ABSTRACT

The Chief Justice of the United States, Earl Warren, like everyone else who is knowledgeable about organized crime, believes that the basic problem of organized crime is a problem of political corruption. At a 1967 conference of law-enforcement officials, the Chief Justice stated that it could be taken as "rule of thumb" that corruption is the basis of organized crime. The men working in the organized-crime intelligence divisions of police departments probably know more about police corruptees than anyone else. It was this knowledge, in part, which led police intelligence specialists to establish the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit, a private organization for exchanging police intelligence information. Organized crime, thus, is a major impediment to the establishment of a national clearinghouse for information about organized crime. Police action against organized criminals is centralized in the vice squad, and policemen not assigned to that unit must refer organized-crime matters to it.