The New Criminal Conspiracy? Asian Gangs and Organized Crime in San Francisco

Abstract

Research indicates that there is wide variation in the social organization of gangs in relation to drug sales. Few attempts have examined Asian gangs in this regard, despite the prevalence of the conspiratorial view among some police, policymakers, and journalists that Asian gangs are intricately connected to organized crime groups in Chinese communities and Asia and to heroin trafficking. This article examines the relationship between Asian gangs and organized crime in light of current theoretical frameworks. The analysis is based on data from an ethnographic study and suggests that the connections between Asian gangs and organized crime operations are not at all clear and are best conceptualized as associations between individuals in groups rather than as criminal conspiracies. The discussion provides several reasons for the absence of a formal organizational structure.