A Story of Organized Crime: Constructing Criminality and Building Institutions Monique Michaëla Mann B. Psych Sc. B. CCJ (hons) School of Humanities Arts, Education and Law Griffith University Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 2014 1 ABSTRACT This is a narrative about the way in which a category of crime-to-be-combated is constructed through the discipline of criminology and the agents of discipline in criminal justice. The aim was to examine organized crime through the eyes of those whose job it is to fight it (and define it), and in doing so investigate the ways social problems surface as sites for state intervention. A genealogy of organized crime within criminological thought was completed, demonstrating that there are a range of different ways organized crime has been constructed within the social scientific discipline, and each of these were influenced by the social context, political winds and intellectual climate of the time. Following this first finding, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with individuals who had worked at the apex of the policing of organized crime in Australia, in order to trace their understandings of organized crime across recent history. It was found that organized crime can be understood as an object of the discourse of the politics of law and order, the discourse of international securitization, new public management in policing business, and involves the forging of outlaw identities. Therefore, there are multiple meanings of organized crime that have arisen from an interconnected set of social, political, moral and bureaucratic discourses. The institutional response to organized crime, including law and policing, was subsequently examined. An extensive legislative framework has been enacted at multiple jurisdictional levels, and the problem of organized crime was found to be deserving of unique institutional powers and configurations to deal with it. The social problem of organized crime, as constituted by the discourses mapped out in this research, has led to a new generation of increasingly preemptive and punitive laws, and the creation of new state agencies with amplified powers. That is, the response to organized crime, with a focus on criminalization and enforcement, has been driven and shaped by the four discourses and the way in which the phenomenon is constructed within them. An appreciation of the nexus between the emergence of the social problem, and the formation of institutions in response to it, is important in developing a more complete understanding of the various dimensions of organized crime. 2 STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. Monique M. Mann July 2014 3 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS p. 6 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Introduction p. 10 Chapter structure: The narrative that follows p. 11 CHAPTER 2: METHOD Aim and paradigm p. 13 Data collection: Fast forward p. 15 Ethical considerations p. 16 Archival data collection p. 20 Interview data collection p. 22 Analysis of interview and archival data p. 28 Validity, reliability and generalizability p. 31 CHAPTER 3: GENEALOGY OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THOUGHT Introduction p. 35 Organized crime p. 36 Syndicated crime p. 38 Family business p. 40 Illicit/illegal enterprise p. 42 Disorganized crime p. 46 Criminal networks p. 48 ‘Glocal’ crime p. 49 Conclusion p. 50 CHAPTER 4: THE EMERGENCE OF ORGANIZED CRIME Introduction p. 52 The politics of law and order p. 53 Tough on crime p. 55 Threats to social order p. 57 Against the tide: Preventative partnerships p. 62 Securitization and the war on organized crime p. 63 Developing an international security agenda p. 65 U.S. led campaign: Drugs, money laundering and the UNCTOC p. 68 Metaphors of war p. 76 The rise of New Public Management: The business of policing organized crime p. 79 Problem construction through measurement p. 85 Performance measurement: ROIs and KPIs p. 90 Turf protection and budgets p. 95 The forging of outlaw identities p. 97 Status and identity p. 102 Media bites p. 103 Migrants and importing organized crime to Australia p. 104 Case study 1: The Mafia in New South Wales p. 108 Case study 2: Threat from the east: Asian organized crime in Cabramatta p. 111 4 De-racializing organized crime p. 113 A new lexicon: Constructing the ‘East Coast Criminal Milieu’ p. 115 Case Study 3: The war on ‘bikie wars’ p. 117 Conclusion p. 121 CHAPTER 5: INSTITUTIONALIZING RESPONSES TO ORGANIZED CRIME Introduction p. 123 Criminalizing organized crime p. 124 International obligations: The UNCTOC p. 125 Realizing obligations: Australian Commonwealth arrangements p. 126 Exceeding obligations: Zero tolerance crackdowns in Australian States and Territories p. 129 Interrogating legal conceptions of organized crime p. 143 Quantitative group-based model p. 144 Qualitative seriousness of offence p. 146 Drawing boundaries around conceptual plurality p. 147 Role of police and police unions in law reform p. 149 Reactive versus proactive turns in law p. 152 Extraordinary crime and extraordinary powers: Powerful tools or burdens for police? p. 153 New state agencies: The law enforcement complex p. 157 Institutional transformations: Centralization and hybridization p. 159 1984: The National Crime Authority p. 162 Enter the Australian Crime Commission p. 165 The Board and the CEO: Commercial governance or executive interference? p. 168 The potential for corruption: Safeguarding the system p. 170 Whole-of-government responses: The COCSF p. 174 The transnational dimension: Transnational organized crime, the AFP and the advent of ‘glocal’ policing p. 178 The actions and implications of intelligence and policing p. 182 Intelligence as an apparatus of production p. 183 Classified work and blinkered perspectives p. 190 Challenges of policing organized crime p. 192 Futility of criminalization: Alternatives to enforcement p. 196 Conclusion p. 200 CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION p. 201 REFERENCES p. 205 FIGURES Figure 1. The relationship between the four discourses of organized crime p. 52 TABLES Table 1. Summary of laws and legal challenges p. 142 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is often said that the PhD journey is a solitary experience. I agree. I have spent uncountable hours alone writing the contents of these very pages. But I have never felt lonely in my PhD journey. And for that I thank the following: I thank the academic and administrative staff of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (CCJ) at Griffith University from where I first set off on this journey. I thank Michael Townsley for being my first real mentor and setting me on the path of research. I thank Catrin Smith for being the first to introduce me to qualitative research and critical theory. I thank Philip Stenning for being my academic grandfather, defending me at my confirmation seminar when I could not answer all the questions, thoroughly reading and providing helpful feedback on the entirety of Chapters 2 and 5, and pulling me up on my use of ‘data’ as a singular. I thank Hennessey Hayes for advice on ethical matters and navigating the process of HREC applications. I extend a special thank you to Melissa Bull for introducing me to the works of Foucault and the messiness of social science research, while always pointing out the importance of attending to the ‘conditions of possibility.’ I thank the academic and administrative staff of the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance (KELJAG) at Griffith University. I thank Sandra Hart for her calm motherly nature and always managing to find time for me in Sidney’s busy schedule. I thank Noel Sharma for the practical assistance she provided regarding my space in M07 and travel to conduct fieldwork. I thank the academic and administrative staff of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Policing in Security (CEPS) at Griffith University. I thank Melanie Davies for finding time for me in Simon’s busy schedule, and Angie Bird who took over this task in 2013. I thank Joyce Wang and Vicki Ward for managing my travel expenses. I thank former HDR convenor Louise Porter for telling me to keep calm and carry on in the face of all the administrative requirements. CEPS was my home for a significant chunk of this work and I will always hold fold memories of the people, the intellectual climate and the nervous times waiting for supervisory meetings on the red chairs. 6 I thank the academic and administrative staff of the Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) at the Australian National University (ANU) for adopting me for a short time in 2012. I thank Julie Ayling for being the best external confirmation examiner one could hope for, and for her comprehensive comments on earlier versions of this work. I thank Julie for inviting me to her institution and into her home. I thank Peter Grabosky for the interesting conversations across the hallway and the many book recommendations. Sandy Gordon, Grant Wardlaw, Clarke Jones and John McFarlane provided valuable insights into the topics of organized crime and policing. I thank the Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch (OCB) of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for the opportunity to spend time at the United Nations Offices in Vienna, attend the 6th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCTOC, and gain first hand experience into some of these issues as they are negotiated at an international/intergovernmental level. I thank my supervisory three- Tejal Jesrani, Riikka Puttonen and Stephanie Jung- for all their guidance in the finer points of diplomacy and international relations. Special mention to Steve Thurlow for his mentorship and introducing me to an entirely new set of issues associated with OC at sea.