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109-780: The Mafia Commission Trial (in full, United States v. Anthony Salerno, et al ) was a criminal trial before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in New York City , United States, that lasted from February 25, 1985, until November 19, 1986. Using evidence obtained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation , 11 organized crime figures, including the heads of New York City's " Five Families ", were indicted by United States Attorney Rudolph Giuliani under

218-424: A "payday advance", effectively a short-term (no more than one or two weeks) loan for which charges may run 3–5% of the principal amount. By claiming to be charging for the "service" of cashing a paycheck, instead of merely charging interest for a short-term loan, laws that strictly regulate moneylending costs can be effectively bypassed. Licensed payday advance businesses, which lend money at high rates of interest on

327-402: A crime can be resolved through financial compensation varies depending on the culture and the specific context of the crime. Historically, many societies have absolved acts of homicide through compensation to the victim's relatives. If a crime is committed, the individual responsible is considered to be liable for the crime. For liability to exist, the individual must be capable of understanding

436-445: A crime is found guilty of the crime, the state delivers a sentence to determine the penalty for the crime. Authorities may respond to crime through corrections, carrying out punishment as a means to censure the criminal act. Punishment is generally reserved for serious offenses. Individuals regularly engage in activity that could be scrutinized under criminal law but are deemed inconsequential. Retributive justice seeks to create

545-461: A crime. In many cases, disputes over a crime in this system lead to a feud that lasts over several generations. The state determines what actions are considered criminal in the scope of the law. Criminalization has significant human rights considerations, as it can infringe on rights of autonomy and subject individuals to unjust punishment. The enforcement of criminal law seeks to prevent crime and sanction crimes that do occur. This enforcement

654-455: A criminal organization made the loan shark's threat of violence more credible. Although the reform law was intended to starve the loan sharks into extinction, this species of predatory lender thrived and evolved. After high-rate salary lending was outlawed, some bootleg vendors recast the product as "salary buying". They claimed they were not making loans but were purchasing future wages at a discount. This form of loansharking proliferated through

763-627: A criminal's unlawful action to prevent recidivism . Different criminological theories propose different methods of rehabilitation, including strengthening social networks , reducing poverty , influencing values , and providing therapy for physical and mental ailments. Rehabilitative programs may include counseling or vocational education . Developed nations are less likely to use physical punishments. Instead, they will impose financial penalties or imprisonment. In places with widespread corruption or limited rule of law , crime may be punished extralegally through mob rule and lynching . Whether

872-468: A customer. These licensing laws made it impossible for usurious lenders to pass themselves off as legal. Small loans also started becoming more socially acceptable, and banks and other larger institutions started offering them as well. In the 1920s and 1930s, American prosecutors began to notice the emergence of a new breed of illegal lender that used violence to enforce debts. The new small lender laws had made it almost impossible to intimidate customers with

981-851: A different locale. Regulation of moneylenders is typically much looser than that of banks. In Japan, the Moneylending Control Law requires only registration in each prefecture . In Japan, as the decades-long depression lingers, banks are reluctant to loan money and regulation has become tighter, illegal moneylending has become a social issue . Illegal moneylenders typically charge interest of 30 or 50% in 10 days (in Japanese, these are called "to-san" ('to' meaning ten and 'san' meaning three, or 10-3) or "to-go" ('to' meaning ten and 'go' meaning five, or 10-5), which correspond to effective interest rates of about 1.442 million % and 267.5 million % per annum respectively. This

1090-493: A disproportionate response to provocation. Common examples of property crime include burglary , theft , and vandalism . Examples of financial crimes include counterfeiting , smuggling , tax evasion , and bribery . The scope of financial crimes has expanded significantly since the beginning of modern economics in the 17th century. In occupational crime , the complexity and anonymity of computer systems may help criminal employees camouflage their operations. The victims of

1199-449: A form of reparation such as a community sentence , or, depending on the nature of their offence, to undergo imprisonment , life imprisonment or, in some jurisdictions , death . Usually, to be classified as a crime, the "act of doing something criminal" ( actus reus ) must – with certain exceptions  – be accompanied by the "intention to do something criminal" ( mens rea ). While every crime violates

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1308-710: A full value of 250% or more. Loan sharks in Vietnam are very common, especially in high population density areas and industrial park surroundings. They focus on poor workers and gamblers, advertising their services on walls and electric poles as well as online platforms such as Google and Facebook. Their operations vary from pawn shops to online operations via illegal applications. These operations are not usually controlled by Vietnamese, but rather Vietnamese people living in Cambodia or Chinese operators. Many of these sharks offer very high loan rates at 20% to 1000% per month. When

1417-419: A given state, and they are necessarily applied against political dissidents . Due to their unique relation to the state, political crimes are often encouraged by one nation against another, and it is political alignment rather than the act itself that determines criminality. State crime that is carried out by the state to repress law-abiding citizens may also be considered political crime. Inchoate crime

1526-441: A legal loan at 36% or 42% a year could secure a cash advance from a mobster at the going rate of 10% or 20% a week for small loans. Since the mob loans were not usually secured with legal instruments, debtors pledged their bodies as collateral. In its early phase, a large fraction of mob loansharking consisted of payday lending . Many of the customers were office clerks and factory hands. The loan fund for these operations came from

1635-518: A legal loan. Violent loansharking was typically run by criminal syndicates, such as the Mafia and Irish Mob . Many of these were former bootleggers who needed a new line of work after the end of alcohol prohibition . Towards the 1960s, loan sharks grew ever more coordinated, and could pool information on borrowers to better size up risks and ensure a borrower did not try to pay off one loan by borrowing from another loan shark. The fearsome reputation of

1744-439: A less affluent region. Many of the traits that indicate criminality also indicate victimality; victims of crime are more likely to engage in unlawful behavior and respond to provocation. Overall demographic trends of victims and criminals are often similar, and victims are more likely to have engaged in criminal activities themselves. The victims may only want compensation for the injuries suffered, while remaining indifferent to

1853-420: A matter of private compensation. The most significant Roman law concept involved dominion . Most acts recognized as crimes in ancient societies, such as violence and theft, have persisted to the modern era. The criminal justice system of Imperial China existed unbroken for over 2,000 years. Many of the earliest conceptions of crime are associated with sin and corresponded to acts that were believed to invoke

1962-546: A neighbourhood, thus vandalising public property, as authorities must remove such advertisements. They charge high interest rates (generally about 40% per month/fortnight) according to Anti-Crime, Drug and Social Development Voluntary Organisation and frequently threaten violence (and administer it) towards those who fail to pay on time. When a person fails to pay on time, the Ah Long will set on fire, spray paint, lock up gates, splash, or write threats in paint or markers on

2071-667: A plan to kill the lead prosecutor, and future New York mayor , Rudy Giuliani in late 1986, but it was rejected by the rest of the Commission. In the early 1980s, the Bonanno family were kicked off the Commission due to the Donnie Brasco infiltration, and although Rastelli was one of the men initially indicted, this removal from the Commission actually allowed Rastelli to be removed from the Commission Trial as he

2180-432: A possible desire for deterrence . Victims, on their own, may lack the economies of scale that could allow them to administer a penal system, let alone to collect any fines levied by a court. Historically, from ancient times until the 19th century, many societies believed that non-human animals were capable of committing crimes, and prosecuted and punished them accordingly. Prosecutions of animals gradually dwindled during

2289-433: A societal issue as early as the 17th century. Imprisonment developed as a long-term penalty for crime in the 18th century. Increasing urbanization and industrialization in the 19th century caused crime to become an immediate issue that affected society, prompting government intervention in crime and the establishment of criminology as its own field. Anthropological criminology was popularized by Cesare Lombroso in

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2398-580: A societal issue, and criminal law was seen as a means to protect the public from antisocial behavior. This idea was associated with a larger trend in the western world toward social democracy and centre-left politics . Through most of history, reporting of crime was generally local. The advent of mass media through radio and television in the mid-20th century allowed for the sensationalism of crime. This created well-known stories of criminals such as Jeffrey Dahmer , and it allowed for dramatization that perpetuates misconceptions about crime. Forensic science

2507-462: A steady and respectable job, a regular income and a reputation to protect. This made them less likely to leave the area before they paid their debt and more likely to have a legitimate reason for borrowing money. Gamblers, criminals, and others who were disreputable or likely to be unreliable were avoided. They made the borrower fill out and sign seemingly legitimate contracts. Though these contracts were not legally enforceable, they at least were proof of

2616-400: A system of accountability and punish criminals in a way that knowingly causes suffering. This may arise out of a feeling that criminals deserve to suffer and that punishment should exist for its own sake. The existence of punishment also creates an effect of deterrence that discourages criminal action for fear of punishment. Rehabilitation seeks to understand and mitigate the causes of

2725-404: A system of traveling judges that tried accused criminals in each region of England by applying precedent from previous rulings. Legal developments in 12th century England also resulted in the earliest known recording of official crime data. In the modern era, crime came to be seen as an issue affecting society rather than conflicts between individuals. Writers such as Thomas Hobbes saw crime as

2834-530: A veneer of legality, and many customers were less vulnerable to shaming because they were either self-employed or already disreputable. Thus, violence was an important tool, though not their only one. These loan sharks operated more informally than salary lenders, which meant more discretion for the lender and less paperwork and bureaucracy for the customer. They were also willing to serve high-risk borrowers that legal lenders would not touch. Threats of violence were rarely followed through, however. One possible reason

2943-420: A victim. Some factors may cause victims of crime to experience short-term or long-term "repeat victimization". Common long-term victims are those that have close relationships with the criminal, manifesting in crimes such as domestic violence , embezzlement , child abuse , and bullying . Repeat victimization may also occur when a potential victim appears to be a viable target, such as when indicating wealth in

3052-464: A violation of the code of omertà . However, the lawyers impressed upon their clients that they could not credibly deny the existence of the Mafia in the face of their own recorded references to it. Ultimately, the mafiosi agreed to this strategy as long as they did not have to personally admit the Mafia existed. Hence, during his opening statement, Santoro's lawyer, Samuel Dawson, told the jury that there

3161-471: Is a criminal offence is defined by the criminal law of each relevant jurisdiction . While many have a catalogue of crimes called the criminal code , in some common law nations no such comprehensive statute exists. The state ( government ) has the power to severely restrict one's liberty for committing a crime. In modern societies, there are procedures to which investigations and trials must adhere. If found guilty , an offender may be sentenced to

3270-497: Is a type of social construct , and societal attitudes determine what is considered criminal. In legal systems based on legal moralism , the predominant moral beliefs of society determine the legal definition as well as the social definition of crime. This system is less prominent in liberal democratic societies that prioritize individualism and multiculturalism over other moral beliefs. Paternalism defines crime not only as harm to others or to society, but also as harm to

3379-423: Is against the law that sets the maximum interest rate at 20%. These lenders usually do business with those who cannot get more money from banks, legitimate consumer loans, or credit cards. The Central Bank of Ireland were criticized for doing nothing to protect those with low incomes, the vulnerable or those who have low levels of financial literacy, from loan sharks, when it emerged in 2015 that up to 100,000 of

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3488-432: Is an individual who has been treated unjustly or made to suffer. In the context of crime, the victim is the individual that is harmed by a violation of criminal law. Victimization is associated with post-traumatic stress and a long-term decrease in quality of life . Victimology is the study of victims, including their role in crime and how they are affected. Several factors affect an individual's likelihood of becoming

3597-452: Is any crime committed by an individual from a lower social class as opposed to white-collar crime which is associated with crime committed by someone of a higher-level social class. These crimes are primarily small scale, for immediate beneficial gain to the individual or group involved in them. Examples of blue-collar crime include Narcotic production or distribution, sexual assault , theft , burglary , assault or murder . Violent crime

3706-478: Is associated with the broken windows theory , which posits that public order crimes increase the likelihood of other types of crime. Some public order crimes are considered victimless crimes in which no specific victim can be identified. Most nations in the Western world have moved toward decriminalization of victimless crimes in the modern era. Adultery , fornication , blasphemy , apostasy , and invoking

3815-410: Is carried out by the state through law enforcement agencies , such as police , which are empowered to arrest suspected perpetrators of crimes. Law enforcement may focus on policing individual crimes, or it may focus on bringing down overall crime rates. One common variant, community policing , seeks to prevent crime by integrating police into the community and public life. When the perpetrator of

3924-569: Is crime that involves an act of violent aggression against another person. Common examples of violent crime include homicide , assault , sexual assault , and robbery . Some violent crimes, such as assault, may be committed with the intention of causing harm. Other violent crimes, such as robbery, may use violence to further another goal. Violent crime is distinct from noncriminal types of violence, such as self-defense , use of force , and acts of war . Acts of violence are most often perceived as deviant when they are committed as an overreaction or

4033-428: Is crime that is carried out in anticipation of other illegal actions but does not cause direct harm. Examples of inchoate crimes include attempt and conspiracy . Inchoate crimes are defined by substantial action to facilitate a crime with the intention of the crime's occurrence. This is distinct from simple preparation for or consideration of criminal activity. They are unique in that renunciation of criminal intention

4142-425: Is defined by the criminal law of a given jurisdiction, including all actions that are subject to criminal procedure . There is no limit to what can be considered a crime in a legal system, so there may not be a unifying principle used to determine whether an action should be designated as a crime. From a legal perspective, crimes are generally wrong actions that are severe enough to warrant punishment that infringes on

4251-514: Is entitled to make law, and a theory of legislative justice, which describes the law they are entitled or obliged to make. There are natural-law theorists who have accepted the idea of enforcing the prevailing morality as a primary function of the law. This view entails the problem that it makes any moral criticism of the law impossible: if conformity with natural law forms a necessary condition for legal validity, all valid law must, by definition, count as morally just. Thus, on this line of reasoning,

4360-493: Is generally enough to absolve the perpetrator of criminal liability, as their actions are no longer facilitating a potential future crime. A criminal is an individual who commits a crime. What constitutes a criminal can vary depending on the context and the law, and it often carries a pejorative connotation. Criminals are often seen as embodying certain stereotypes or traits and are seen as a distinct type of person from law-abiding citizens. Despite this, no mental or physical trend

4469-429: Is identifiable that differentiates criminals from non-criminals. Public response to criminals may be indignant or sympathetic. Indignant responses involve resentment and a desire for vengeance, wishing to see criminals removed from society or made to suffer for harm that they cause. Sympathetic responses involve compassion and understanding, seeking to rehabilitate or forgive criminals and absolve them of blame. A victim

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4578-629: Is legally registered, pays taxes and contributions, and can reclaim remittance if taking the case to adjudication; likewise there is no threat of harm to the debtor). In the late 19th-century US, the low legal interest rates made small loans unprofitable, and small-time lending was viewed as irresponsible by society. Banks and other major financial institutions thus stayed away from small-time lending. There were, however, plenty of small lenders offering loans at profitable but illegally high interest rates. They presented themselves as legitimate and operated openly out of offices. They only sought customers who had

4687-415: Is often associated with law and psychology. Information and statistics about crime in a given jurisdiction are collected as crime estimates, typically produced by national or international agencies. Methods to collect crime statistics may vary, even between jurisdictions within the same nation. Under-reporting of crime is common, particularly in developing nations. Victim studies may be used to determine

4796-428: Is that injuring a borrower could have meant he could not work and thus could never pay off his debt. Many regular borrowers realized the threats were mostly bluffs and that they could get away with delinquent payments. A more certain consequence was that the delinquent borrower would be cut off from future loans, which was serious for those who regularly relied on loan sharks. One important market for violent loan sharks

4905-678: Is that lenders alleged to be engaged in the latter practice are expected to stay within the law when making and collecting loans , and thus the debate into such practices often focuses on whether they are ethical as opposed to whether they are legal. However, laws regulating lending practices vary so widely between jurisdictions (even in the same country, particularly between states in the United States ) that particular practices that might be technically legal (if arguably unethical) "predatory lending" in one jurisdiction might be considered illegal "loan sharking" if attempted in an identical manner in

5014-399: Is the reason , which is the first principle of human acts". He regarded people as by nature rational beings, concluding that it becomes morally appropriate that they should behave in a way that conforms to their rational nature. Thus, to be valid, any law must conform to natural law and coercing people to conform to that law is morally acceptable. In the 1760s, William Blackstone described

5123-528: The Chicago Outfit organized crime syndicate and payday lenders in California revealed that, depending on when a payday loan was paid back by a borrower (generally 1–14 days), the interest rate charged for a payday loan could be considerably higher than the interest rate of a similar loan made by the organized crime syndicate. However the violent collection practices of the organized crime can ensure

5232-626: The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) on charges including extortion, labor racketeering, and murder. Eight of them were convicted under RICO, and most were sentenced to 100 years in prison on January 13, 1987, the maximum possible sentence under that law. The case struck a blow against " The Commission ", a ruling committee consisting of the New York Five Families bosses that meet to resolve disputes or discuss criminal activities. Time called

5341-1066: The informal sector or who are deemed to be too risky even by the check-cashing creditors. Some beat delinquents while others seize assets instead. Their rates run from 10% to 20% a week, as was common with the mob in the past. In the United States, there are lenders licensed to serve borrowers who cannot qualify for standard loans from mainstream sources. These smaller, non-standard lenders often operate in cash, whereas mainstream lenders increasingly operate only electronically and will not serve borrowers who do not have bank accounts. Terms such as sub-prime lending , "non-standard consumer credit" , and payday loans are often used in connection with this type of consumer finance . The availability of these services has made illegal, exploitative loan sharks rarer, but these legal lenders have also been accused of behaving in an exploitative manner. For example, payday loan operations have come under fire for charging inflated "service charges" for their services of cashing

5450-481: The 1920s and into the 1930s until a new draft of the Uniform Small Loan Law closed the loophole through which the salary buyers had slipped. Salary-buying loan sharks continued to operate in some southern states after World War II because the usury rate was set so low that licensed personal finance companies could not do business there. Organized crime began to enter the cash advance business in

5559-615: The 1930s, after high-rate lending was criminalized by the Uniform Small Loan Law. The first reports of mob loansharking surfaced in New York City in 1935, and for 15 years, underworld money lending apparently did not expand beyond that city. There is no record of syndicate " juice " operations in Chicago, for instance, until the 1950s. In the beginning, underworld loansharking was a small loan business, catering to

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5668-405: The 1960s, the preferred clientele was small and medium-sized businesses. Business customers had the advantage of possessing assets that could be seized in case of default, or used to engage in fraud or to launder money. Gamblers were another lucrative market, as were other criminals who needed financing for their operations. By the 1970s, mob salary lending operations seemed to have withered away in

5777-513: The 1970s, Kubecka had refused to participate with the mob control of the waste hauling business and had suffered extensive harassment as a result. In 1982, Kubecka agreed to wear a surveillance device during meetings with the mobsters. Although Kubecka was unable to get close to Avellino himself, the information Kubecka gathered eventually persuaded a judge to allow a wire tap on Avellino's home phone in Nissequogue , New York. The home phone tap

5886-418: The 19th century, although a few were recorded as late as the 1910s and 1920s. Virtually all countries in the 21st century have criminal law grounded in civil law , common law , Islamic law , or socialist law . Historically, criminal codes have often divided criminals by class or caste, prescribing different penalties depending on status. In some tribal societies, an entire clan is recognized as liable for

5995-545: The 360,000 loans given by the moneylenders violated the law. Loansharking is one of the main activities of the Israeli mafia . The National Bank of Kazakhstan has been consistently fighting loan sharks since 2018. Thus, the maximum interest rate on a loan was limited to no more than 100% of the loan amount. In 2020, a financial market regulation agency was separated from the National Bank of Kazakhstan to monitor

6104-580: The Genovese family had been keeping up this ruse since 1969. However, according to New York Times organized crime reporter Selwyn Raab , this would not have jeopardized Salerno's conviction at the Commission Trial or his 100-year sentence. In his book, Five Families, Raab noted that Salerno had been tried and convicted for specific criminal acts, not for being the Genovese boss. Criminal The notion that acts such as murder , rape , and theft are to be prohibited exists worldwide. What precisely

6213-423: The United States. At its height in the 1960s, underworld loansharking was estimated to be the second most lucrative franchise of organized crime in the United States after illegal gambling . Newspapers in the 1960s were filled with sensational stories of debtors beaten, harassed, and sometimes murdered by mob loan sharks. Yet careful studies of the business have raised doubts about the frequency with which violence

6322-643: The amount loaned to borrowers. In addition, compound interest on high interest loans were banned while fees for defaulting on payments were capped. By June 2024, figures released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment showed that no customers had been granted high-cost loans in 2023. Several organizations regulate the loan market in Russia: In 2024, the Central Bank plans to impose higher requirements on loan loss provisions for loans with

6431-511: The anger of a deity. This idea was further popularized with the development of the Abrahamic religions . The understanding of crime and sin were closely associated with one another for much of history, and conceptions of crime took on many of the ideas associated with sin. Islamic law developed its own system of criminal justice as Islam spread in the seventh and eighth centuries. In post-classical Europe and East Asia, central government

6540-484: The borrower (e.g. imposing late fees). Because salary lending was a disreputable trade, the owners of these firms often hid from public view, hiring managers to run their offices indirectly. To further avoid attracting attention, when expanding his trade to other cities, an owner would often found new firms with different names rather than increasing the visibility and recognizability of his existing firm. The penalties for being an illegal lender were mild. Illegal lending

6649-445: The borrower is unable to pay their debt, the sharks will force the borrower to take out further loans. If the borrower is unable to pay those on time, the sharks will use intimidation tactics such as sending threatening messages to the borrower and their family and friends. Additionally, some resort to vandalism and kidnapping. Most borrowers only loan relatively small amounts of money, below 10 million VNĐ, but due to compound rates,

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6758-441: The borrower will ultimately have to pay much more than they would have with official credit service suppliers. There are a lot of cases reported and most are solved by the police, but many remain unsolved. In recent years, the government has tried to stop these loaners from operating and encouraged people not to borrow money from them. The victims are largely under-educated people with limited financial knowledge. The research by

6867-725: The city. From these recorded conversations, OCTF learned the Commission's internal structure, history, and relations with other crime families. These conversations were shared with federal prosecutors and provided them with invaluable evidence against Corallo and other family bosses in the Mafia Commission Trial. The indictments and arrests on February 25, 1985, included nine defendants: as well as their subordinates, Added shortly after: On February 25, 1985, nine New York Mafia leaders were indicted for narcotics trafficking, loansharking , gambling, labor racketeering and extortion against construction companies. On July 1, 1985,

6976-438: The community, or against the state. The criminality of an action is dependent on its context; acts of violence will be seen as crimes in many circumstances but as permissible or desirable in others. Crime was historically seen as a manifestation of evil , but this has been superseded by modern criminal theories. Legal and political definitions of crime consider actions that are banned by authorities or punishable by law. Crime

7085-562: The contractors gave a two-percent kickback of the contract value to The Commission. Gennaro Langella supervised various labor rackets for the Colombo crime family , including their stake in the Concrete Club, and exerted control over various labor unions, including Cement and Concrete Workers District Council, Local 6A. Anthony Salerno also had hidden controlling interests in S & A Concrete Co. and Transit-Mix Concrete Corp. In

7194-424: The criminal process and the relevant authority must have legitimate power to establish what constitutes a crime. Loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high or illegal interest rates , has strict terms of collection , and generally operates outside the law , often using the threat of violence or other illegal, aggressive, and extortionate actions when seeking to enforce

7303-614: The early COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the New Zealand Government launched a crackdown against loan sharks to ease economic hardship. Commerce Minister Kris Faafoi announced that the Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Act 2020 would come into force on 1 May 2020 rather than 1 June 2020. Under the new law, high-interest lenders charging interest at 50% or more would not be allowed to charge interest as well as fees over 100% of

7412-559: The early 1980s, Anthony Corallo unwittingly provided the government with evidence that would all but end his career. Over the years, Corallo and Salvatore Avellino established a stranglehold on the waste hauling business on Long Island. To gather evidence against Avellino, members of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) used undercover informant Robert Kubecka, the owner of a Suffolk County, New York , garbage hauling business. Since

7521-419: The equal respect and concern of those who govern them as a fundamental political right. He offers a theory of compliance overlaid by a theory of deference (the citizen's duty to obey the law) and a theory of enforcement, which identifies the legitimate goals of enforcement and punishment. Legislation must conform to a theory of legitimacy, which describes the circumstances under which a particular person or group

7630-437: The frequency of crime in a given population. Justifying the state's use of force to coerce compliance with its laws has proven a consistent theoretical problem. One of the earliest justifications involved the theory of natural law . This posits that the nature of the world or of human beings underlies the standards of morality or constructs them. Thomas Aquinas wrote in the 13th century: "the rule and measure of human acts

7739-470: The government and other agencies estimates that 165,000 to 200,000 people are indebted to loan sharks in the United Kingdom. Illicit loan sharking is treated as a high-level crime by law enforcement, due to its links to organized crime and the serious violence involved. Payday loans with high interest rates are legal in many cases, and have been described as "legal loan sharking" (in that the creditor

7848-449: The jurisdiction of organized crime, charging usurious rates of interest for cash advances. These informal networks of credit rarely came to the attention of the authorities but flourished in populations not served by licensed lenders. Even today, after the rise of corporate payday lending in the United States, unlicensed loan sharks continue to operate in immigrant enclaves and low-income neighborhoods. They lend money to people who work in

7957-449: The late-19th century. This was a biological determinist school of thought based in social darwinism , arguing that certain people are naturally born as criminals. The eugenics movement of the early-20th century similarly held that crime was caused primarily by genetic factors. The concept of crime underwent a period of change as modernism was widely accepted in the years following World War II . Crime increasingly came to be seen as

8066-466: The law, not every violation of the law counts as a crime. Breaches of private law ( torts and breaches of contract ) are not automatically punished by the state, but can be enforced through civil procedure . The exact definition of crime is a philosophical issue without an agreed upon answer. Fields such as law, politics, sociology, and psychology define crime in different ways. Crimes may be variously considered as wrongs against individuals, against

8175-465: The legal validity of a norm necessarily entails its moral justice. Restrictions on behavior existed in all prehistoric societies. Crime in early human society was seen as a personal transgression and was addressed by the community as a whole rather than through a formal legal system, often through the use of custom, religion, or the rule of a tribal leader. Some of the oldest extant writings are ancient criminal codes . The earliest known criminal code

8284-524: The legislature decrees to achieve social utility, but every individual remains free to choose what to do. Similarly, H.L.A. Hart saw the law as an aspect of sovereignty , with lawmakers able to adopt any law as a means to a moral end. Thus the necessary and sufficient conditions for the truth of a proposition of law involved internal logic and consistency , and that the state's agents used state power with responsibility . Ronald Dworkin rejects Hart's theory and proposes that all individuals should expect

8393-436: The loan and the repayment plan were often tailored to suit the borrower's means. The smaller the loan, the higher the interest rate was, as the costs ( overhead ) of tracking and pursuing a defaulter did not depend on the size of the loan. The attitudes of lenders to defaulters also varied: some were lenient and reasonable, readily granting extensions and slow to harass, while others unscrupulously tried to milk all they could from

8502-418: The loan sharks could not blackmail their debtors ("pay up or we'll tell your boss that you're a deadbeat and you'll be fired"). Charities provided legal support to troubled borrowers. This fight culminated in the drafting of the Uniform Small Loan Law, which brought into existence a new class of licensed lender. The law was enacted, first in several states in 1917, and was adopted by all but a handful of states by

8611-499: The loan, which the lender could use to blackmail a defaulter . To force a defaulter into paying, the lender might threaten legal action. This was a bluff, since the loan was illegal. The lender preyed on the borrower's ignorance of the law. Alternatively, the lender resorted to public shaming , exploiting the social stigma of being in debt to a loan shark. They were able to complain to the defaulter's employer, because many employers would fire employees who were mired in debt, because of

8720-404: The middle of the 20th century. The model statute mandated consumer protections and capped the interest rate on loans of $ 300 or less at 3.5% a month (51% a year), a profitable level for small loans. Lenders had to give the customer copies of all signed documents. Additional charges such as late fees were banned. The lender could no longer receive power of attorney or confession of judgment over

8829-486: The most costly scams include banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies, and other large financial institutions. Public order crime is crime that violates a society's norms about what constitutes socially acceptable behavior. Examples of public order crimes include gambling , drug-related crime , public intoxication , prostitution , loitering , breach of the peace , panhandling , vagrancy , street harassment , excessive noise , and littering . Public order crime

8938-413: The name of God are commonly recognized as crimes in theocratic societies or those heavily influenced by religion. Political crime is crime that directly challenges or threatens the state. Examples of political crimes include subversion , rebellion , treason , mutiny , espionage , sedition , terrorism , riot , and unlawful assembly . Political crimes are associated with the political agenda of

9047-535: The original nine men, with the addition of two more New York Mafia leaders, pleaded not guilty to a second set of racketeering charges as part of the trial. Prosecutors aimed to strike at all the crime families at once using their involvement in the Commission . On December 2, 1985, Dellacroce died of cancer. Castellano was later murdered on December 16, 1985. According to Colombo hitman and FBI informant Gregory Scarpa , Persico and Gambino boss John Gotti backed

9156-466: The perpetrator's liberties. English criminal law and the related common law of Commonwealth countries can define offences that the courts alone have developed over the years, without any actual legislation: common law offences . The courts used the concept of malum in se to develop various common law offences. As a sociological concept, crime is associated with actions that cause harm and violate social norms . Under this definition, crime

9265-486: The proceeds of the numbers racket and was distributed by the top bosses to the lower echelon loan sharks at the rate of 1% or 2% a week. The 1952 B movie Loan Shark , starring George Raft , offers a glimpse of mob payday lending. The waterfront in Brooklyn was another site of extensive underworld payday advance operations around mid-century. Over time, mob loan sharks moved away from such labor intensive rackets. By

9374-466: The recent western world, loan sharks have been a prominent feature of the criminal underworld . Loan sharking is not to be confused with predatory lending with extremely high interest rates such as payday or title loans , which is sometimes considered to be "loan sharking" (or, at least, unfavorably compared to loan sharking by critics) regardless of whether it is legal. A key difference between "traditional" loan sharking and predatory lending

9483-717: The relationship of crime and the community. Due to the wide range of concepts associated with crime and the disagreement on a precise definition, the focus of criminology can vary considerably. Various theories within criminology provide different descriptions and explanations for crime, including social control theory , subcultural theory , strain theory , differential association , and labeling theory . Subfields of criminology and related fields of study include crime prevention , criminal law , crime statistics , anthropological criminology , criminal psychology , criminal sociology, criminal psychiatry , victimology , penology , and forensic science . Besides sociology, criminology

9592-716: The rights and legitimate interests of borrowers, to identify and eliminate systemic problems of the financial sector of the economy. A unified state register of microfinance organizations was introduced to legalize lenders. Ah Long (derived from the Cantonese phrase '大耳窿' ('big ear hole')) is a colloquial term for illegal loan sharks in Malaysia and Singapore . They lend money to people who are unable to obtain loans from banks or other legal sources, mostly targeting habitual gamblers. Often, they discreetly advertise by sticking notices, mostly on lamp posts and utility boxes around

9701-519: The risk of them stealing from the employer to repay debts. They were able to send agents to stand outside the defaulter's home, loudly denouncing him, perhaps vandalizing his home with graffiti or notices. Whether out of gullibility or embarrassment, the borrower usually succumbed and paid. Many customers were employees of large firms, such as railways or public works. Larger organizations were more likely to fire employees for being in debt, as their rules were more impersonal, which made blackmail easier. It

9810-413: The same populations served by the salary lenders and buyers. Those who turned to the bootleg lenders could not get credit at the licensed companies because their incomes were too low or they were deemed poor risks. The firms operating within the usury cap turned away roughly half of all applicants and tended to make larger loans to married men with steady jobs and decent incomes. Those who could not get

9919-477: The satisfaction of the debt. As a consistent or repeated illegal business operation or " racket ", loansharking is generally associated with organized crime and certain criminal organizations. Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot use the legal system to collect such debts, thus they often resort to enforcing repayment by terms of blackmail and threats of violence. Historically, many moneylenders skirted between legal and criminal activity . In

10028-444: The security of a postdated check, are often described as loan sharks by their critics due to high interest rates that trap debtors, stopping short of illegal lending and violent collection practices. Today's payday loan is a close cousin of the early 20th century salary loan, the product to which the "shark" epithet was originally applied, but they are now legalised in some states. A 2001 comparison of short-term lending rates charged by

10137-477: The self. Psychological definitions consider the state of mind of perpetrators and their relationship with their environment. The study of crime is called criminology . Criminology is a subfield of sociology that addresses issues of social norms , social order , deviance , and violence . It includes the motivations and consequences of crime and its perpetrators , as well as preventative measures , either studying criminal acts on an individual level or

10246-467: The stiffest charges in the indictment, which carried sentences that would have all but assured they would die in prison. The seven defense lawyers, as well as Persico's legal adviser (Persico was acting as his own lawyer) then decided to admit that the Mafia and the Commission existed, but argue that membership in the Mafia or being a boss were not in and of themselves evidence of criminal activity. The mafiosi initially balked, believing that it would amount to

10355-467: The thesis: But John Austin (1790–1859), an early positivist , applied utilitarianism in accepting the calculating nature of human beings and the existence of an objective morality. He denied that the legal validity of a norm depends on whether its content conforms to morality. Thus, in Austinian terms, a moral code can objectively determine what people ought to do, the law can embody whatever norms

10464-490: The trial the "Case of Cases" and possibly "the most significant assault on the infrastructure of organized crime since the high command of the Chicago Mafia was swept away in 1943", and quoted Giuliani's stated intention: "Our approach ... is to wipe out the five families." In 1983, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recorded several wire tapped conversations of Ralph Scopo extorting money from contractors. Scopo

10573-469: The walls of the property of that person as a threat of violence and to scare, and perhaps shame, the borrower into repaying the loan. A common use of painting includes the characters "O$ P$ " meaning "owe money, pay money", as well as the debtors' unit number. According to local police authorities, there have been cases where borrowers and their family members were beaten or had their property damaged or destroyed, and some victims have committed suicide. During

10682-404: Was a misdemeanor , and the penalty was forfeiture of the interest and perhaps the principal as well. But these were only ever imposed if the borrower sued, which he typically could not afford to do. Opposition to salary lenders was spearheaded by social elites, such as businessmen and charity organizations. Businessmen were encouraged not to fire employees who were indebted to loan sharks so that

10791-505: Was also disappointing to the agents; however, it did reveal that Avellino was driving Corallo around all day in Avellino's car. In 1983, members of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) installed an electronic surveillance device inside the dashboard on Avellino's Jaguar while he and his wife were at a dinner dance. Agents then listened to many conversations between Corallo, Avellino, and other mobsters as they drove around

10900-480: Was convicted of murder (of Carmine Galante ), and were sentenced by judge Richard Owen on January 13, 1987, as follows: Salerno had initially been billed as the boss of the Genovese family. However, shortly after the trial, Salerno's longtime right-hand man, Vincent "The Fish" Cafaro , turned informant , told the FBI that Salerno had been a front for the real boss, Vincent "The Chin" Gigante . Cafaro also revealed that

11009-464: Was easier for lenders to learn which large organizations did this as opposed to collecting information on the multitude of smaller firms. Larger firms had more job security and the greater possibility of promotion, so employees sacrificed more to ensure they were not fired. The loan shark could also bribe a large firm's paymaster to provide information on its many employees. Regular salaries and paydays made negotiating repayment plans simpler. The size of

11118-429: Was employed in practice. Relations between creditor and debtor could be amicable, even when the " vig " or "juice" was exorbitant, because each needed the other. FBI agents in one city interviewed 115 customers of a mob loan business but turned up only one debtor who had been threatened. None had been beaten. Organized crime has never had a monopoly on black market lending. Plenty of vest-pocket lenders operated outside

11227-465: Was illegal gambling operators, who could not expose themselves to the law to collect debts legally. They cooperated with loan sharks to supply credit and collect payments from their punters. Thieves and other criminals, whose fortunes were frequently in flux, were also served, and these connections also allowed the loan sharks to operate as fences. Another type of high-risk customer was the small businessman in dire financial straits who could not qualify for

11336-480: Was later indicted on separate labor racketeering charges. Having previously lost their seat on the Commission, the Bonannos suffered less exposure than the other families in this case. When the lawyers for the accused mafiosi reviewed the evidence, they realized their clients' chances at trial were slim. However, when they sounded out possible plea bargain terms, Giuliani demanded that the defendants plead guilty to

11445-582: Was limited and crime was defined locally. Towns established their own criminal justice systems, while crime in the countryside was defined by the social hierarchies of feudalism . In some places, such as the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy , feudal justice survived into the 19th century. Common law first developed in England under the rule of Henry II in the 12th century. He established

11554-411: Was no question that "the Mafia exists and has members," but asked, "Can you accept that just because a person is a member of the Mafia that doesn't mean he committed the crimes charged in this case?" It was the first admission in open court that the Mafia existed. After six days of deliberations, the jury convicted eight defendants of racketeering on November 19, 1986, with the exception of Indelicato who

11663-630: Was popularized in the 1980s, establishing DNA profiling as a new method to prevent and analyze crime. White-collar crime refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. The crimes are believed to be committed by middle- or upper-class individuals for financial gains. Typical white-collar crimes could include wage theft , fraud , bribery , Ponzi schemes , insider trading , labor racketeering , embezzlement , cybercrime , copyright infringement , money laundering , identity theft , and forgery . Blue-collar crime

11772-530: Was the Code of Ur-Nammu ( c.  2100  – c.  2050 BC ), and the first known criminal code that incorporated retaliatory justice was the Code of Hammurabi . The latter influenced the conception of crime across several civilizations over the following millennia. The Romans systematized law and applied their system across the Roman Empire . The initial rules of Roman law regarded assaults as

11881-633: Was the president of the Cement and Concrete Workers District Council of the Laborers' International Union of North America from 1977 to April 1985. During this time, Scopo used his position to extort money from cement contractors in New York in return for large construction contracts and labor peace. Contracts between $ 2 million and $ 15 million were reserved for a club of contractors called the "Concrete Club", which were selected by The Commission . In return,

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