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Organized Cross-Atlantic Crime: Racketeering in Fuels

NCJ Number
154628
Journal
Crime, Law and Social Change Volume: 22 Issue: 2 Dated: (1994/95) Pages: 127-147
Author(s)
P van Duyne; A A Block
Date Published
1995
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article describes the interaction between criminal enterprises in the mineral oil market in the United States and northwestern Europe.
Abstract
There is concern about penetration of organized crime into legitimate business. This penetration can take various forms, ranging from a complete "take over" to a veritable symbiosis between criminal enterprises and legitimate industry. This study portrays moral decay, lack of supervision by law enforcement, and the spread of systematic fraud in a branch of industry that has become ripe for infiltration by organized crime. The study shows that organized business crime is not just a concern for the United States and Europe alone. If the entrepreneurial landscape has similar features and there are possibilities of personal bridgeheads, organized business crime obtains cross-border, transatlantic dimensions. The author questions the selective attention of law enforcement to recognize crime and the morally dubious attitude of legitimate industry as it takes advantage of the profitable offers by criminal entrepreneurs. 45 notes and 16 references