The Influence of Organized Crime Research Paper

The Influence of Organized Crime - Research Paper Example organized crime groups seek to develop social control in particular communities and exert influence through corruption and violence in order to attain status and political power. Siegel (2012) points out that transnational organized crime is a significant threat to economic growth and political stability in the US since the criminal networks infiltrate the financial and security sectors of the economy through corruption and coercion. The criminal activities such as money laundering and racketeering undermine the free markets while corrupt deals challenge the rule of law, judicial systems and transparency (Mallory, 2011). The international drug trafficking organizations that operate within the US promote kidnappings for ransom and extortion activities in other countries and finance terrorism-linked organizations. Organized crime influence American politics and economy through corruption, gambling, racketeering, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime and political intimidation. The organized crime networks have facilitated illegal human smuggling in to United States since these groups smuggle terrorists, fugitives and criminals in order to expand their criminal activities. The smuggling of persons from South American countries to the US generates about $ 6.7 billion of illicit proceeds annually (Siegel, 2012). These groups are also responsible of weapon trafficking from the US to other instable countries such as Somalia, China and Mexico. The organized criminal groups have entered in to intellectual property theft that has seen imitations of the high-end devices and manufacturing processes intellectual property theft causes business losses and threatens US competitiveness in international trade (Albanese, 2014). The criminal networks pose a serious threat to the US financial and trust systems since cybercrime networks have led to billions of losses in the financial infrastructure. Cybercrime has eroded the citizens’ faith in the digital systems and electronic payment