States and other western countries, street gangs are becoming much more organized in their own right with a hierarchical structure and are fulfilling the role previously taken by traditional organized crime.
^ abcdefghijkRockaway, Robert A (2000) But he was good to his mother: the lives and crimes of Jewish gangsters, Gefen Publishing House Ltd, ISBN965-229-249-4
^ abcdefghijChepesiuk, Ron (2007) Gangsters of Harlem: the gritty underworld of New York City's most famous neighborhood, Barricade Books, ISBN1-56980-318-8
^Bradarić, Branimir. "Može li se HDZ ubuduće nazivati kriminalnom strankom". balkans.aljazeera.net (in Bosnian). Retrieved 2022-02-16. English translation: Supreme court's second degree verdict opened a question on whether Croatian Democratic Union in future communication can be called a corrupt political party and similar names. The same question is raised about the party's members, especially those holding higher positions. Croatian lawyer Ante Nobilo said that these are two separate things and should be seen as such. "HDZ is a legally convicted political party for certain crimes and that party, in a sense of a juridical person, can be called corrupt and criminal. However, party members, as natural persons, do not bear collective responsibility and everyone is responsible for itself. With that in mind, HDZ members cannot be proclaimed as criminals, just because they are HDZ members. Pravomoćna presuda Vrhovnog suda otvorila je i pitanje može li se u svakoj daljoj komunikaciji HDZ nazivati koruptivnom političkom strankom i sličnim nazivima. Isto pitanje odnosi se i na članove stranke, posebno one na višim pozicijama. Hrvatski odvjetnik Ante Nobilo kaže kako su to dvije odvojene stvari koje tako i treba gledati. "HDZ je pravomoćno osuđena politička stranka za određena kaznena djela i tu stranku, kao pravnu osobu, može se nazvati koruptivnom i kriminalnom. Međutim, članovi stranke kao fizičke osobe nemaju kolektivnu odgovornost i svako odgovara za sebe. Samim tim se članove HDZ-a ne može proglasiti kriminalcima samo zato što su članovi HDZ-a", rekao je Nobilo.
^Eksner, Julia H (2007) Ghetto ideologies, youth identities and stylized Turkish German: Turkish youths in Berlin-Kreuzberg LIT Verlag Münster, ISBN3-8258-8841-X
^Smith, Jeff (2009). Alias Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel, Klondike Research. ISBN0-9819743-0-9
^Vincent, Isabel (2007) Bodies and Souls: The Tragic Plight of Three Jewish Women Forced Into Prostitution in the Americas Random House of Canada, ISBN0-679-31163-7