The social construction of organised crime

Thinking about perceptions / social constructions

1. How do we define the concept of organised crime?

2. What are our perceptions of organised crime / how are they constructed

What are social constructions

• What is crime / how is it defined?

• Who decides what crime is?

• Rules can be created / designed for the benefit of particular group.

• The role of moral entrepreneurs

• Promotion of (1) the outsider and (2) social control agencies

How are these perceptions generated?

Constructions of organised crime

Organised crime is entertainment

1. ‘Classic‘ films / media depictions

2. Depictions of ‘reality‘ that become amplified / ‘truth’ (all media)

3. Confirmation bias — what we think we know (i.e. organised crime almost becomes a stereotype)

Classic gangster myths

• Media construction of OC is often one-dimensional

• Form an “enduring urban narrative” (Hobbs, 2013:11)

• Mafia Myths — Larke (2003) 🇦

  • “Italian ethnic identity and the acceptance of patriarchal Mafia rules and traditions are portrayed as essential for a family’s continued existence” (Larke, 2003: 123)

• Classic gangster films can romanticise / perpetuate mafia myths

• OC is ‘other‘ and we, the viewer, remain safe (audience thrill)

Social constructions: Mafia Myths?

• Notable features

  • stylised violence, use of cinematography, soundtrack, depth of dialogue, non linear narrative

  • Memorable, individualised characters — making gangster less one-dimensional?

  • Familiar (‘Big name)’ actors, sometimes in unfamiliar roles

• Repeats the same formula (i.e. lots of violence)

• Powerful male characters

See Chibnall (2005)

Social construction of ‘the Mafia’ in the US (via Poolicy)

• Albini and McIllwain (2012) mythical portrayal of the mafia

  • “… primarily the creation of journalists who sought to excite and entertain
    their public and several American politicians who sought to bolster their
    careers by conducting investigations directed at exposing (and exaggerating) a
    threat to public welfare manifested by the Mafia…” (p.4)

• Us has a history of portraying its ‘enemies‘ as “ideological and ethnic adversaries“ (Rawlinson, 1998: 248)

• ‘The enemy within’

  • Propaganda arising from Kefauver report (1952) and subsequent biographical testimony which translated into Mario Puzo’s 1959 novel The Godfather

British Gangster: The glamourisation of OC and ‘gangster‘ culture

• The Krays

  • Film (Legend (2015) - Tom Hardy Version), TV and books

• Enduring fascination with certain OC figures

  • See Ruth Penfold Monroe (2010) Celebrity Culture and Crime

    • ‘dark humour‘ of like of crime most evocatively represented in the media construction of The Kray twins

• Commodification

  • Underworld London tours — dark humour

British Gangster Films (1990s)

• Dangers of capitalism, Thatcherism, poverty and unemployment reflected in 1980s films (Hill, 1999)

  • The Macho, Kray style gangster?

• Crime as ‘normal’, subculture of youth crime

• Seductions of crime (Katz, 1988)

Resulting perceptions: How are gender relations portrayed in gangster film?

• Female gangsters?

• Role for women in OC films / TV

  • Any strong female characters?

• Masculinity and ‘lad culture‘?

• Work of Claire Monk (1999,2000)

• New Laddism

Resulting perceptions: Organised crime as the “Other” (Othering processes)

• External threats to national (and transnational) security

• Back to social construction of gangster in the US — ‘Mafia myth‘

• Political agenda

  • As political agenda changes, the threat shifts

• Russian Mafia (see Rawlinson, 1998)

• Organised crime, race and ethnicity are '““inextricably linked… accentuated by the popularity of ‘Mafia’ films and cultural events” (Leiva and Bright, 2015)

Resulting perceptions: Alien conspircay — Black criminalisation and ‘Yardie’ Gangs

• 1980s concerns (moral panic?) over predominantly black Jamaican gangs in the UK

• Murji (1999) Construction of Black Jamaicans as urban ‘criminal kingpins’

  • “Jamaican born males who, by the use of extreme violence, including murder, are dominating the drugs trafficking, prostitution, gaming clubs… and possibly the black popular
    music industries. They inflict their violence with firearms and sharp instruments, in particular machetes and flick knives” Met. Police Report

• As social fears shift, so do the ‘emergence’ of new folk devils

Exercise: Implications of these perceptions: the usual suspects?

1. What are the links between ethnicity and organised crime described in the article?

1. What are 'Mafia myths'?

2. How does the paper challenge the suggestion of 'Mafia myths‘ in the media?

   
   

Impact of Social Constructions

• Dick Hobbs (2013: 11) could not recognise what he saw growing up in East End London as organised crime per se. Organised crime “remained an alien concept associated with Hollywood, Al Capone, Tommy guns, and The Untouchables on TV. Indeed, American cultural products have been enormously influential on the imaginary construction of organised crime.”

• Political construction rooted in immigration, migration and patterns of urbanization (Hobbs, 2013)

  • Constructs who are the threats to national (and transnational) security (the work of moral entrepreneurs)

  • Evokes fears and anxieties through the creation of ‘folk devils’

  • Justifies increase in power of authorities to intervene for public good

  • Can lead to legislative and policy changes (social agents of control).

Examples of organised crime that don’t fit with our perceptions

The development of the Mafia Bourgeoisie (See Canonico et al, 2021)

• Mafia infiltration of the public sector (contract fixing)

• OCG investments in legitimate business

• Banking compliance with OCGs (laundering)

• OCG involvement in football

Conclusions:

1. Perceptions: mafia myths

2. Social constructions (and conformation bias): does it influence definition?

3. The British Gangster

4. Perceptions of modern organised crime (alien conspiracy)