Organized Crime and White Collar Crime

This document explores the characteristics of organized crime and white collar crime. It discusses the main goals and activities of organized crime groups, as well as the types of crimes associated with white collar criminals. The document also profiles three notable individuals involved in organized crime and white collar crime. Additionally, it examines the relationship between race and crime, highlighting the controversies and criticisms surrounding the use of race in criminal profiling.

Running head: CRIMINAL LAW
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Organized Crime:
Organized crime can be defined as criminal enterprise of continuing nature that works to
profit from illicit activities through use of force, threats, monopoly control and corruption of
officials (Albanese, 2014). Organized crimes rely on illicit activities like gambling, drugs, sex,
stolen properties and loans. The organized groups can be classified under two groups- right-wing
hate groups and left-wing groups. Prominent characteristics of organized crimes can be identified
as-
 The main goal of organized crime groups is to make money
 Thrive on supplying illegal goods and services that a large number of people are willing
to pay
 The groups have pyramid power structure
 Members are loyal and committed to the group
 Punishment for stray members range from demotion in rank to death depending on their
offense.
White Collared Crime:
White collar crimes are defined as crimes committed by professionals involving fraud or
deception without any use of force that result in financial gain to the perpetrators. Examples
of white collar crimes include securities fraud, insurance fraud, money laundering and tax
evasion.
Sam Gravano
Sam Gravano is a former underboss in the Gambino crime family, one of the five
dominating organized crime families in New York. He has been famous for bringing down his

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boss John Gotti by becoming government witness. He has confessed to be involved in 19
murders including to the murder of the former Gambino boss Paul Castellano. The crimes
committed by Gravano for his organization includes labor racketeering, gambling, extortion,
money laundering, prostitution, fraud, murder and other crimes that can be described to fall
under the category of organized crime. Gravano served for five years in prison and in 1994
entered into the United States Federal Witness Protection Program.
Jonathan Lebed
Jonathan Lebed is the first minor American Stock Trader prosecuted for stock
manipulations. He artificially raised the price of stock by encouraging people online in internet
chat rooms or message boards to buy penny stocks owned by him. He was prosecuted by the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2001 an out-of-court settlement was
negotiated between Lebed and SEC. around $285,000 profit and interest was forfeited allowing
Lebed to keep around half million dollars without admitting to any wrongdoing. Lebed’s crimes
can be described as more of a white collar crime than an organized crime. Although Lebed’s
primary goal was to earn money but he took the way of internet fraud instead of force or threat
unlike any hate group.
Jimmy Coonan
Jimmy Coonan is a mobster and racketeer from Manhattan, New York. He was the
founder of the New York based Irish-American organized crime gang, the Westies. He found the
gang to take revenge from Mickey Spillane, another mobster, for kidnapping beating his father
for ransom. According to the NYPD Organized Crime Squad and the FBI Jimmy Coonan and his
gang were responsible for almost 100 murders. The gang involved itself in crimes that included
racketeering, assaults, contract killing, burglary, kidnapping, gambling, extortion, drug

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trafficking, counterfeiting, robbery, murder and loansharking. Jimmy Coonan was sentenced to
75 years in prison without parole under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
(RICO).
Gambino Crime Family, the organization where Sam Gravano was a underboss, can be
classified under most types of organized crime groups as the family dealt with all types of crimes
including racketeering, fraud, extortion, gambling, murder, robbery and drug trafficking. The
organization further can be described as a right-wing hate group as it is one of the five mafia
families dominating nationwide criminal phenomenon in New York, United States.
Jimmy Coonan and his organization can be classified as left-wing hate group as the
primary aim of Jimmy Coonan was not generating profit but to take Mickey Spillane down from
power.
Racial ethnicity and Crime
While the term race is commonly used to refer a person’s profile on the basis of his skin
color or culture, the term was originally used to describe one’s kinship linkage (Gabbidon,
2015). Although the race and ethnicity of the offender is often described to play a pivotal role in
the development of his criminal career but ethnicity, in reality, is a poor indicator of crime
activities. The relation between a criminal’s race with the crimes committed by him has been a
highly controversial topic for more than a century in the United States. There have been many
criticisms for racial discriminations against the minorities in the United States.1 Research shows
that in most of the homicides committed in the United States the perpetrator and victim are from
the same race. In the United States crime data are collected from three sources-
 Uniform Crime Reports

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 National Crime Victimization Surveys
 Self-report Surveys
All of the above sources are inaccurate, unreliable, often misrepresent facts and can be
manipulated by local law enforcement agencies. It has been argued that using the race of an
offender to determine a crime by law enforcement is racial discrimination. Researchers
suggest that racial profiling by police may result in high number of racial minorities among
crime suspects (Warren & Tomaskovic 2009). Discrimination by the judicial system can be
described as another contributory factor for higher number of convictions for racial minority
(Depew, Eren & Mocan, 2017).
It can be seen that the criminals discussed in this paper all come from different
backgrounds and ethnicities. Sam Gravano was born in well-off Italian American family in a
large Italian American neighborhood in Brooklyn. He served the United States Army for few
years before associating himself with crime. Jonathan Lebed on the other hand is an American
from Cedar Grove, New Jersey. He was the first minor to be prosecuted by SEC. Jimmy Coonan
is from an Irish American family residing in Hell’s Kitchen. His father was an accountant who
was kidnapped by a well-known mobster for ransom. This event led to Coonan’s interest towards
organized crime to take revenge from the mobster. It can be concluded that racial ethnicity
cannot be a contributory factor to determine an offender’s crimes.

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Reference:
Albanese, J. S. (2014). Organized crime in our times. Routledge.
Depew, B., Eren, O., & Mocan, N. (2017). Judges, juveniles, and in-group bias. The Journal of
Law and Economics, 60(2), 209-239.
Gabbidon, S. L. (2015). Criminological perspectives on race and crime. Routledge.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act 1970
Warren, P. Y., & Tomaskovic‐Devey, D. (2009). Racial profiling and searches: Did the politics
of racial profiling change police behavior? Criminology & Public Policy, 8(2), 343-369.