Asian Organized Crime In America

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Organized crime in America has many faces. These criminal organizations tend to have common traits among its members and those criteria traits are often mandated for membership. The overall spectrum of organized crime generally follows ethnic lines for membership; Asian organizations will be focused upon throughout. What are the origins of Asian Organized crime in America? What are the qualifications to join and what does membership entail? What American locations do the Asian crime organizations currently operate and what are the crimes that Asian organized criminals focus in the United States? How does Asian organized crime remain successful? Asian organized crime groups, as the name hints, originated in Asia, some centuries ago. “There are two categories of Asian criminal enterprises. Traditional criminal enterprises include the Chinese triads (or underground societies) based in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau as well as the Japanese Yakuza or Boryokudan. Non-traditional …show more content…
Depending on the organization the structure varies. The Chinese organizations lack “empirical support for the belief that there is a well-organized, monolithic, hierarchical criminal cartel”. This lack of organization provides for members within different groups to have drastically different experiences and responsibilities to the organization. The Japanese Yakuza is an extremely well organized organization, “the key to the hierarchy is the oyabun-kobun relationship, a set of father-son roles that binds all Yakuza clans together” and demands “absolute loyalty and unquestioning obedience from his kobun”. This loyalty and obedience is so un-wavering that punishment for failure can result in being required to cut off a portion of one’s own