On Defining "Organized Grime"

Abstract

"Organized crime" means different things to different people: as a result, views of its seriousness vary. This paper discusses some of the problems in defining "organized crime. " It offers a general rather than a single specific defini tion and develops a typology of different forms of organized crimes, permitting one to distinguish among the many dis parate activities now lumped together and to eliminate the vagueness and contradictions surrounding use of the term "organized crime."