HowardAbadinsky. The Criminal Elite. Professional and organised Crime. Introduction. Greenwood Press. 1983.

This study will examine twoelitecategories of the criminalunderworld. The jewelthief and the wiseguy (or madeguy, member of the eyetalianamerican organisedcrime) are viewed by both criminal and Lawenforcementpersonnel as being at the pinnacle of the world of crime. The jewelthiefpopulation represented in this study is said by federalofficials to number no more than twenty, while members of organisedcrime are estimated to total about 2000. (1) It is said that these jewelthieves would not attempt a score if the expected take would not be at least $50.000 (retailvalue), while the income of organisedcrime has been compared to the profits of majorcorporations. (2) One middlemanagementlevel member of the Gambinocrimefamily whome I studied previously had realestateholdings worth in the millions. (3) The elitecriminal is said to enjoy relative immunity from Lawenforcementefforts: the jewelthief by virtue of his extraordinary skill and connexions to organisedcrime; the wiseguy by virtue of fear or the fix.

Previous research into professional crime has focused on shoplifting, confidencegames, pickpockets, burglary, safecracking, fencing, and houseprostitution. (4) There has never been a study of the jewelthief.

This study addresses some of the issues raised by earlier theoretical and empirical studies of occupationaltheft. In particular I will: (1) describe how a person becomes a adept jewelthief, describe the organisational dimensions of this occupation, and determine how well the jewelthief conforms to the Sutherlandmodel of professionalCrime; (2) provide a detailed description of the skills and techniques used by the jewelthief – Knowledge which has not been available in the literature on Crime; (3) provide insight into how the jewelthief views his victims and his occupation; explore the dimension of “crime as dangerous fun,” and the thief’s desire for recognition of his skill and accomplishments as a motivating variable; and (4) display the relationship between jeweltheft and other criminaloccupations; in particular, the connexion between professionalcrime and organisedcrime.

With respect to organisedcrime, I will offer a summary history of eyetalienamerican organisedcrime in theUnitedStates with particular emphasis on NYC area (where most of my informants operated), in order to properly ground the issues and data being presented. I will offer data and analyses on several questions, including:

1.       How does crime appear to be organised in theUnitedStates: rational and formal, or traditional? Does the organisation of criminals distinguish betweem members and associates? What are the prerogatives and obligations of membership?

2.       What is the business of organisedcrime? Is it primarily a provider of “goods and services”?

3.       What are the norms of behaviour gouverning members of organisedcrime? Are these norms formal or traditional? Is violence a resource that is held in reserve or freelyapplied? What are the rules for its use?

4.       What precautions are taken to avoid disclosure of information and how are orders transmitted? How does this affect what is known about organisedcrime?

5.       What are the differences in organisation and careerpatterns between professional- and organised-crime and what accounts for these differences?

Notes

1.       U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Organised Crime and Use of Violence (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1980), p. 19.

2.       Chamber of Commerce of the United States, Marshalling Citizen Power Against Crime (Washington, D.C.: Chamber of Commerce, 1970), pp. 6-7, 35.

3.       Howard Abadinsky, The Mafia in America: An Oral History (New York: Praeger, 1981).

4.       Edwin H. Sutherland, The Professional Thief (1937; reprint ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972); David W. Maurer, The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man and the Confidence Game (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1940); David W. Maurer, Whiz Mob: A Correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behaviour Pattern, 2e. (New Haven, Conn.: College and University Press, 1964); Neal Shover, “Burglary as an Occupation” (Ph.D. diss., Department of Sociology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1971); William Chambliss, Box-Man: A Professional Thief’s Journey (New York: Harper and Row, 1972); Carl B. Klockars, The Professional Fence (New York: The Free Press, 1974); Marilyn E. Walsh, The Fence (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977); Barbara Sherman Heyl, The Madam as Entrepreneur: Career Management in House Prostitution (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, 1979).

5.       Sutherland, Professional Thief.