Welcome to the week two discussion!  After going over many reasons that organized crime exist from week one, we are now moving into different cases of organized crime.  Make sure to follow the time frame for when each crime occurred in the post for this week.  Call me if you have any questions. 

I know many of you do not have your books yet and trust they will be
there sometime this week. This weeks assignment is to find a current
(crime committed within the past 15 years) case involving organized crime.
Give an example of how it is related to an older case where the crime
 committed was somewhere between the early 1900’s through the 1970’s and the 
cases are not within the same organized crime family. 
This is where you will compare and contrast on the two cases.
When you find the case’s you are going to profile, upload the link’s so that 
your fellow students and instructor may read the current case and the past 
case. Please do not use the wording of the article you are looking up for 
your case. You need to put it into your own words. 

Do not forget that you must also comment on at least two fellow student’s initial 
post with something that is related to the case they are profiling. 
(min. 300 words in initial post) 

This assignment is very specific. Please read over it at least twice before you complete
this assignment. 
Know that “Bonnie and Clyde” and any similar case are not criminal organizations. 
If you have been in this course before, then you need to find a different
case than previously used by you or a classmate. 
Do not use the same organization, even if the crimes were committed in 
the two different time frames.
Make sure you upload both articles so that we do not have to search for the 
correct one. Both must be available for viewing. 
Keep up with the organizations crimes being committed within the 
correct time frames. Also, if the organizations/criminals have been compared before your post, do not use the 
organizations again. Find new criminals from a different organization. 

Heather Payton

In 2017, the United States attorney NCDA indicted

eleven members of the Sonoma Motorcycle gang that represents Hells Angels in California for murder and racketeering conspiracy.  An operation that has been going on for the last 10 years consisted of the HA fraudulently paying a bank mortgage, for  a home that was unoccupied and used to grow and sell marijuana out of.  The Department of Justice also goes on record for indicting some of the members under the RICO act and intimidation.  Read more on the following link.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/members-sonoma-motorcycle-gang-charged-murder-racketeering-conspiracy-and-related 

In 1936, La Cosa Nostra’s mafia family had been involved heavily in organized criminal activity.  Lucky Luciano was convicted of 62 counts of compulsory prostitution.  In the 1920’s and 30’s prohibition was controlled by much of the American-Italian mafia organizations.  The US government looked into many ways they could indict mobsters and set up an operation where the Defense Attorney convinced several prostitutes to testify against La Cosa Nostra and their 80 brothels.

https://www.history.com/news/major-mob-busts-in-u-s-history

These two crime organizations are similar to the fact that they both are committing crimes. Both organizations have several  members involved and their crimes run across the whole city.  the differences of these two is the time period and extent of illegal activity.  Where the HA had a list of criminal offenses they were indicted on, such as murder, assault, and drug trafficking, the La Cosa Nostra’s Luciano, only was charged with prostitution at the time and deported.  

Brandon Deasey

The comparison of two different criminal organizations can be difficult task to accomplish. If a person were to compare the illustrious life of the Irish Mob in Boston led by Whitey Bulger, and the arrest of 11 individuals in Brooklyn, NY connected to the gang “The Bloods” it would be very difficult to understand how these two, very different organizations, could ever be similar. However, upon further investigation, a person would find an insurmountable amount of evidence that connects the two. Both organizations had a hand in the racketeering that happened in their area. Both of these organizations worked within their unit to better the hold of power they had over an area. Lastly, both organizations used their influence and power for self-gain, and kept this power through acts of violence. Whitey Bulgers Irish mob was one of the most feared groups of their time because no one dared to cross them. The same can be said of the fear of crossing a member of the “Crips,” or the “Bloods”. The only way these two separate groups maintained the level of power that they felt was through violence and controlling something that people wanted. The Irish Mob had a much larger hand in the everyday commerce than that of the bloods arrested in the article, however, the concept is the same for both groups. If one group controls all of the economy in a town, they will be the most powerful people in that town. If another group tries to come and take some the first groups power, they have two options, either let it happen, or violently assert themselves back in to power. If a person were to look throughout history, they would find a supplemental amount of resources that show all gangs use similar tactics to not only cone in to power, but to keep said power.