Organized Crime: Defined / Analyzed

Photo by Rock Staar / Unsplash

What is organized crime? I feel as if I should copy and paste what the major online dictionaries say it is, in order to set some sort of standard, so here it is via Merriam Webster.

Organized Crime: a group of professional criminals who work together as part of a powerful and secret organization.

Here is my analysis on that definition. This definition appears to mirror what the media, Hollywood and various crime novels have portrayed or painted "organized crime" as being. Someone who looks up this definition will probably instantly imagine a mafia type organization like the Gambino Crime Family, or perhaps would conceive something more historical, say like Al Capone and his enterprise, or even yet, someone may think in terms of what Hollywood has portrayed, for example in The Sopranos. All of these are not bad examples of groups or individuals who were apart of an organized criminal enterprise.

But ask yourself, in terms of the definition. Exactly how professional were any of these groups? Were their numerous members indeed professional? What exactly makes a criminal "professional?" Were these groups secret? If they were, they were, obviously, not great at it. If one thinks about that definition and tries to apply it to organized crime today, one would probably see that definition as being vague, misinformed, or downright wrong.

In my experience, today's organized criminal groups are far from professional, and are hardly secret. Which I hope to discuss further as this site grows. I will give Merriam Webster kudos though in one aspect of their definition. They are no doubt powerful. Not only are they powerful, but they are influential as well. Criminals and groups are praised by Hollywood, the media, and authors alike. For example, The Godfather is one of cinemas greatest accomplishments. That movie alone has shaped how future movies were filmed, and how crime stories are told. What I feel drove its success was that it appeared as if it was real.  The story drew inspiration from real people and events.

Organized criminal groups are also powerful in the fact that they shape government policy. Laws have been written and re-written to adapt to the ever evolving field of organized crime and, often times the various types of governments and authorities down to the local level are lagging far behind what criminals and criminal groups are involved in and are up too, despite what the news may tell you, or what the various shows starring the FBI, would show you on television.

Indeed, crime and organized crime has evolved, and is constantly evolving. Based off what I have seen first hand, crime is becoming more violent, complex, and interestingly enough, weirder. Groups are constantly looking for new ways to make money by skirting laws and regulations in today's society, which is also seemingly getting weirder; so it is no surprise that police, investigators and analysts are coming face to face with situations that comic book writers would even be surprised about.

I have no doubts that there are some organized criminal groups which exist that do operate in total secrecy. It would be ignorant to think otherwise. Just as it is ignorant to think that some of the groups we see and know in public that portray themselves as good or legitimate, are not just fronts for larger and more secretive groups conducting vast amounts of crime behind closed doors.

Do not forget though that organized crime does affect you. For instance,  consider the residents of Harris County, TX, the county seat of the United States fourth largest city, Houston. Houston is one of the most violent cities in the nation. Houston is plagued by violent robberies, homicides and assaults every single day. Sadly, politics appear to be responsible for the increase in the crime affecting the city. Without trying to be too partisan, it would appear that liberal policies simply are not working. The revolving door that offenders are now often times met with in Harris County regarding the policing and local judicial system encourages more crime to take place. One sad example comes to mind. An off duty police officer was murdered in a Houston suburb by two suspects who had bonded out. Both of the suspects had a violent criminal history and one of them was wearing an ankle monitor. Of course the thought comes to mind why were these two even allowed out of jail? But the point hits home. This murder made waves across the city. It showed the public that violent crime is happening and offenders are indeed being let out of jail due to various political policies. this highlighted the fact that crime is still a lifestyle and a popular one at that amongst youth in Houston. It showed that criminals in Houston are not learning from their mistakes once apprehended, and that they are becoming more violent.

This instance infuriated not only politicians, but regular law-abiding citizens in the area as well. So much so, that Republicans had more ammunition to add in their campaign to sway county residents to stop voting for the party that "endorses crime." This tactic appears to be working at least somewhat in a historically "blue" area. Residents are indeed dissatisfied with the crime wave affecting the city, they are sick of having their catalytic converters stolen, and are tired of the police telling them that "...there is not much we can do" or "we will get back with you when and if we hear something." This is not good enough, and voters are starting to slowly see that the current policies keeping the status quo are not working. Another example is that even in the local County Judge race, taking place in the November 2022 mid-term elections, incumbent Lina Hidalgo appears to be slightly behind (in some polls) her competitor Alexandra del Moral Mealer. Lina Hidalgo has been plagued by bad press coming from fraudulent activity that took place amongst campaign staff, and many blame her, her policies and the policies of County District Attorney Kim Ogg and Mayor Sylvester Turner for the spike in crime. Alexandra del Moral Mealer seems to be using the crime spike as the biggest fuel in her campaign for County Judge and as stated earlier, it appears to be working. Although, in addition to the attacking the policies of the County Judge, District Attorney and Mayor.

Voters should look at and research the policies and decisions of the County Commissioner's Court as well, as this is where much of the funding is divvied up when addressing certain issues like policing.

I do not think that the outcome of this election will really affect violent crime in Harris County. There are simply too many other factors, besides politics, that are driving the surge. One could argue for hours or days about those factors. I do think if Harris County's current and/or future leadership really wanted to address crime they would attempt to try and mirror what neighboring counties are doing in terms of how they address crime. Many of the counties and communities directly surrounding Harris County are safer despite having large populations. So it is somewhat possible for Harris County to emerge safer someday. I think voters there see that, and they want it to happen sooner rather than later.

As you continue to read and learn about what the news is reporting on concerning criminal acts occurring in your communities, I hope you think critically about what Merriam has stated organized crime is defined as. I hope you begin to see how complex crime is becoming and even how politicized its reporting has become. And please do not forget that it does affect you in someway, so it is important to learn a bit about what is going on in your communities.