Personal Perception of Organized Crime

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Personal Perception of Organized Crime Personal Perception of Organized Crime My personal perception of organized crime upon entering this course was that of what I had gathered from movies, television shows, the media, and information gathered from members of my family. One of the shows that comes to mind instantly when thinking about organized crime is “The Sopranos” that was aired for many seasons. I like many others was under the impression that you had to be a specific race such as Italian or German in order to be involved in organized crime. I was also under the impression that organized crime included members only who were a part of the mafia or another gang. Now that my education is much broader on the subject I would describe organized crime in a completely different way. When it comes to organized crime there is not a single, dominant crime organization involved. Organized crime is composed of numerous ethnic and transnational groups operating together or apart and in conjunction with legitimate businesses and political entities (Lyman & Potter, pp. 3-10, 2007). Organized crime takes place when a group of individuals work together on a continuous basis in illegal as well as legal enterprises conducting illegal activities. These activities could include human trafficking, illegal gambling, drug trafficking, etc. Although there are illegal activities taking place, the organized crime group usually will have legal businesses as well where legitimate individuals are the ones who manage them. These businesses are put together in hopes that the organized crime group will have an easier way to launder the money made from their illegal activities while trying not to raise any red flags. There are many individuals that are involved in organized crime and many of the ones higher up the ladder are the ones pulling the strings of others who may not

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