Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T22:05:08.981Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

34 - Extortion and Organized Crime

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2014

By
Ernesto U. Savona  and
Marco Zanella
Edited by
Mangai Natarajan
Ernesto U. Savona
Affiliation:
The Catholic University of Milan, Italy
Marco Zanella
Affiliation:
The Catholic University of Milan, Italy
Mangai Natarajan
Affiliation:
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York
Get access

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Extortion is “the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right” (The United States Code 18 U.S.C. § 1951(b)(2)). The legal definitions of extortion in other countries are similar to the US. definition.

When extortion is committed on a regular basis, it turns into racketeering: “an institutionalized practice whereby tribute is collected on behalf of a criminal group that, in exchange, claims to offer […] protection” (Volkov, 2002: 1).

This chapter deals with extortion, racketeering, and organized crime in Europe. The overall argument is that market opportunities for extortion driven by lack of trust in market dynamics and variations in the characteristics of organized criminal groups may give rise to two different types of extortion racketeering: systemic and casual. Extortion racketeering is systemic when it is deeply rooted and extends across a territory since it is a core part of organized crime groups’ activities. Extortion racketeering is casual when it is not extended across a territory since criminal organizations do not routinely engage in such a criminal activity. These types of extortion racketeering are shaped by four interrelated variables: 1. market opportunities; 2. the organizational structure of criminal groups; 3. their presence at local level and 4. the victim/ofender relationship.

Type
Chapter
Information
International Crime and Justice , pp. 261 - 267
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, D. (2000). The End of Ideology. On the Exhaustion of Political Ideas in the Fifties. Harvard: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Blok, A. (2008). Reflections on the Sicilian Mafia: Peripheries and Their Impact on Centers. In Siegel, D. & Nelen, A. (Eds.). Organized Crime: Culture, Markets and Policies, Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Felson, M. (2006). Crime and Nature. London: SAGE publications.Google Scholar
Gambetta, D. (1993). The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection. Harvard: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gambetta, D. (2000). Mafia: The Price of Distrust. In Gambetta, D. (Ed.). Trust: Making and Breaking Cooperative Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 158–210.Google Scholar
Landesco, J. (1968). Organized Crime in Chicago. Part III of The Illinois Crime Survey 1929. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Paoli, L. & Fijnaut, C.. (2004). Organised Crime in Europe. Concepts, Patterns, Control Policies in the European Union and Beyond. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Passas, N. (2002). Cross-Border Crime and the Interface Between Legal and Illegal Actors. In Van Duyne, P., Von Lampe, K., & Passas, N. (Eds.), Upper World and Underworld in Cross-Border Crime. The Netherlands: Wolf Legal Publishers, pp. 11–43.Google Scholar
Reuter, P. (1994). Research on American Organized Crime. In Kelly, R. J., Chin, K., & Schatzberg, R. (Eds.). Handbook of Organized Crime in the United StatesSanta Barbara: Greenwood Press. 91–120.Google Scholar
Transcrime, (2009). Study on Extortion Racketeering the Need for an Instrument to Combat Activities of Organized Crime. Final Report prepared for the European Commission. Bruxelles (unpublished).Google Scholar
Volkov, V. (2002). Violent Entrepreneurs. The Use of Force in the Making of Russian Capitalism. London: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
UNODC (2002). Results of a Pilot Survey of Forty Selected Organized Criminal Groups in Sixteen Countries. Vienna: UNODC.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×