ABSTRACT
The authors detail reasons the business of organized crime is of serious concern to a country. Organized crime groups sell products the state considers harmful and contraband; extorts its citizens; conducts its business through destabilizing violence; intimidates witnesses, law enforcement officers and judges who must be inviolate if the rule of law is to function effectively; and corrupts government institutions. There are three broad options for the state in attempting to address the concerns created by organized crime: eliminating organized crime itself; limiting the capacities of organized crime by changing the involvement and alliances of players; and eliminating or reducing organized crime’s motivation to cause the harms of greatest concern to the state. Four ways are explored in which a government can redirect organized criminal groups from those activities the government views as more threatening or harmful, to those it views as less so.
