Week 3 Flashcards
(45 cards)
1
Q
Organization
A
- many long-lasting groups credit their longevity and effectiveness to a fundamental framework: organization
- includes a leader
- a well-defined hierarchy
- internal rules of conduct
- operational plans
- delegation of tasks
2
Q
Depriving vs providing
A
- depriving vs. providing
- shifted from an economy focused on survival to one that enabled the accumulation of capital, going beyond mere subsistence
- they shifted from the essential to the excessive
- despite legal restrictions, what goods and services do they provide?
- drugs
- gambling
- liquor
- prostitution
- despite legal restrictions, what goods and services do they provide?
3
Q
Bureaucratic vs patron-client structure
A
Bureaucratic:
- OC with a rigid vertical structure with specific authority roles, and a clear division of tasks
- Their internal rules are explicit, detailing enforcement procedures
Patron-client:
- OC displays a more flexible structure, with subgroups operating semi-autonomously within the broader network
- it consists of looser relations, with each member clan being interested in running its own affairs, with guidance from the power hub
4
Q
The shelter system
A
- the primary appeal of gangs is the promise of structure and a protective umbrella
- individuals from chaotic and disadvantaged backgrounds, often with limited opportunities for societal success, are drawn to others with similar experiences
- consequently, they gravitate toward delinquent subcultures where delinquency becomes a means to gain self-worth
5
Q
Secrecy
A
- the most effective method of ensuring confidentiality among members is through a code that fosters unbreakable bonds of trust and silence
- this not only safeguards their plans from outsiders but also instills a sense of belonging and empowerment derived from exclusive knowledge
- brothers can be trusted; others cannot
- this deeply rooted belief is what makes criminal organizations more cohesive
6
Q
Montreal 1924-25
A
- a judicial inquiry into vice and its enforcement in Montreal conducted by documenting the dozens of “houses of ill repute” operating in Montreal red light district
- it was a strong indictment of the police department, which he judged to be inefficient, incompetently led, and badly managed, as well as of the city of Montreal’s executive committee, whose inference with the administration of the police he regarded as deplorable
7
Q
The 1901 Police Inquiry on gambling
A
- a confessed bookie named Alexander Smiley suggests that bookmaking operations in Toronto had already become well-organized
- smiley also indicated that some bookies were part of a larger gambling syndicate based in buffalo
- the telegraph system facilitated the long-distance relationship between bettors and bookies
- the earliest illegal horse books in Toronto were run independently by small-time operators
- they were pushed out or absorbed by organizing gambling syndicates based in buffalo
- by the 1920s, large-scale bookmaking consortiums were now operating in Canada’s major cities, most of which had ties to American gambling syndicates
8
Q
Anti-Asiatic sentiment
A
- Some cities went so far as to adopt restrictive bylaws to prevent these Chinese from buying property beyond the boundaries of the Chinatown enclave
- Chinese labourers were excluded from unions, paid a lower wage than their counterparts, driven out of small towns and work camps, denied licenses in certain professions, such as medicine, law, and teaching
- Chinese Canadians were denied the federal vote until 1947 and the provincial vote in B.C. until 1949
9
Q
Chinese head tax
A
- Of all the ethnic immigrant groups arriving in Canada, only the Chinese had to pay a fee to settle here, the infamous head tax
- 50$ in 1885
- 100$ in 1902
- 500$ in 1903
10
Q
Chinese immigration act
A
- In 1923, the Chinese Immigration Act prohibited Chinese immigrants from entering Canada with a few exceptions
- over the next 24 years, only 44 Chinese migrants entered the country
11
Q
Drug trafficking
A
- in 1908, the opium act was passed
- in 1911, parliament passed the Opium and Drug Act, which added other drugs to the list of prohibited substances, including cocaine and morphine
- police powers of enforcement were also expanded, and law enforcement began to vigorously target Chinese men
- drug-related convictions began to rise
12
Q
Opium and the drug act
A
- after opium was outlawed in 1908, pharmacists, doctors and veterinarians became some of the biggest dispensers of opiates in the country
- between April 1921 and March 1922 the Dominion government prosecuted under the provision of the Opium and Drug Act 23 doctors, 11 druggists, and four veterinary surgeons
13
Q
Nip Gar
A
- the media referred to as the Queen-pin who controlled the drug trade in China town
- she was sentenced 7 years
14
Q
Montreal drugs
A
- Montreal was a major entry point into North America for opium, morphine, and heroin
- was also a popular conduit for drug smuggling into the United States
15
Q
Political Machine
A
- a new breed of broker - the political boss - emerged to channel votes into a powerful entity known as the machine or patronage
16
Q
Patronage
A
- Patronage:
- the necessities of urban Canada required construction workers, street cleaners, police, and firefighters, and service workers, thus providing the immigrant with his livelihood and the political boss with with patronage
- in exchange, the minority groups vote for candidates indicated by the political machine
- the roots of modern organized crime can be found in the politics of urban America before prohibition, in the exemplary patron-client network known as the political machine
- the necessities of urban Canada required construction workers, street cleaners, police, and firefighters, and service workers, thus providing the immigrant with his livelihood and the political boss with with patronage
17
Q
The saloon
A
- the saloon was a center of neighbourhood activity and an important social base for political activity
- the saloonkeepers became political powers in many cities
- the saloonkeeper or machine leader mediated between unorganized urban masses, the underworld, and the upper world
18
Q
Canada temperance act 1878
A
- this legislation did not prohibit the sale of ardent spirits (fermented alch) in Canada
- Instead, it provided the provinces with the power to regulate the sale and consumption of alcohol while it manufacture, interprovincial trade, import, and export remained in federal hands
19
Q
PEI 1901
A
PEI became the first province to prohibit the sale and consumption of Alcohol
20
Q
Social control of the prohibition
A
- prohibition amounted to an ethnic experiment in Social control “to preserve this nation and the anglo saxon type”
- assimilation vs integration
21
Q
Alien bundle
A
- crimes, political corruption, saloons, and foreigners, all tied together in one alien bundle
- alien conspiracy theory - immigrants brought crime with them
22
Q
Social Darwinism
A
eugenicists have often described their campaign using garden metaphors; society is like a garden that requires weeding or a tree that needs pruning
23
Q
Demon run
A
- the prohibition law was born due to the clash between the middle class and the working class between those who lived in rural areas - more religious - and those in the cities - relatively more secular and less homogenous in their ethnic composition
- it was also a clash between natives against immigrants; put-upon women against drunken men; whites against blacks; and the church against the saloon
24
Q
Expectations of the prohibition laws
A
- the goal of the prohibition legislation was to:
- reduce crime and corruption
- solve social problems
- reduce the tax burden created by prisons and poorhouses
- improve health hygiene
25
Outcomes of the prohibition laws
- It was a miserable failure on all counts
- prohibition became a major source of corruption and was the springboard for criminal organizations such as the mafia
- the only beneficiaries were bootleggers, crime, bosses, and corrupt public officials
26
Organized crime during prohibition
- Until prohibition, gangsters were merely errand boys for the politicians and the gamblers; they were at the bottom of a highly stratified social milieu
- prohibition changed the relationship between politicians, vice entrepreneurs, and gang leaders
- before prohibition, the political boss acted as a patron of the vice entrepreneurs and gangs
- he protected them from law enforcement, and they gave him financial and electoral support
- with prohibition, pumping money into the mob pockets, power shifted from men with votes to men with money and guns
27
Before prohibition
- most criminals did not accumulate much money, power, or influence
- criminals always belonged to the flotsam and jetstream of society not the economic elite
- the prohibition and the enormous illegal profits it made possible was changing this perception and leading emergence of a new phenomenon in Canadian society
- the millionaire criminal
28
After Prohibition
- prohibition also taught gangsters an invaluable lesson:
- there was far more money to be made in satisfying the vices of a receptive public than cheating, glomming, grifting, or extorting the tenderloin citizen
- prohibition drew Canada further into the web or the American underworld, and for decades to come, the most notorious Canadian criminal groups would become branch plants of American organized crime
- By supplying the bulk of the liquor sold by American and Canadian bootleggers, they contributed to the expansion and modernization of organized crime while providing the economic power base for the rise of Italian-American organized crime
29
Yakuza
- Japanese OC
- Spins origin tales that are designed to connect it to Japanese history and foundational values
- strong emphasis on family values and respecting elders
- Maintain a chivalric image by avoiding common theft, armed robbery and other pedestrian and random criminal acts - avoiding the perception that they are street thugs
30
Triads
- Chinese
- Human and drug trafficking, illegal gambling counterfeit and online schemes
- Less powerful today than they once were
31
Outlaw biker gangs
- these gangs tell no legendary tales about themselves – they simply consider themselves original American rebels, standing apart from mainstream society, which they see as timid, gutless, and too liberal in its politics and social worldview
- They live by their own rules, ignoring society’s laws and norms, seeing themselves as the last truly “free citizens” in the world
32
White boy posse
- The White Boy Posse is a white supremacist street-biker gang, based in Edmonton, Canada, with connections to the Hells Angels.
- Their operations extend to Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, and Alberta.
- The gang is involved in drug trafficking and carrying out brutal murders for hire, reputedly for gangs such as the Hells Angels.
- The Posse is infamous for its Nazi symbolism, as members brazenly wear Nazi tattoos
33
2 forms of organizational strucutre
1. hierarchical (vertical) - assignment of specific roles tagged with levels of importance
2. horizontal - clans clustered around a main power hub
34
examples of vertical structures
- yakuza
- calabrian Ndrangheta
35
examples of horizontal strcutres
- Sicilian mafia
36
operationality
- Each OC has rules and practices that are designed to establish explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct and task assignment within the group, prescribing what is possible or allowable, including a division of labour among the members
- examples: oath taking, codes, etc
37
Women in gangs
- the players in OCs are men.
- As a general principle, an OC will not admit a woman into the fold as a full-fledged member but only as a subsidiary or ancillary role-player, or else as a companion or spouse to a male within it.
- The gang is a masculine brotherhood
38
membership principles
- Admission to most criminal organizations involves both an apprenticeship period and recommendation by one or more established members, who are the initiate’s guarantors, taking responsibility for him and sometimes paying with their own death for recommending an inadequate person
- Once the member is considered a legitimate enrollee, he must pledge loyalty to the rules and principles of the clan via a set of oaths.
39
initiation rite
a fundamental principle of criminal organizations is that entry into the clan is through some form of initiation rite.
example: blood ritual
40
associates and hitmen
Three main roles
1. Leader
2. Counsellor
3. Foot soldiers
- Accountants and lawyers are either assigned within the clan or framed ot outsiders
- More brutal activities might bring public attention to clan members may be assigned outside the clan to enforce or hitmen
41
titles and nicknames
- Sometimes, the nickname is a dialect one that implies the gangster’s ethnicity
- Titles and nicknames are key symbolic features in criminal cultures of all kinds
- Titles and nicknames are key symbolic features in criminal cultures of all kinds
42
purpose of codes
Cultural codes regulate or provide guidelines for appropriate conduct and interactions among members of a culture, stipulating the fundamental values and beliefs shared by the members and by which they should live. A codeless culture is an oxymoron
43
codes of conduct
Codes of conduct;
Members must be trustworthy individual
Any member who is not will be thrown out and even murdered
No room for cowards or backstabbers in the clan
44
omerta
- means humility
- The central tenet of the code demands a vendetta against anyone who dishonours a Mafioso or his family
- implies obesidence, manliness, silence, and cultural exclusivity all at once
45
honor
- the kind of bond that connects an individual to a society, shaped by historically established codes of conduct, which outline what it is in culture-specific ways
