Good Example Of Argumentative Essay On Russian/Eurasian: Fraud

Organized crime has been a threat to the citizens of the United States since the beginning of immigration into the United States. These organized crimes started out with La Costra Nostra (LCN) in the five points of New York City, and have now developed into other ethnicity based criminal organizations as well as street level gangs. The FBI has now classified several street level gangs into organized crime groups due to them expanding to several thousand members across several states, and sometimes even countries. (FBI, 2015) These organized crime groups not only include ethnicity “mafias” and street gangs, but the newest threat of domestic terrorism groups, or “sovereign citizens”. (Domestic Terrorism, 2011)
With these overwhelming numbers of organized crime syndicates and thousands of members across the country, it is impossible to completely end the organized crime problems not only in Centervale, but across the United States. Many of the groups have now moved away from the old tactics of extortion and theft, and now moved onto cyber crimes and identity theft. The FBI has stated that depending on the type of organized crime group, their specialization of crime is different.

Asian: trafficking in heroin, counterfeiting, fraud
Italian: money laundering, gambling, loan sharking, drug trafficking
Balkan: money laundering, counterfeiting, fraud, extortion, kidnapping
Other (Afrian, South American): piracy, counterfeiting, cyber crimes, fraud
Street Level Gangs: drug trafficking, fraud
Domestic groups: firearm trafficking, murder, fraud, drug trafficking (Finklea, 2010)
Almost every organized crime organization has moved to a more secure form of crime that involved a victim’s identity being stolen, or money being transferred. This is done due to the risk being low, and the reward being high.
These groups are always a concern for to the public due to their high level of motivation to gain power and monetary gain. Many organized crime groups, even those across ethnic or other affiliation lines, work together to trade their resources. The domestic groups are mostly out to attack America and the government which they believe is ruining the country, and therefore is highly supplied with weapons and explosives. Another crime group such as the street level gangs might have narcotics or money to trade to the domestic group for their supply of weapons or narcotics. When these groups start working together we see a big threat to the public’s safety. “The council suggests (as does the FBI), however, that organized criminals and terrorists may ally for business purposes. Both criminal and terrorist organizations depend on money; organized criminals are profit-driven, and terrorists—though ideology-driven—need money and goods to finance their operations. It has been suggested that organized crime groups may cooperate with terrorists if the business alliance is profitable.” (Finklea, 2010)
It is important for the public to understand that terrorism and organized crime can enter any community from any place in the world. If one member of a group is in the community, then the entire community is in danger of being a victim of one of their crimes. By keeping the community informed of the types of threats these groups pose, they can become cognizant of how to protect themselves and those around them.

Works Cited

FBI Overview (2010, August 26). Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/organizedcrime/overview
Finklea, K. (2012). Organized Crime in the United States: Trends and Issues for Congress.Congressional Research Service, 7. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40525.pdf
Focus on Militia Extremism. (2011, September 22). Retrieved March 15, 2015, from http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/september/militia_092211
Lal, R. (2005, May 24). Terrorists and organized crime join forces. The New York Times. Retrieved March 13, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/23/opinion/23iht-edlal.html?_r=0