The Mafia and Immigration

Term Paper # 104042

Criminology > Organized Crime Studies
Hot Topics > Immigration
Sociology

This paper explores immigrants and their potential social connections to the mafia within the United States.

1,359 words () | 14 sources | APA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper reveals that large formal organized networks of criminals that operate within a single city or a larger geographic region are often outcomes of immigration. The paper looks at the historical, immigrant background of the mafia within the United States. The paper shows how the defining characteristics of organized crime stem from exclusion from processes that are found within a normal social order.

From the Paper:

"Immigration within the United States has tended to be regional and community-specific, where immigrants from specific ethnic populations are more likely to take up residence within the same region and form communities comprised of their native ethnic groups. These processes are used to help provide a sense of collective purpose within the immigrant population as these persons face a new and unfamiliar environment. The close community environment also helps the immigrants to maintain unique cultural traits and customs that may not exist within the new territory or within the cultures of the native population."

Sample of Sources Used:

Chin, K., Kelly, R. and Schatzberg, R. (1994). Handbook of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport: Greenwood Press.
A basic text that introduces the readers to the topic of organized crime and helps familiarize the reader with the factors involved. A good starting point to identify specific principles of organized crime; the majority of the text concentrates exclusively on the mafia.
Bernstein, L. (2002). The Greatest Menace: Organized Crime in Cold War America. Amherst (MA): University of Massachusetts Press.
A contemporary study of organized crime within the United States. The focus of the text is on how and to what extent the mafia and other formal crime syndicates impacted the decision-making processes of authorities.
Gambetta, D. (1996). The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.