Sicilian Culture: The News & Views: Book Review: The Mythology of Crime & Criminal Justice

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The Mythology of Crime & Criminal Justice
Book Review by John Matteo
Though there are many scholarly books which demolish the Mafia Myth, I have chosen the following: "The Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice," by Victor E. Kappeler, Mark Blumberg, and Gary W. Potter (1).
This text initially published in 1993, is now in its third edition, is used in over 300 universities, and has annual sales of 10,000 to 12,000 (2). This book is unique in that it stresses the mythology associated with a host of different crime and criminal justice issues. It is the author’s thesis that this mythology is largely responsible for this country’s highly ineffective crime fighting social policies. I will describe the more pervasive forces that are responsible for this mythology and show how this mythology has played itself out in the arena of organized crime/Mafia.
Solutions to crime and criminal justice issues have been hampered by the proliferation of myths by vested interests, the most notable being government bureaucrats and the mass media who have exercised their tremendous opinion-influencing powers for their self-serving purposes. This has resulted in social policies which place emphasis on apprehension and punishment. On the other hand, the efforts of scholars to put crime fighting resources into addressing crime causation go generally unnoticed. The result is that we spend billions of dollars, send our military abroad, build more and more jails and, despite these efforts, have made little progress in fighting crime.
The Function of Crime Myths
Myths usually contain some element of truth: however, this truth becomes irrelevant as these myths take on larger-than-life qualities which then become the basis for social policies. These myths provide a conceptual framework from which we reinforce stereotypic thinking and provide for easy answers to complex situations. Whereas in other fields of endeavor we place emphasis on research, empirical evidence, and scientific approaches, in the crime arena the absence of these tools has created a void that allows myths to serve as the mortar to fill in the gaps in our knowledge. As a result the ‘answers’ invariably serve to maintain present views of crime and criminal justice, and ignore efforts to define and analyze issues, and find solutions.
The Media and Government as the Major Mythmakers The media is driven by the competitive nature of the business; it is all about getting large audiences, readership, advertising dollars, etc. Crime stories guarantee these results; hence, if ‘it bleeds it leads.’ These stories require a minimum of journalistic time or talent, require little concern for accuracy (who is going to sue?), and are easy to sensationalize with the usual ‘we good guys - them bad guys’ backdrop. What the public sees is a disproportionate amount of attention being placed on a few high-profile, high-entertainment value crime stories which leaves no room for serious reporting or study of the dynamics of crime issues.
To make matters worse, the media’s mythmaking capabilities have been greatly increased by a technically sophisticated mass communication system that is able to reach virtually everyone. Most of the newspaper circulation is controlled by fewer than 15 corporations and Time, Inc. which controls 40% of all magazine sales (3).
Once it is apparent that a particular crime event, or related series of events, attracts a large audience, the politicizing process inevitably kicks in. The government bureaucrat becomes concerned with his department’s public image - be it damage control or promoting a positive image. The result is an unholy alliance between the media and the politicos in which there are mutual back scratching scenarios. The result is that both parties forgo their constitutional obligations in favor of their respective self-interests. In this picture the researchers are essentially nonexistent.
Sometimes, it is the government who contrives or directs events by alerting the media to current news material. The bureaucrat is skilled in preparing press releases for public consumption, and can essentially control, direct and mold messages, making him a most powerful mythmaker. Mythmaking dictates maintaining the existing social definition of crime, because the status quo serves the interest of the bureaucrat. Maintaining existing definitions means extending the cause of crime to groups and behaviors that are perceived to be a threat to existing social order. This scenario is never changed, except possibly to include a new group. It is the bureaucrat’s position that these threats can only be eliminated with more money, more personnel and more enforcement power sometimes resulting in legislation which pushes the envelope of what is constitutional.
The Official Myth of Organized Crime
We are told that organized crime in the United States was imported in the late 19th and early 20th century by the wave of Italian immigrants. With these immigrants came secret, outlaw, feudal societies such as the Mafia; seedlings from which all organized crime sprouted. In 1931, after the Castellammarese Wars, the feudal Sicilian was eliminated and the Mafia was modernized. By 1932 organized crime was made up of 24 hierarchically structured organizations governed by a national commission
Initially, this massive, alien conspiracy was called to our attention in a systematic manner by the Bureau of Narcotics. In 1951, the Kefauver Committee drew attention to the Mafia. This was followed by the McCellan Committee and later followed by the Apalachin meeting. These events firmly established that organized crime in this country was an alien conspiracy.
The Presidential Crime Commission Report of 1967 and Cressey’s, "Theft of a Nation," gave the alien conspiracy scenario additional credibility and presented it in terms useful to the lawmakers. The Presidential Commission Report also established that the Mafia was really La Cosa Nostra, which had a hierarchical structure (My note: Apparently their enrolled in Bus. Adm. 101).
Following the lead of law enforcement, ambitious politicians, presidential commissions, journalists, academics and writers of novels and screenplays advanced this picture of organized crime. Since then every journalistic account and a host of academic treatises have bought into this myth. Based on their writings we must conclude that alien groups have corrupted our otherwise incorruptible society.
In latter years, it has become necessary to keep alive this bureaucratic and media mythology by the inclusion of groups other than Italian. This presented no problem, the official position was that anyone "unlucky enough not to have been born Italian’’ and wishing to get involved, could do so at the "sufferance of the Mafia."
Historical Myths of Organized Crime
The proof used to justify the alien conspiracy myth range from the dubious to the preposterous. The assertion that the Sicilian Mafia was transplanted to the United States in the waves of Italian immigration is open to question. The fact that other nations have received similar waves of Italian immigration at the same time as the United States and failed to develop anything close to the United States version of the Mafia has never been addressed by officialdom or the mass media.
The Castellammarese Wars never happened. The Kefauver Committee heard a great deal of testimony on organized crime and gambling and yet they failed to produce one witness who even mentioned the word ‘Mafia.’ The Apalachin Meeting was not a meeting of boy Scouts, yet, despite the number of people involved and the number of years that have passed, no one knows the true agenda of this meeting. (My note: In my opinion Nelli, "the Business of Crime," does a good job of comparing the Apalachin with similar meetings.) Finally, examination of the testimony of witnesses like Valachi and Fratianno reveals contradictions, errors and uncorroborated assertions. Neither of these informers were in a position to provide insight credited to them.
"Rather than substance, the alien conspiracy is supported by the testimony of a few government-sponsored informants and public release of heavily selected police files and surveillance transcripts - all tied together with official speculation."
Empirical Evidence and Organized Crime
"Virtually every empirical study of organized crime has reached conclusions diametrically opposed to those in the official myth." Studies have demonstrated that these organizations are not highly structured but rather loosely structured, informal, highly adaptive, flexible networks. The fact is that inflexible, clan-based corporate entities described by law enforcement agencies could not survive in an environment where operations must be clandestine. Hollywood and TV movies to the contrary, Lansky’s and Capone’s extensive operations were in reality a series of small-scale business partnerships, usually involving senior partners in a series of investment and joint business ventures. The same type of partnerships are found in studies by Albini, Chambliss, Gardiner, Ianni, Reuter, Potter, Jenkins, and others (4).
The evidence also calls into question the assumption in the official myth that organized criminals act as the corrupters of public officials. Available evidence indicates that a more accurate perspective is that organized criminals and legitimate business and government officials are all equal players in a marketplace of corruption. The fact is that it is not uncommon for the ‘upper-world’ and ‘under-world’ to have long-standing corrupt relationships. The authors cite work of others researchers who describe relationships between organized crime and many highly respected institutions. (My comment: I do not include these institutions but the list is extensive and the players named astounding.)
There is no denying the existence of ethnic crime groups; however, the authors suggest where there is a picture of a ethnic homogeneity, it is more a reflection of urban life rather than the machinations a secret, ethnic conspiracy.
Controlling Organized Crime
Our efforts to control and eradicate organized crime have failed. They have failed because law enforcement has placed too much emphasis on the Headhunting Strategy (an all-out effort to convict media prominent figures), and failure to focus on the overall dynamics of organized crime. The Headhunting Strategy is predicated on the false assumptions that the role of bosses is dominant. The reality is if the environment is ripe for illegal profits, the boss is rapidly replaced. Furthermore, if we are to control organized crime the emphasis should be placed on the desire of ‘average’ citizens for illicit goods and services, the role of political corruption and the role of ‘legitimate ’ business people. Simply putting people in jail fails to address the root causes of organized crime.
Dwight Smith has repeatedly insisted, in writing and personal presentations, that if we are to control organized crime we must conceptualize organized crime as a business whose organization and functions are altered as needed so as to maximize profits. If we are to control crime we must look at the complete - oftentimes changing - picture. (5)

(1) Victor E. Kappeler is Associate Professor of Police Studies at Eastern Kentucky University. Dr. Kappeler has written articles on issues related to police deviance, law, and civil liability.
Mark Blumberg is Professor of Criminal Justice at Central Missouri State University. He received his Ph.D. from SUNY, Albany, NY. He has authored numerous books on crime and criminal justice.
Gary W. Potter is Professor of Police Studies at Eastern Kentucky University (formerly of Penn State University). He has authored numerous books and articles on crime and criminal justice.
(2) Information provided by Gary W. Potter
(3) ‘The Mythology…."third ed., p.5
(4) The subject of organize crime/ Mafia is only one of many crime issue covered by this book and, as such, the studies referenced are but a handful of the many available studies which support the author’s position on Mafia Mythology. For a more extensive treatment of the subject matter and use of reference studies, I recommend "Organized Crime" by Michael Lyman and Gary W.Potter, Prentice Hall, July 1999, 565 pp. I was tempted to list many of these other references so as to give this presentation greater creditability and/or quotes from scholars. Instead, I have included quotes from two public figures not in the criminology arena. A. Bartlett Giamatti: "It is finally as foolish to deny existence of Italian American gangsters and criminal combines of various kinds as it is bigoted to believe that the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra or any other media-sanctified name) is all-pervasive or that in America only Italian Americans are gangsters, worse that because one has an Italian surname one may be must be ‘connected’ in some sinister way." (Allan Schoener) U.S. Senator Sam Nunn: "Organized crime should no longer be - if it ever should have been - described as being dominated by individuals belonging to any one ethnic group. Nor is it limited to ‘traditional’ criminal activities such as gambling, loan sharking, prostitution, pornography, and the like….Organized crime never has known any ethnic bounds, and its activities run the gamut from the gutter to the board rooms of legitimate business and labor unions in this country." (Jay Albanese)
(5) In recent statements by President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeldt, and Senator John McCain, I see encouraging signs that this administration will change the federal drug fighting policies by putting more emphasis on drug demand and education at home and less on intervention in foreign countries (the alien conspiracy).
John de Matteo (JDemat@aol.com)

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