backing; gambling and narcotics are common subjects of organized crime" (p. 371). For prosecution purposes in the U.S. today, a criminal "enterprise" includes "any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity" (Jones, Mace & Satory, 2002, p. 977).
             Factors Contributing to Allure of Organized Crime.
             Conflict Theory. From a conflict theory perspective, the glamorization of organized crime can be seen as a "we versus them" mentality that is engendered by law enforcement efforts to control the criminal element. According to Shelley (1995), "Organized crime groups engage in such widely publicized activities as drugs and arms trafficking, smuggling of automobiles and people and trafficking in stolen art [and] such insidious activities as smuggling of embargoed commodities, industrial and technological espionage, financial market manipulation and the corruption and control of groups within and outside of the legal state system" (p. 463). In response, law enforcement authorities have targeted organized crime to varying degrees over the years, of course, but the actual extent of organized crime in the United States is enormously
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