American citizens have historically had complex relationships with organized crime, as its victims, admirers, customers, or opponents, or as people oblivious to it. This ambivalence has contributed to the contemporary examples in which organized crime is often tolerated and where apathy is a common response. Gambling, drugs, labor racketeering, and legitimate enterprises represent major forms of organized criminality that illustrate the relationship between organized criminals and legitimate society. All four types of organized crime pose major strategic problems to law enforcement efforts, even with the passage of strengthened Federal and State laws like the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute. A failure to understand the extent to which organized crime has penetrated the legitimate social structure in the United States is to underestimate how much more difficult it would be to eliminate organized crime in the 1980's than it might have been 20, 40, or 60 years ago. 54 references.