In many countries around the world, various things can jeopardize the peaceful existence and freedom of citizens. Among the factors that can affect the quiet life of people and their businesses are organized crime. Organized crime has been a topic of discussion on many platforms around the world due to its destructive nature to a country’s economy. Organized crime is a term used to refer to severe offenses that have been carefully planned and executed by individuals working together for a continued period ( Zoutendijk, 2010 ). In most cases, organized crime aims to make financial gains. Organized crime groups prosper mainly due to the support and interaction of various government agencies and businesses. Their criminal proceeds are drawn from the exploitation of multiple companies in their areas of operation. Organized crime groups are always a threat to the progression of any society. As a result, every leader must make sure that the groups are done away with ( Zoutendijk, 2010 ). The aim of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis of organized crime groups so that a newly-elected mayor can come up with various ways to eradicate them.
Ways in Which Organized Crime Groups Make Money by Intimidating Businesses
There are many ways through which organized crime groups make money from intimidating businesses. One of the most widely used methods is by extortion. Through extortion, legitimate business owners are forced to part with a specific amount of money for services such as protection. As long as the businesses pay the required amount, they are promised that they will never be affected by thugs. Organized crime groups extort money from companies with the promise of offering several services such as protection from a supply shortage, protection from a work stoppage, and protection from vandalism ( Levi, 2015 ). According to Levi (2015 ), the protection from supply shortage involves the organized crime groups protecting a business’ supply chain and ensuring that supplies arrive at the right time without being stolen or vandalized. By offering the protection from a work stoppage, organized crime groups make sure that a business’ operations are not affected by factors such as striking workers. Organized crime groups use violence and threats to ensure that everyone plays to their tune. Finally, the protection vandalism means that organized crime groups take responsibility for ensuring the safety of the business and its equipment. The irony is that companies usually end up paying the criminals that they are supposed to be protected from. All the services offered by organized crime groups can be easily carried out by law enforcement agencies since it is their responsibility. A newly elected mayor needs to identify and crack down on all the organized crime groups within their jurisdiction. If left uncontrolled, they can grow and expand to become almost impossible to bring down.
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Discussion of No-Show Jobs and Bid-Rigging
Other methods used by organized crime groups to get money is through the creation of no-show jobs and bid rigging. No-show jobs refer to situations where people are given paying employment positions in different organizations with no expectation of them to fulfill their obligations as per the job requirements ( Jacobs, 2013 ). Most organized groups penetrate various organizations around the world and create no-show jobs to siphon money. Partnering with the leaders of such organizations, organized crime groups steal funds from the organizations, leaving them to collapse. Bid-rigging is another common way that organized crime groups make money. Bid-rigging is carried out when parties that are competing in a bidding process illegally reach an understanding to select the winner, leaving other parties to place uncompetitive bids ( Kenton, 2018 ). The practice is harmful to a country’s economy as it eliminates free market competition resulting in a high quotation of prices. Tran et al. argue that Bid rigging exists in many forms such as bid rotation, bid suppression, complementary bidding, phantom bidding, and buyback. Bid rotation takes place when bidders exchange positions as the winning bidder. In bid suppression, a bidder opts out of the bidding process to allow another bidder to win. Complementary bid, on the other hand, occurs when efforts are made to ensure that a particular bidder wins the bid while phantom bids happen when bidders are forced to place bids at higher prices that they would have set (2018). The fraudulent means through which organized crime groups make money need to be identified and all the loopholes sealed.
The Connection between Organized Crime and Labor Unions
According to Filak (2011), the relationship between labor unions and started in the 20 th century when there were regular strikes between workers and their employers. Most companies sought the services of organized groups to rough up the striking workers. However, with time, organized groups realized that there was an opportunity to make money through organized labor. As a result, they infiltrated the trade unions and took control of them, thus extorting the same companies. Through the trade unions, organized crime groups would enter negotiations with companies and quote unreasonable prices. If the companies denied their offer, then they would mobilize their workers to go on strike. Such relations still exist to this day as most trade unions hold companies at ransom and threaten them with strikes whenever a disagreement arises. It is essential for the relevant authorities to step up their efforts in identifying and stopping organized crime groups before they infiltrate every area of society.
Conclusion
In summation, as a newly elected mayor, it is essential to have a comprehensive understanding or organized crime groups to effectively deal with them. One of the ways that organized crime groups use to make money is through extortion where business owners are forced to part with a specific amount of money for services such as protection. The protection services provided by organized crime groups are the protection from a supply shortage, protection from a work stoppage, and protection from vandalism. No-show jobs refer to situations where people are given paying employment positions in different organizations with no expectation of them to fulfill their obligations as per the job requirements. Bid-rigging, on the other hand, is carried out when parties that are competing in a bidding process illegally reach an understanding to select the winner, letting other parties place uncompetitive bids. The practice exists in many forms such as bid rotation, bid suppression, complementary bidding, phantom bidding, and buyback. An analysis of both trade unions and organized crime groups reveal that they have been closely related for many years. In the early 20 th century, most companies sought the services of organized groups to rough up the striking workers. Organized crime groups, in turn, infiltrated trade unions and started extorting the companies. It is clear that organized crime groups have infiltrated many areas of the community. A newly elected mayor will, therefore, need a lot of support and determination to stop their activities.
References
Filak, V. F. (2011). Shadow of the Racketeer: Scandal in organized labor. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 88 (3), 682-683.
Jacobs, J. B. (2013). Is labor union corruption special? Social Research, 80 (4), 1057-1086,1322.
Kenton, W. (2018, March 23). Bid Rigging. Investopedia . Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bid-rigging.asp
Levi, M. (2015). Money for crime and money from crime: Financing crime and laundering crime proceeds. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 21 (2), 275-297. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10610-015-9269-7
Tran, T. T., Bevacqua, J., Nguyen, H. M., & Nguyen, H. T. (2018). The impact of public procurement rules and the administrative practices of public procurers on bid-rigging: The case of Vietnam. Asia Pacific Law Review, 26 (1), 36-58. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10192557.2018.1514183
Zoutendijk, A. J. (2010). Organized crime threat assessments: A critical review. Crime, Law and Social Change, 54 (1), 63-86. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10611-010-9244-7
