ABSTRACT
Organized criminal groups survive and operate effectively because they have created organizational systems for themselves, which encompass a chain of command, initiation rites, procedures for new members, a set of rules for everyone in the organization to follow uncritically, an agenda of criminal operations and plans of action, a way to allocate criminal tasks, and so on. This chapter looks at the organizational aspects of criminal gangs. Some of these, like the Sicilian Mafia, are structured hierarchically, with a leader at the top and subalterns below him, ending with the foot soldiers at the bottom. Other gangs have a network structure, with various clans or chapters distributed into various geographical locales that are coordinated by a central hub of power. In addition to internal structure, criminal groups form alliances with associates outside the gang, including lawyers, public officials, the police, and any other outsider who can be co-opted through corruption by the gang for self-serving purposes.
