Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
organized crime \organized crime\ n. Groups of persons organized for illegal purposes, such as bootlegging, conducting illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, etc.; -- a general term encompassing most forms of criminal groups, but especially those that are consolidated into ``families'' more or less recognizing each other's different regions of operation; sometimes considered synonymous with the mafia or the syndicate.
Syndicate \Syn"di*cate\, n. [Cf. F. syndicat, LL. syndicatus.]
The office or jurisdiction of a syndic; a council, or body of syndics.
--Bp. Burnet.An association of persons officially authorized to undertake some duty or to negotiate some business; also, an association of persons who combine to carry out, on their own account, a financial or industrial project; as, a syndicate of bankers formed to take up and dispose of an entire issue of government bonds.
A more or less organized association of criminals controlling some aspects of criminal activity, in a specific area or country-wide; -- used loosely as a synonym for organized crime or the mafia.
(Journalism) a commercial organization that purchases various journalistic items, such as articles, columns, or comic strips, from their individual creators, and resells them to newspapers or other periodicals for simultaneous publication over a wide area.
Wiktionary
alt. 1 A large criminal organization, or a group of such organizations operating in a coordinated manner, that deals in illegal goods and services. 2 The crimes perpetrated by those organizations. n. 1 A large criminal organization, or a group of such organizations operating in a coordinated manner, that deals in illegal goods and services. 2 The crimes perpetrated by those organizations.
WordNet
Wikipedia
Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals who intend to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for money and profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, are politically motivated. Sometimes criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts money from shopkeepers for so-called " protection". Gangs may become disciplined enough to be considered organized. A criminal organization or gang can also be referred to as a mafia, mob, or crime syndicate; the network, subculture and community of criminals may be referred to as the underworld.
Other organizations—including states, militaries, police forces, and corporations—may sometimes use organized-crime methods to conduct their activities, but their powers derive from their status as formal social institutions. There is a tendency to distinguish organized crime from other forms of crime, such as white-collar crime, financial crimes, political crimes, war crime, state crimes, and treason. This distinction is not always apparent and academics continue to debate the matter. For example, in failed states that can no longer perform basic functions such as education, security, or governance (usually due to fractious violence or to extreme poverty), organised crime, governance and war sometimes complement each other. The term "Parliamentary Mafiocracy" has been used to describe democratic countries whose political, social and economic institutions come under the control of a few families and business oligarchs.
In the United States, the Organized Crime Control Act (1970) defines organized crime as "[t]he unlawful activities of [...] a highly organized, disciplined association [...]". Criminal activity as a structured process is referred to as racketeering. In the UK, police estimate that organized crime involves up to 38,000 people operating in 6,000 various groups. Due to the escalating violence of Mexico's drug war, a report issued by the United States Department of Justice characterizes the Mexican drug cartels as the "greatest organized crime threat to the United States".
Organized Crime is an album from German comedy pop act, Mambo Kurt. This album is a compilation album and it is his first album to be released overseas.
Organized crime is groups or operations run by criminals, most commonly for the purpose of generating a monetary profit.
Organized Crime may also refer to:
- Organized Crime (Mambo Kurt album)
- Organized Crime (Treat album)
Usage examples of "organized crime".
If there was any remaining doubt about the possibility of organized crime involvement—.
It was a snug niche, and Thackeray's Organized Crime and Racketeering Unit won a national reputation for ambition and technical knowledgeability.
Youre the Organized Crime Unit, and you know what your mandate is.
His specialty was in the Bureau's OC-Organized Crime-Directorate, which explained his posting to Switzerland.
The bulk of organized crime, at least when me and Angelo first got in, was made up of Italians, Irish, Jews and blacks.
He was still assigned to Organized Crime at the time and had been pursuing Cerino for a good four years.
Pending cases against organized crime families would be set aside for this one.