The Disruption and prevention of organised crime
What is disruption and prevention?
What do we mean by disruption and prevention of organised crime?
Measures to impact on criminal activities, criminal structures and illegal governance.
Through (for example):
Using legal penalties: to punish/ deter
Investigation of organised crime (process through criminal justice system)
Situational crime prevention (opportunity reduction)
Civil society measures: refusal to cooperate
Understanding the components of organised crime: A crime scripts approach (Back to ecosystems)
What we’ve covered
Networks / typologies of OC
Social microcosms
Embeddedness
Notion that organised crime is an ecosystem
Understanding the components of organised crime: A crime script approach
Precursors → During → Aftermath
…reoccurring actions that are performed in a particular order and that
together form a criminal act. (Cornish and Clarke, as cited in Kleemans &
Soudijn, 2017:395)
Example: International drugs networks — production of ecstasy in holland (Kleemans & Soudijan, 2017)
Steps of production / supply chains:
Supply of raw materials (MDMA);
Production of pills (hardware required/accommodation);
Selling and distribution (networks, transport/ finance);
Laundering cash
Numerous actors involved
ie. thus, organised crime is often not like ‘normal’ crime
Approaches to the distribution of organised crime
Prevention and disruption: Organised crime
The law
Investigation
Situational methods
Civil society
Govt policy / EU initiatives
Money laundering (regulation?)
Approaches to prevention 1 : Using The Legal System
Using traditional forms of criminal law
Innovative use of criminal law;
More severe penalties for OC offences (such as Human Trafficking)
Criminal forfeiture / asset confiscation
Involvement in criminal group (The Schloenhardt model)
Criminalisation of involvement in organised crime (Schloenhardt)
The Conspiracy model: conspiracy ‘to commit crime’ planning offences
The participation model: criminalise involvement in criminal groups
The enterprise model: criminalise conduct/ activities associated with organised crime (i.e. Racketeering Offences in USA)
The Labelling/ registration model: identify criminal organisations and then take measures to control them (i.e. Motorcycle gangs in Australia).
Approaches: investigating organised crime
Intelligence and criminal investigation
Surveillance
Infiltration of OC groups / undercover operations
Use of informants
Use of witness protection
Development is specialist agencies ie. National Crime Agency in UK
Undercover operations: Joseph Pistone (as Donnie Brasco: 1976 - 1981): OP Sun-Apple
FBI Agent infiltrated New York Cosa Nostra (Via Mafia captain Dom ‘Sonny Black’ Napolitano)
Brasco did various Mafia jobs
By 1981 was close to being a ‘made-man’
Napolitano murdered for having allowed an FBI agent to infiltrate the family: shot dead / hands were cut off
Undercover operations
Long term
Expensive
Dangerous
Executions
No impact on organised crime?
Informants
UK police forces paid informants £20m over past 5 years
Paying for info is scrutinised and can save money by cutting need for months of surveillance, says senior officer
A freedom of information request revealed that the MEtT police alone paid £5.2m from 2011 to 2016, more than a quarter of the amount paid out nationally
Case study: The Falcon Murders (Italy)
several prosecutors have been murdered by Mafia
Maxi trial: 1986-87 Mafia had tried to neutralise investigations via murder of police investigators
Dec 1987: 360 Mafia convictions
Paolo Borsellino & Giovanni Falcone (magistrates) both murdered in 1992
Falcone ‘A29’ murder
Approaches: Situational crime prevention and organised crime
The basis of situational crime prevention — focus on specific ‘crime events’ or (in the case of organised crime) predicate offences (opportunity reduction):
Increase the effort for offenders
Increase the risk
Reduce the rewards
Largely based around Routine Activity Theory
Approaches: The role of civil society ‘Activism’
Public exposure: through journalists
Public protest: ie. anti Mafia in Sicily / committee of the sheets / Addiopizzo
Examples: The European Union / Italy / The UK
The European Union response
Schengen (1985, 1990, 1995): Information and communication;
Europol (1995): Policing
Stockholm programme (2009): Building cross border law enforcement
Impact of BREXIT on UK?
New European Union roadmap to fight drug trafficking and organised crime
Strengthen preventative efforts;
Dismantle high-risk criminal networks via investigations/ using Schengen Information Systems;
Strengthen cooperation with international partners;
Strengthen resilience of logistics hubs through European Ports Alliance.
Italy anti-Mafia
Laws against Mafia Criminal association
Asset Seizures
Money laundering (SARs)
Mafia Trials
The UK Experience: National strategic assessment of serious and organised crime (National Crime Agency — 2017,2018,2019)
Identifies the organised crime threats annually across
three groups:
Vulnerabilities: people crime: slavery etc..
Impact on communities: Firearms, drugs, acquisitive crime
Harms to the UK economy: money laundering, cybercrime, international bribery ct.
The 4 p’s:
Pursue: get the bad guys
Prepare: investigation/ closure of incidents/ support for communities affects by organised crime.
Protect: protect borders and potential victims
Prevent: prevent organised crime/ pathways into organised crime
How effective are these measures
Lack of formal evaluation
Local initiatives v national policy
Do they reduce organised crime or just change it?
Summary / analysis
Organised crime is more complex than ‘traditional crime’: it’s organisation and ecosystems that support makes disruption challenging;
Several strategies have been used in relation to prevention at transnational and national level
Understanding the nature of the problem and what to do about it can be difficult (local/ transnational crossover etc)
Understanding how successful measures implemented to prevent organised crime is difficult (measures of success)