Although organised crime is not a new phenomenon in Jamaica, utterances from some of our senior law-enforcement officers in recent times point to it as a major source of our overall crime concerns that must be curbed. Defining organised crime is challenging, as some descriptions that satisfy law-enforcement agencies may not meet the criteria set by legal, criminological and academic practitioners.

Definitional challenges are further exacerbated by the covert but myriad activities that characterise the criminal underworld. Like any other human endeavour, those involved adjust to changes in market conditions in order to exploit the plethora of money-making opportunities of modern times. Wherever they raise their ugly heads, however, including in Jamaica, they exhibit some kind of structure, use fear and corruption, and are motivated largely by greed.

In Jamaica, however, some of our gangs align themselves to political parties and may not be seen as 'non-ideological,' and may not be tiered into as many as three levels. Like their international counterparts, however, Jamaican organised criminals operating through gangs typically indulge in activities that exploit the human condition, supply illicit goods, utilise extortion and protection rackets, and attempt to manipulate and conceal their ill-gotten funds.

Distinctions are made between organised crime groups and mere 'street gangs', such as the notorious Bloods and Crips. The latter are not as advanced in the degree of their organisation and purpose, and do not accumulate and invest their capital with the same level of sophistication as the former.

This differentiation is very evident in Jamaica where many 'Shotta' street gangs usually are short-lived in comparison to the more organised Spanglers, Shower Posse, One-Order, Clansman, etc, groups who are (or were) durable over time, diversified in interests, hierarchical in structure, accumulate enormous capital, reinvest heavily, have access to political protection, use violence ruthlessly to protect their interests and maintain high levels of solidarity, loyalty, kinship and allegiance to the group.

'Phenomenon of gangs'

In February last year, members of a Jamaican delegation shared their vision and experience "Regarding the phenomenon of gangs" with the Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States (Committee on Hemispheric Security). They claimed that there were about 150 gangs in Jamaica, with most of them based in the Metropolitan Area of Kingston, St Andrew and St Catherine. The sizes vary from a minimum of about 10 members to numbers ranging to over 400, the latter category tending to be highly organised with clearly defined structures.

They also claimed that there are about 10 such gangs operating in Jamaica at any one time and their criminal activities include extortion, robbery, contract killings, car stealing, enforcement, protection rackets, entertainment promotion, arms-trafficking, and of course, drug-trafficking.

They listed among the the top ten at the time the following gangs: Tivoli Gardens, Clans Massive, Donmair Common, The Rockfort (Top Rockfort/Hot Steppers), Stone Crushers, One Order, Lion Paw, Lyrics Man, Jarrett Lane, and Lynch Mob.

The increasing role played by organised crime has been consistently bemoaned by Jamaican crime fighters in the Jamaica Constabulary Force despite some gains they have made through regional and international cooperation with several countries, hot-spot policing, and the anti-gang activities undertaken by Operation Kingfish.

In fact, in November 2005, ACP Hinds declared that Operation Kingfish targeted 12 gangs, dismantled one and disrupted seven. He claimed they had dismantled the 'Gideon Warriors' gang led by the infamous Joel Andem (later succeeded by Kevin 'Ritchie Poo' Tyndale), severely disrupted others, including the Donald 'Zeeks' Phipps Matthews Lane gang, and disrupted other gangs, such as The One Ten gang and Top Road gang (Dunkirk).

Further inroads can be made towards curbing the negative effect of these organised mobs by supplementing the traditional crime-fighting techniques with other modern methodologies normally associated more with white-collar crime investigations.

The truth is, the leaders of today's orga-nised crime networks are more educated, technologically savvy, politically (or genetically) linked, and overall, more sophisticated than the old "dons" of the past. They oftentimes possess far more resources to carry out their crimes than our crime fighters have to counter them.

Enormous benefits

Jamaica's efforts to stymie their operations, however, can reap enormous benefits if our current crime-fighting 'brawn' is additionally supported by the 'brain' of white-collar crime experts, such as auditors (internal, external, forensic), money-laundering specialists, graphologists and psychometric specialists - to name a few.

Organised crime undermines democracy, retards economic development and can contribute to government instability.

We must, therefore, continue to fight the monster of organised crime. But the point is - all our current methods may have merits, but until we supplement them creatively with proven white-collar crime-investigative techniques, then curbing it will continue to elude us.

Collin Greenland may be contacted at cgreeny.collin@gmail.com.