WEEK 10 DISCUSSION 1

Describe how “gangs” may be distinguished from “organized crime” associations based upon the nature of their organizations.

Gangs are groups of people that associate with the same purpose in mind of claiming territory and engaging in violent, criminal behavior to intimidate and assert control. These gangs include motorcycle gangs who are sometimes looked as social pariahs because they are lawless, don’t respect any legalistic norms and go from city to city causing mayhem. Further they are strict advocates of violation of conspiracy against rights.
Reference from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/conspiracy_against_rights below:

This entails the facts that two or more conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate any person in free exercise or enjoyment of rights by committing acts of sexual violence such as rape, sodomy, oral violations with the sole purpose of ruination of that person’s good name and character. A further act of conspiracy against rights is the usage of strong arm tactics to intimidate teachers, attorneys and coerce governmental officials by deliberate set-ups to gain control of their actions.

Other gangs have members who are able to blend in and give off the semblance of respectability and do their acts of criminal suppression in an undercover fashion with a few more participants and is readily apparent to a discerning eye and knowledge of ways to attempt to act respectable but with hidden ulterior motives. Knowledge and assimilating new acts of technology is the reason why they are on campuses and online educational programs to learn and evolve their criminal acts to higher levels.

Reference from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crime below:

Organized crime is defined as transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purposes of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit and control. Under this category falls criminal organization such as terrorist organizations who are politically motivated.

The difference between the two involves the very structure…a gang is not formally organized in as organized crime is. Organized crime has been around for a long time and has so many hidden facets that will never be discovered in their structure and the “no-talk theory” is prevalent throughout and cannot be bribed, seduced, or cajoled to have someone do something for them. Its purpose as usual is to avoid detection…members of organized crime have to be invisible and not be able to detect whereas a gang of thugs are relatively new to the game and are not masters of organized crime and can be gettable, took down and busted out. Transparent to eyes, ears that hear and walls that talk they will never be allowed to function if they commit acts of treason or cause travail to this country.

Additional References:

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs

Discuss the elements prosecution needs to prove to obtain a RICO conviction (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Criminal Enterprise Statute), and what limits federal jurisdiction in these cases.
Referenced and excerpt from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act

RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Criminal Enterprise Statute) is racketeering activity that includes an act or threat which includes murder, forms of kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery whether with monetary assets or sexual favors, extortion which could involve threat to expose obscene sexual matters or sexual acts that could jeopardize a career, selling or distributing a controlled substance or listed chemical that could be classified as a non-controlled substance is chargeable as felony and punishable under state law because it violates the law under title 18, United States Code.

The elements that prosecution needs to prove are easily and readily apparent any violation and intentional acts against legalistic norms are able to proved by violating any of these codes and is easy to apply the correct penal codes or statutes to attribute the amount of time to be served if any activity violates these following codes in a court of law.

Examples that reflect violations of these codes are as follows:

Referenced and excerpt from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1961.

Section 201 (relating to bribery), section 224 (relating to sports bribery), sections 471, 472, and 473
(relating to counterfeiting), section 659 (relating to theft from interstate shipment) if the act indictable under section 659 is felonious, section 664 (relating to embezzlement from pension and welfare funds), sections 891–894 (relating to extortionate credit transactions), section 1028 (relating to fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents), section 1029 (relating to fraud and related activity in connection with access devices), section 1084 (relating to the transmission of gambling information), section 1341 (relating to mail fraud), section 1343 (relating to wire fraud), section 1344 (relating to financial institution fraud), section 1425 (relating to the procurement of citizenship or nationalization unlawfully), section 1426 (relating to the reproduction of naturalization or citizenship papers), section 1427 (relating to the sale of naturalization or citizenship papers), sections 1461–1465 (relating to obscene matter), section 1503 (relating to obstruction of justice), section 1510 (relating to obstruction of criminal investigations), section 1511 (relating to the obstruction of State or local law enforcement), section 1512 (relating to tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant), section 1513 (relating to retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant), section 1542 (relating to false statement in application and use of passport), section 1543 (relating to forgery or false use of passport), section 1544 (relating to misuse of passport), section 1546 (relating to fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents), sections 1581–1592 (relating to peonage, slavery, and trafficking in persons).,[1]section 1951 (relating to interference with commerce, robbery, or extortion), section 1952 (relating to racketeering), section 1953 (relating to interstate transportation of wagering paraphernalia), section 1954 (relating to unlawful welfare fund payments), section 1955 (relating to the prohibition of illegal gambling businesses), section 1956 (relating to the laundering of monetary instruments), section 1957 (relating to engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity), section 1958 (relating to use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire), section 1960 (relating to illegal money transmitters), sections 2251, 2251A, 2252, and 2260 (relating to sexual exploitation of children), sections 2312 and 2313 (relating to interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles), sections 2314 and 2315 (relating to interstate transportation of stolen property), section 2318 (relating to trafficking in counterfeit labels for phonorecords, computer programs or computer program documentation or packaging and copies of motion pictures or other audiovisual works), section 2319 (relating to criminal infringement of a copyright), section 2319A (relating to unauthorized fixation of and trafficking in sound recordings and music videos of live musical performances), section 2320 (relating to trafficking in goods or services bearing counterfeit marks), section 2321 (relating to trafficking in certain motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts), sections 2341–2346 (relating to trafficking in contraband cigarettes), sections 2421–24 (relating to white slave traffic), sections 175–178 (relating to biological weapons), sections 229–229F (relating to chemical weapons), section 831 (relating to nuclear materials), (C) any act which is indictable under title 29, United States Code, section 186 (dealing with restrictions on payments and loans to labor organizations) or section 501(c) (relating to embezzlement from union funds), (D) any offense involving fraud connected with a case under title 11 (except a case under section 157 of this title), fraud in the sale of securities, or the felonious manufacture, importation, receiving, concealment, buying, selling, or otherwise dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act), punishable under any law of the United States, (E) any act which is indictable under the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, (F) any act which is indictable under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 274 (relating to bringing in and harboring certain aliens), section 277 (relating to aiding or assisting certain aliens to enter the United States), or section 278 (relating to importation of alien for immoral purpose) if the act indictable under such section of such Act was committed for the purpose of financial gain, or (G) any act that is indictable under any provision listed in section 2332b(g)(5)(B);