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Criminal organizing applying the theory of partial organization to four cases of organized crime

Rostami, Amir ; Mondani, Hernan ; Liljeros, Fredrik and Edling, Christofer LU orcid (2018) In Trends in Organized Crime 21(4). p.315-342
Abstract
We explore how the idea of partial organization can provide insights in the study of organized crime. Studying criminal organizing with a theoretical framework used for other social organizing phenomena can help us see the interplay between different forms of criminal collaboration under a single analytical lens, and start a discussion on whether criminal organizing is intrinsically different from other types of social organizing. We analyze four cases of criminal collaboration in Sweden between 1990 and 2015: the Syriac mafia, the Hells Angels Mc Sweden, the street gang Werewolf Legion, and the Hallunda robbery. While the outlaw motorcycle gang, and to a certain extent the street gang, are complete organizations, the mafia is based around... (More)
We explore how the idea of partial organization can provide insights in the study of organized crime. Studying criminal organizing with a theoretical framework used for other social organizing phenomena can help us see the interplay between different forms of criminal collaboration under a single analytical lens, and start a discussion on whether criminal organizing is intrinsically different from other types of social organizing. We analyze four cases of criminal collaboration in Sweden between 1990 and 2015: the Syriac mafia, the Hells Angels Mc Sweden, the street gang Werewolf Legion, and the Hallunda robbery. While the outlaw motorcycle gang, and to a certain extent the street gang, are complete organizations, the mafia is based around and heavily parasitic on other institutions. We have also shown that time-bounded projects are found in the criminal context, with these emerging from strong network relations. Our results show that most of the elements of criminal organizing are not formalized and that partial organization is at least as important and powerful as complete organization.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Organizing, Partial organization, Organized crime, Mafia, Street gangs, Outlaw motorcycle gangs, Criminal project
in
Trends in Organized Crime
volume
21
issue
4
pages
28 pages
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85058080186
ISSN
1936-4830
DOI
10.1007/s12117-017-9315-6
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8fd0d5f8-0be1-450f-bc57-771f13f681f6
date added to LUP
2017-07-05 15:42:18
date last changed
2022-04-25 01:12:04
@article{8fd0d5f8-0be1-450f-bc57-771f13f681f6,
  abstract     = {{We explore how the idea of partial organization can provide insights in the study of organized crime. Studying criminal organizing with a theoretical framework used for other social organizing phenomena can help us see the interplay between different forms of criminal collaboration under a single analytical lens, and start a discussion on whether criminal organizing is intrinsically different from other types of social organizing. We analyze four cases of criminal collaboration in Sweden between 1990 and 2015: the Syriac mafia, the Hells Angels Mc Sweden, the street gang Werewolf Legion, and the Hallunda robbery. While the outlaw motorcycle gang, and to a certain extent the street gang, are complete organizations, the mafia is based around and heavily parasitic on other institutions. We have also shown that time-bounded projects are found in the criminal context, with these emerging from strong network relations. Our results show that most of the elements of criminal organizing are not formalized and that partial organization is at least as important and powerful as complete organization.<br/><br/>}},
  author       = {{Rostami, Amir and Mondani, Hernan and Liljeros, Fredrik and Edling, Christofer}},
  issn         = {{1936-4830}},
  keywords     = {{Organizing; Partial organization; Organized crime; Mafia; Street gangs; Outlaw motorcycle gangs; Criminal project}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{315--342}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Trends in Organized Crime}},
  title        = {{Criminal organizing applying the theory of partial organization to four cases of organized crime}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12117-017-9315-6}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s12117-017-9315-6}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}