Organized Crime
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Dynamics & Methods of Organized Crime
CISC and its member agencies use the Criminal Code of Canada definition to identify and assess organized crime in Canada. In using this definition, all contributing agencies base their assessments on the same criteria. This enables the CISC community to produce the broadest and most accurate assessment of organized crime groups.
The Criminal Code (467.1) definition is as follows: “Criminal organization” means a group, however organized that
(a) is composed of three or more persons in or outside of Canada; and
(b) has as one of its main purposes or main activities the facilitation or commission of one or more serious offences that, if committed, would likely result in the direct or indirect receipt of a material benefit, including a financial benefit, by the group or by any of the persons who constitute the group.It does not include a group of persons that forms randomly for the immediate commission of a single offence.
Few communities realize how pervasive organized crime can be. Organized crime can be found in communities of all sizes, and its impact in the smaller, rural areas is often far more devastating than it is in the large urban centres.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner
Steve Graham,
Commanding Officer J Division
(New Brunswick)
RCMP Assistant Commissioner
Steve Graham,
Commanding Officer J Division
(New Brunswick)
The Canadian criminal intelligence community identified approximately 950 organized crime groups in 2007, compared to an estimated 800 groups in 2006. These groups were found to operate in all communities, from major urban centres to rural areas. Wherever there is profit to be made, organized crime can be found.
While the overall number of organized crime groups has risen from last year, this is largely due to enhanced reporting and the efforts of the intelligence community to provide the most detailed and comprehensive assessment of organized crime possible.
Structures and Capabilities
The identified crime groups that operate in Canada are situated throughout the country and vary widely in organizational structure and criminal capabilities. There is no one structure of organized crime. Rather, groups range from highly structured hierarchical and familial organizations to loosely structured cells that align for a specific criminal activity. Many organized crime groups operate on a network basis, reaching out to individuals with specific skills and expertise necessary to facilitate criminal ventures.
The reduction of youth involvement in crime, both as victims and offenders, is necessary if we are to assist them in withstanding the pressures and influences of organized crime groups.
Only a small number of organized crime groups are capable of operating elaborate criminal operations. These groups are engaged in diverse and complex activities. For the most part, they operate out of the largest urban areas but have secondary operations or criminal influence in other cities or rural areas. These groups are distinguished by sophisticated operations, often involving importation, manufacture or distribution of a wide range of illicit commodities as well as the ability to commit complex frauds, money laundering or financial schemes.
In addition, many of these groups display the capability to target, coerce or employ individuals in legitimate business, professionals, such as lawyers and accountants, and other community members in order to facilitate their criminal activities. Many of these groups are difficult to target as they strategically insulate themselves from law enforcement. Despite the broad influence of these groups, their impact is not always visible to the public as they tend to be removed from daily criminal activity.
A significantly larger proportion of crime groups are distributors of contraband across the country, but are generally not capable of large-scale importation of contraband. In addition, many are involved in visible criminal activity such as drug trafficking, prostitution, vehicle theft and organized crime-related violence and intimidation. Due to a lesser level of sophistication and criminal capability, these groups tend to be more visible to both law enforcement and the public than more sophisticated criminal groups.
The largest number of organized crime groups operate at a street level, often facilitating criminal activities for more capable groups. A number of these groups exist for limited periods of time, cooperate for specific criminal activities and then disband. However, some groups, such as the majority of street gangs, are highly visible to the public in part because of their tendency to use violence and intimidation in communities which has a direct impact on public safety.
Methods
Among the wide range of methods and practices used to commit criminal activities, almost all organized crime groups network or collaborate with other groups to facilitate criminality. For instance, crime groups may collaborate by combining funds to finance a large importation or production operation. It is also common for more sophisticated groups to regularly use smaller, less capable groups to distribute contraband. Few groups operate with no contact or collaboration with others.
Organized crime groups exploit Canada’s borders to illegally move people and various types of contraband. In some instances, particularly at Canada’s air and marine ports, this illegal movement may be assisted by a small number of criminally influenced individuals employed within the legitimate workforce. Certain border area Aboriginal territories have been targeted by organized crime and exploited as either conduits for illegal cross-border contraband movement or as storage and distribution centres for these illegal commodities.
The vast majority of organized crime groups use or exploit the legitimate economy to some degree. In this way, they are able to insulate their activities, launder proceeds of crime and commit financial crimes via a legitimate front. Both individuals and businesses are vulnerable to numerous targeted fraud schemes including telemarketing schemes and stock market manipulation. As well, legitimate business can unwittingly facilitate criminal activity by providing opportunities for the investment of proceeds of crime or to disguise illicit activities through techniques such as mixing counterfeit goods with legitimate shipments.
Technology is also being exploited by organized crime groups, particularly communication devices such as mobile wireless and personal digital assistants (e.g. Blackberries) that increase the speed of communication between individuals and groups. Communication devices also serve to insulate groups from law enforcement detection such as in the use of multiple, disposable cell phones. Moreover, these devices, as well as payment cards are vulnerable to identity theft and theft of financial information to commit fraud. Newer technologies such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and malicious software used to target individuals via the Internet are used by crime groups to facilitate large-scale frauds and thefts.
Socio-economic Harms of Organized Crime
