Current perceptions of organized crime are faulty and need to be corrected and systematized so that public policy toward organized crime can be better defined. The parasitic model implies that arrests and incarceration will eliminate organized crime, while the functional model implies the need to expand opportunities in the legitimate economy. Both are too static and fail to recognize that organized crime is both functional and dysfunctional in society. Another theme in research is that of succession, according to which different ethnic groups have succeeded one another as different waves of immigrants and migrants have sought economic and social mobility. However, it is doubtful that any of the ethnic groups removed themselves from the rackets. In addition, both law enforcement personnel and the media have inaccurately portrayed organized crime as an ethnic phenomenon. The lack of empirical research, the difficulty of obtaining primary data, and the absence of rigorous methodologies have distorted social perceptions of organized crime and may have led to some poorly conceived public policies. The economic deprivation theory and the interaction of violence and corruption have also received inappropriate analysis in research on organized crime. Seventeen references are listed.