Organized crime integrates established successful principles used by lawful business organizations (Mallory, 2012). Accordingly, they operate like business enterprises only that what they do is illegal. The causative factors for these groups range from ethnicity, race, and political. The common factor however is they are all illegal.
Examples of organized criminal groups based on race or ethnicity in California are the Bloods and the Los Angeles crime family. Both groups are highly centralized with a chain of command. In both, the top brass are rarely seen in public but the group’s presence is felt and seen in public; owing to their foot soldiers who usually do the dirty work. The groups however differ in relation to the top brass. The Bloods have no identified leader; the top brass is composed of various leaders. The Los Angeles crime family however has a known and distinct leader.
Another similarity is that both groups have a lot of members. Members are recruited at a young age, mostly from between the ages of 12-20 years. However, they differ in the criteria of membership. The Bloods membership comprises of majorly African Americans and other races. The Los Angeles crime family however strictly restricts its membership to Italians. Another difference is that membership to the Bloods is largely individual. However, when one becomes a member of the Los Angeles crime family, their families too, to a large extent become members.
Though both groups conduct illegal activities, they vary in the range and the nature and extent. The Bloods mostly do robbery, extortion, murder and drug trafficking and do not have legitimate business. On the other hand, the Los Angeles crime family does a lot of illegal activities including money laundering, skimming, fencing, conspiracy, racketeering, gambling and many others. They also have other legitimate business enterprises.
These groups differ from contemporary youth gangs in various ways. Firstly, most contemporary youth gangs are not as highly organized and disciplined. Members may defect or leave the group without dire consequences. These groups also lack a strong chain of command, which makes the group loosely knit.
Secondly, contemporary gangs do not have a lot of members as compared to the foregoing groups. This is because there are a lot of gangs to date and getting that many numbers would require resources. Again as previously stated, contemporary gangs lack the discipline and authority the old gangs enjoyed. Accordingly, they cannot retain large numbers as members keep leaving the group.
Thirdly, majority of contemporary gangs are founded on social issues such as rebellion, peer pressure, and drug addiction. This is not a strong foundation as compared to ethnicity or race. This is because the social issue may cease to exist and the necessity for the gang will be lost. Ethnicity and race cannot cease to exist thus groups founded on such may exist for a long while.
Oklahoma City has several organized crime gangs. Majority of these gangs are racial or ethnic based, with few youth gangs. Examples of these gangs include South Side Locos, Rolling 90’s Grande Barrio Loco, 107 Hoovers, Juaritos, and Westside Rolling 60’s. the South Side Locos is a sub set of the larger South Side Locos gang in the country. It is comprised of Hispanics, majority of who are illegal immigrants. Majority of its members are between the ages of 10-28 years; older members form the top brass. The group recruits new members at a young age, even from elementary school children.
These groups basically thrive on prevalent social issues (Hamm, 2007) in addition to other opportunities. For example, majority of the group members are immigrants. They take advantage of the fact that the immigrants have no papers and that they cannot easily find gainful employment. The situation is compounded by the fact that the immigrants are drawn to these groups as they provide a safe haven for them.
The drug issue is another thriving ground for these groups. It is estimated that drug addiction is on the rise, especially among the youth. This fact favors the groups in two ways: it is a source of revenue; and drug addicts become members or affiliated to the group.
Another social issue that favors these groups is the gang culture and its impact on the youth. Gang culture has been glorified in music, movies, books and other literatures. As a matter of fact gang leaders are in some cases portrayed as heroes and role models. The impact is that people, especially the youth, think it is ‘cool’ to be in gang. They either join gangs or emulate gang members.
The best way of controlling the South Side Locos gang is to address the issues or causes that make it thrive. In as long as these factors subsist, the gang will continue to thrive. In this regard, the Immigration laws should be reconsidered to effectively address the immigrant issue. Another way of addressing this issue is to provide employment to immigrants. Though this will not rid the gang of such members, it will certainly reduce the number. Additionally, parents need to parent their children, by paying attention to them, caring and guiding them. This also will reduce the number of children either joining the group or becoming its customers.
References
Hamm, M. (2007). Terrorism as Crime: from Oklahoma City to Al-Qaeda and Beyond. New
York: New York University Press. Print.
Mallory, S.L. (2012). Understanding Organized Crime. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett
Learning. Print.
Shaw, V. (1999). In a Time of Rapid Social Change: Organized Crime in Asia and the Pacific.
International Journal of Social Inquiry, Volume 1 Number 1. Pp. 29-46. Print.
