Lauchs, Mark& Staines, Zoe (2012) Career Path of a Corruption Entrepreneur
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This may be the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for publication in the following source: Lauchs, Mark& Staines, Zoe (2012) Career path of a corruption entrepreneur. Global Crime, 13(2), pp. 109-129. This file was downloaded from: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/50297/ c Consult author(s) regarding copyright matters This work is covered by copyright. Unless the document is being made available under a Creative Commons Licence, you must assume that re-use is limited to personal use and that permission from the copyright owner must be obtained for all other uses. If the docu- ment is available under a Creative Commons License (or other specified license) then refer to the Licence for details of permitted re-use. It is a condition of access that users recog- nise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. If you believe that this work infringes copyright please provide details by email to [email protected] Notice: Please note that this document may not be the Version of Record (i.e. published version) of the work. Author manuscript versions (as Sub- mitted for peer review or as Accepted for publication after peer review) can be identified by an absence of publisher branding and/or typeset appear- ance. If there is any doubt, please refer to the published source. https://doi.org/10.1080/17440572.2012.678620 QUT Digital Repository: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/ This is the author version published as: This is the accepted version of this article. To be published This is the author version published as: Lauchs, Mark A. & Staines, Zoe (2012) Career path of a corruption entrepreneur. Global Crime, 13(2), pp. 109-129. Catalogue from Homo Faber 2007 The study of criminal career paths is necessary to understand the methods of success employed by high-performing criminals. The aim of this article is to focus on the career path of Jack Herbert who set up and maintained extensive corruption networks between organised crime groups and police in the Australian state of Queensland. This study builds Abstracton Morselli’s work on the career paths of Sammy Gravano and Howard Marks that Bdemonstrate how understanding social networks is an essential part of comprehending how organised criminals succeed. The data for this study were taken from the transcripts of the Fitzgerald Commission of Inquiry, which uncovered the extensive and resilient corruption network operated by Herbert. Herbert’s relationships have been plotted to establish the nature of his operations. The findings indicate that communication of trust both allows for success and sets the boundaries of a network. Most importantly, this case study identifies Herbert’s reliance on holding a monopoly as the cornerstone of his network power and position. This article adds to the literature on criminal career paths by moving away from a classic organised criminal grouping into the Career Path of a Corruption Entrepreneur Mark Lauchs School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia [email protected] 2 George Street Brisbane Australia 4000 Mark Lauchs is a senior lecturer researching in the fields of corruption and organized crime. He commenced academia after two decades working as a bureaucrat in the Queensland State Government. Mark has published a number of articles on corruption and accountability. Zoe Staines School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia [email protected] 2 George Street Brisbane Australia 4000 Zoe Staines is a Lecturer researching in the fields of policing and knowledge management. She previously worked in the Queensland State Government and is also a member of the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology. 1 Career Path of a Corruption Entrepreneur The study of criminal career paths is necessary to understand the methods of success employed by high performing criminals. The aim of this paper is to focus this work on the career path of Jack Herbert who set up and maintained extensive corruption networks between organized crime groups and police in the Australian state of Queensland. This study builds on Morselli’s work on the career paths of Sammy Gravano and Howard Marks which demonstrate how understanding social networks is an essential part of comprehending how organized criminals succeed. The data for the current study was taken from the transcripts of the Fitzgerald Commission of Inquiry which uncovered the extensive and resilient corruption network operated by Herbert. Herbert’s relationships have been plotted to establish the nature of his operations. The findings indicate that communication of trust both allows for success and sets the boundaries of a network. Most importantly, this case study identifies Herbert’s reliance on holding a monopoly as the cornerstone of his network power and position. This article adds to the literature on criminal career paths by moving away from a classic organized criminal grouping into the area of police corruption, and uncovers the distinctive opportunities that this position offers the career criminal. Keywords: criminal career path; police corruption; brokerage; reputation; trust; social networks Policing agencies try to target the leaders of criminal networks. At present there is no theory to support the identification of future leaders of these networks but one may be able to be developed by studying the careers of successful criminal entrepreneurs. It is important to understand how they entered their career path and how they rose to the top, to try and see if there are patterns in behavior or personality characteristics of the criminal high achievers that may be indicators of potential future leaders. Social network analysis tools can assist in this project by plotting the various positions within criminal networks of the criminal entrepreneur at the different stages of his/her career. 2 Criminologists are using social network analysis at an increasing rate, especially in relation to organized crime networks.1 Some of these studies address career and specific organized crime groups,2 while others approach the issue from the perspective of life course criminality.3 A key aspect of this research has been the role of brokers, the entrepreneurs of the illicit economy who bridge the gaps between different networks.4 However, this research has only progressed so far. In 2005, Burt opined that “We know brokerage creates an advantage, but we know little about how people come to be brokers.”5 There has been limited research on criminal careers from a social network perspective and similarly few studies that have also focused specifically on the role of brokers. There are only two studies that take this approach6 into the careers of Howard Marks and Sammy Gravano. Morselli’s research tracked the careers of Howard ‘Mr Nice’ Marks, an international cannabis smuggler, and Sammy ‘The Bull’ Gravano, a member of the Cosa Nostra, through Burt’s theoretical lens. In accordance with Burt’s theory, Morselli’s studies showed that Marks’ 1 Carlo Morselli, Inside Criminal Networks, ed. Frank Bovenkerk, Studies of Organized Crime (New York: Springer, 2009); Phil Williams, "Transnational Criminal Networks," in Networks and Netwars, ed. J Arquilla and D Ronfeldt (Santa Monica: Rand, 2001 ); United Nations, "Results of a Pilot Survey of Forty Selected Organized Criminal Groups in Sixteen Countries," (New York: United Nations, Office of Drugs and Crime, 2002); Pierre Tremblay, Martin Bouchard, and Sévrine Petit, "The Size and Influence of a Criminal Organization: A Criminal Achievement Perspective," Global Crime 10, no. 1 (2009); Mangai Natarajan, "Understanding the Structure of a Large Heroin Distribution Network: A Quantitative Analysis of Qualitative Data," Journal of Quantitative Criminology 22(2006). 2 Patricia Adler and Peter Adler, "Shifts and Oscillations in Deviant Careers: The Case of Upper-Level Drug Dealers and Smugglers," Social Problems 31, no. 2 (1983); Francis Ianni, A Family Business: Kinship and Social Control in Organized Crime (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1972); Natarajan, "Understanding the Structure of a Large Heroin Distribution Network: A Quantitative Analysis of Qualitative Data."; Mangai Natarajan and Mathieu Belanger, "Varieties of Drug Trafficking Organizations: A Typology of Cases Prosecuted in New York City," Journal of Drug Issues 28, no. 4 (1998). 3 M. Vere van Koppen, Christianne J. de Poot, and Arjan A. J. Blokland, "Comparing Criminal Careers of Organized Crime Offenders and General Offenders," European Journal of Criminology 7, no. 5 (2010); M. Vere van Koppen et al., "Criminal Trajectories in Organized Crime," British Journal of Criminology (2009). 4 Carlo Morselli, "Structuring Mr. Nice: Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Brokerage Positioning in the Cannabis Trade," Crime, Law and Social Change 35, no. 3 (2001); Nigel Coles, "It's Not What You Know--It's Who You Know That Counts," The British Journal of Criminology 41, no. 4 (2001); S. Kaza, Hu Daning, and Chen Hsinchun, "Dynamic Social Network Analysis of a Dark Network: Identifying Significant Facilitators" (paper presented at the Intelligence and Security Informatics, 2007 IEEE, 2007). 5 Ronald Burt, Brokerage and Closure: An Introduction to Social Capital (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 28; Carlo Morselli, "Career Opportunities and Network-Based Privileges in the Cosa Nostra," Crime, Law & Social Change 39, no. 4 (2003). 6 Morselli, "Structuring Mr. Nice: Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Brokerage Positioning in the Cannabis Trade."; Morselli, "Career Opportunities and Network-Based Privileges in the Cosa Nostra." 3 and Gravano’s entrepreneurial successes were driven by reputation and trust, as well as a knack for brokering non-redundant relationships within and between illicit networks. These findings were dissimilar from most previous studies on criminal networks, which identified instrumental violence as a key component of managing and brokering illicit trade. Instead, in Morselli’s research, violence was merely a privilege to be enjoyed by those who build a good reputation and are successful brokers;7 it was predominantly an outcome of rather than a means to success.