Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cjs. .
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Canadian Journal of Sociology is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The
Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie.
http://www.jstor.org
The Governanceof OrganisedCrime in Canada
James Sheptycki
Resume: Cet article porte sur l'exercice des pouvoirs du crime organise au Canadapendantles
annees 1990. II s'attarde surtout aux microprocessusde la constructionde connaissances sur les
groupes de crime organise que le secteurdu maintiende l'ordre au Canadautilisaitpendantcette
periode.En se basantsur du travailsur le terrain,I'auteurdecriten detail le processusqui consiste
a evaluer la menace de crime organise et en explore les lacunes. II fait remarquerque l'objet de
l'exercice des pouvoirsqu'est le crimeorganise,n'est pas si organis6qu'il pourraitl'etre et que ce
que l'on peut observerau sujet de cet exercice de pouvoirsreleve plutotde l'exercice de pouvoirs
au moyen de crime organise.
Introduction
growingdisjuncturebetweentheeverexpandingexpectationsof governmental
purview, and the capacityof agencies of governanceto deliver. The analysis
they pursuedcontainedmanyinterestingfacets.It intersectswith the concerns
of this paperin thatit encouragesscepticalquestionsaboutorganisedcrime as
a category of governance.The expansivenessof the term "organisedcrime"
has contradictoryimplicationsfor governance.On the one handit can be an
awkwardcategoryto governsince, fromtime to time, its capacityto overflow
definitional limits raises challenges based on effectiveness criteria.On the
otherhandthe opposite view may hold;thatthe very vaguenessof the termis
facilitative of institutionbuilding.On this view, periodiccrises broughtabout
by chronic failuresof governanceserves to reinvigorategovernmentallogic.
The themes of fear and anxiety were well expressed in the literatureon
governance,no more so thanwhencrime issues were in focus. Anxieties that
arose out of the conditionsof globalisationmay be assuagedby an appeal to
the efficacy of the powerof the state,whetherit be local or national(andeven
transnational).Hencepopulisttough-on-crimerhetoricremaineda staplein the
linguistic armouryof politiciansof virtuallyevery OECDcountry,as it was in
Canada.It may perforceseem naturaland easy to subsumeorganisedcrime
into such a rhetoricalequation.Crimeis a seriousissue, seriouscrime all the
more so, and organisedcrimejust might be the most seriousof all. Organised
crime representsan interestingproblemof governmentalobjectification.It is
useful and importantto try to understandthe governmentalrationalities
brought to bear on this issue area, not least because, during the 1990s,
organisedcrime assumedsuch importancein public debate.
The flow of informationwithin and across the policing sector raises many
issues that have been analysedby sociologists of policing organisationsfrom
a variety of angles (eg. Ericson and Haggerty, 1997; Manning 1992, 1997;
Punch, 1998). Whereit concernsthe governanceof organisedcrime in Canada
duringthe 1990s, the concernis how the manufactureof "strategicintelligence
assessments" set priorities and established policies. This is how organised
crime was made an object of governance.At the time of my field researchin
Ottawa the importantdevelopment in this area was Project Sleipnir.
1. See Mawby, 1990 for a slightly dated, but thorough overview of the development of the
Canadianpolicing infrastructure.See Gill, 2000, especially pages 98-102 and 138-146, for an
account of the changes in the intelligence infrastructurethat took place in Canadaduringthe
1990s.
494 Canadian
Journalof Sociology
2. Sleipniris a creature from Norse Mythology.It is the name of Odin's horse who was lent to
Hermodon his unsuccessfuljourneyto the underworldto recoverthe soul of Balderwho had
be slain in an act of deviousnessperpetratedby the troublemakerLoki.Reportedlythis project
name was generatedby a randomprocessand was not the resultof deliberatechoice.
TheGovernance
of OrganisedCrimein Canada495
enough to be able to help you.' I was interestedin gettingpeople who were interestedenough in
whatthey were doing thatthey would wantto participatein this. Thatthey could see the potential
value of it and would wantto say theirpiece becausethose arethe people who arepayingattention
to the problem. So there is a self-selection process happeningthere that seems to work out
reasonablywell; judging from the namesof the people who came backto me and what I knew of
them"(from tapedinterview,June29, 2000).
Canadaaboutthisorganisedcrimephenomenonduringtheperiod.These were:
1) the accidental car-bombkilling of eleven year old Daniel Desrochersin
1995;2) politicalcontentionbetweentheprovincialgovernmentin Quebecand
the federalgovernmentover legislation aimed at curbing"bikerviolence" in
1996-97; and 3) the shooting of Michel Auger, a journalistin Montr6alin
2000. The report'sauthorstheorisedthat, once a particulartopic has demon-
stratednewsworthiness(ie. the ability to sell papers), it creates a cycle that
more or less guaranteessignificantmedia exposure.
When a topic has demonstratedits potentialto grabheadlines,it is likely
to become politicised. The political and jurisdictionalcontestationover the
bikerissue in 1996-97 was at least partlyfuelled by the predispositionin press
reportage to editorialise about the desperate need for additional policing
powersin orderto combatOMGs(outlawmotorcyclegangs).Accordingto the
NathansonCentreanalysis, even with successfulprosecutionsunderexisting
law, press attentiontendedto emphasisethe need for more legislation. Loud
cries for legislative innovationin the editorialpages of Canada'snewspapers
meant that politicians of every hue and stripe, in every region, and at every
level of government were drawn to debates about the issue. This may be
becausepoliticiansandgovernmentalpersonnelsimplycannotavoidcomment
on issues that achieve such intense media exposure, whetherindividualsare
cynically motivatedto make personalpolitical capital or not. Regardless of
individualmotivation,in passing comment,even when it is banal,politicians
furtheramplifyawarenessof the issue. This cycle has long beenrecognisedby
academic criminologists. It has been aptly described as "crime-wave re-
portage"which leads to "deviancyamplification"and "moralpanic"(Cohen,
and Young, 1973).
Academics workingon organisedcrime topics in Canadareportedfeelings
of greatfrustrationregardingtheirinterfacewith the media which invariably
reducedsubtle and detailed accountsof organisedcrime phenomenainto the
dichotomous categories of good-guys and bad-guys. In some cases, when
academic knowledge did not fit the guiding presuppositions of media
reportage,academiccriminologistslaidchargesof deliberatemisrepresentation
(NathansonCentreNewsletterNo. 5, Summer2002, pp. 21-23). The produc-
tion of knowledge about organised crime that takes place across various
institutionsis not deliberatelyengineeredin the mannerof a conspiracy. In
whatKarlPopperwas happyto call the "opensociety,"the differencesof view
held by personneloperatingwithinmajorsocial institutionsmeanthatconflict
is a featurethe governmentalisation,and never more so thanwhen the object
of governanceconcernsphenomenasuch as organisedcrime.
So, how do members of the public understandthe meaning of the term
"organised crime"? It might be supposed that the processes previously
The Governanceof OrganisedCrime in Canada 503
emanate from that occupational group and to what extent are they part of a
broaderset of culturalexpectations?Are police intelligence systems determi-
native of the culturalconstructionof images of organisedcrime, or visa versa?
Mightthe relationshipbetweenthe two be overdeterminedby otherunspecified
factors? This is difficult to unravel. What is revealed here is that there is a
widely shared common sense about what organised crime is, and that this
common sense is articulatedboth aroundthe kitchen table and in the police
intelligence conference room. The isomorphism of these views might be
enough, or nearly enough, to explain why corporate "scandals"- such as
those surroundingcontemporaryeconomic crimes of powerful groups- the
Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the energy giant Enron,
WorldComandothers- do notpuncturethe conceptualuniverseof organised
crime discourse. These cases largely remain"corporatescandals,"and hardly
ever come to be seen as matters of organised criminality, but they do raise
questions about the governanceof organisedcrime.
and telemarketingfraud),immigrantsmuggling,andcounterfeitproducts(ie.
intellectual property theft). This press release suggested that there was "a
strongand growingnationalconsensuson the overalldirectionfor combatting
organizedcrime"(ibid., emphasisadded).
Membersof the public could be forgiven the belief thatthe governmental
programmershadsucceededwheregenerationsof academiccriminologistshad
failed. Not only was therean apparentconsensuson whatconstitutedorganised
crime, therealso seemed to be agreementon whatto do aboutit. However,on
closer inspection, accordance on "the problem of organised crime" was
overstated.Considerthe closing paragraphof the actualreportsummarisedin
the above quotedpress release from the SolicitorGeneral:
The OrganizedCrimeImpactStudyitselfemphasisedthateconomicorganis-
ed crimeincludedactivitiessuchas bidriggingandpricefixing andstatedthat:
It went on to note that "therehas been a generaldecline over the past five
years in the numberof law enforcementinvestigationsand chargesrelatedto
economic crime"(ibid.p. 12). Withregardto fraud,andeconomiccrimemore
generally, the study reported that "[e]nforcementofficials agree that the
decline in investigations and charges relating to economic crime does not
reflect a decline in criminalactivity;ratherit is a resultof declining enforce-
ment resourcesand capacitydirectedtowardsthe problem"(ibid. p. 12).
The study highlightedthe relative lack of resourcesdevoted to economic
organisedcrime,butit placedeven greateremphasison anothernon-traditional
organisedcrime relatedactivity, crimes againstthe environment:
environmentalcrime,particularlythe improperstorageor disposalof hazardouswaste,is assessed
as second only to illicit drugsin impacton Canada.Theprimaryimpactsof this OC-relatedactivity
are on the health of Canadiansand the environmentin general.Much more effort needs to be
directedtowardsassessingthe scope and impactof this OC-relatedactivity(ibid. p. 2).
The term globalisation has been used primarily to describe some key aspects of the recent
transformation of worldeconomic activity.But severalother,less benign(sic), activities,including
the drugtrade,terrorism,andtrafficin nuclearmaterials,have also been globalized.The financial
liberalizationthatseems to have createda borderlessworldis also helpinginternationalcriminals
... (Commissionon GlobalGovernance,1995, p. 10)
The overall impression from this analysis is that although governments are responding to
transnationalcriminalorganizationsandtransnationalcriminalactivities,they aredoing too littletoo
late.Effortsneed to be expandedespecially in the areaof reliableanduniformdatacollection. More
sophisticatedmethodologiesneed to be devised and greateruse made of the informationavailable
... as a matterof urgency a centralclearing house needs to be establishedwith a focus on illicit
marketactivities of all kinds and a recognitionof the cross-linkagesand synergies that are being
developed [between criminalgroups]"(Williams, 1999, p. 241).
Conclusion
One question remains.In observingthese processes were we witnessing the
governanceof organisedcrime, or is it more apt to describeit as governance
throughorganisedcrime?Put in this simple form the questionmay appearto
be sociologically naive; the formera lazy functionalism,the lattervergingon
conspiracy theory. It is useful, as well as interesting,to look at the way in
which organisedcrime has become an object of governanceover the recent
past. This is so because the, inevitablydisputatious,theoreticalliteratureon
governancehas done so much to chartthe transformationsin the practicesof
social power. In a world that has "gone global," where the relationships
betweenpopulationsandterritoryarechanging,it is helpfulto look at specific
practicesof governanceso as to shed light on these broadershifts. The advent
of organisedcrime (transnationaland otherwise)as an object of governance
oughtto tell us somethingaboutthe generalcharacterof thesetransformations.
This paperexaminedin detail the micro-processesof policing intelligence
systems in orderto show precisely how organised crime was turnedinto an
object of governance in Canadaduringthe course of the 1990s. What was
shown was that, in spite of the capacity of organisedcrime phenomenato
overflow the boundariesof official definition(whereverthosemightbe said to
lie), the mentaliteof policing intelligence tendedto be focussed on elements
thatarenarrowlycircumscribed.Moreover,the evidence to handsuggeststhat
the general public was largely in accordwith the vision of organisedcrime
groupsof the "traditional" or "Mafia"type. It is temptingto tryto disentangle
this isomorphism.But this is a distractionfrom a more importantquestion,
which asks how, specifically, organisedcrime was turnedinto an object of
governance. This feat was accomplished during a period that exhibited a
considerable sense of anxiety and fear, and this was not peculiar to the
Canadianscene. Probablysuchexistentialangsthadmanysources,butit seems
inescapablethatpartof its fundamentpertainedto transformationsassociated
with "globalisation."People worried, during the 1990s that society was
becomingun-governable.Whateverelse, perceptionsof a risingtide of serious
TheGovernance
of OrganisedCrimein Canada511
5. Moreover,in Canadathese sorts of views were amplified,in the work of the investigative
journalist Paul Palango.His book Above the Law (subtitled:The Crooks,the Politicans, the
Mountiesand Rod Stamler- the lattera formerRCMPAssistantCommissionerand a former
head of the Economic Crime Directorate)tracedcases of bid-rigging,fraudand influence
peddlingin high places as well as the marginalisationof effortsto police white collarcrimein
Canada.
The Governanceof OrganisedCrime in Canada 513
References
Anderson,Malcolm
1993 "The United Kingdom and OrganisedCrime" in The European Journal of Crime,
CriminalLaw and CriminalJustice, 1(4): 292-308
Anderson,Malcolm,den Boer,Moncia,Cullen,Peter,Gilmore,William,Raab,Charles,andWalker,
Neil
1995 Policing the EuropeanUnion, Oxford:Clarendon
Beare, Margaret,ed.
2002 TransnationalOrganised Crime,Money Launderingand Corruption:A Critical View
Toronto:TorontoUniversityPress
Beare, Margaret,and Ronderos,J.
2001 "ExploratoryReview of Media Coverageon OrganizedCrimein Canada:1995-2000"
(unpublished document: Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and
Corruption;availableat http://www.yorku.ca/nathanson/publications/mediascan.pdf)
Bigo, Dider
2000 "Liaisonofficers in Europe;new officers in the EuropeanSecurityField,"in Issues in
TransnationalPolicing, James Sheptycki,ed. London:Routledge
Block, Alan
1993 Defendingthe Mountaintop:A CampaignAgainstEnvironmentCrime"in Global Crime
Connections,F. Pearceand M. Woodiwiss, eds. Basingstoke:Macmillan
Box, Steven
1983 Power, Crimeand Mystification,London:Tavistock
Brack, Duncanand Hayman,Gavin
2002 InternationalEnvironmentalCrime:The Nature and Controlof EnvironmentalBlack
Markets,London:The Royal Instituteof InternationalAffairs
Carson.W.G.
1982 The OtherPrice of Britain'sOil, Oxford:MartinRobertson
Chan,Janet,Brereton,D. Legosz, M. and Doran,S.
2001 E-Policing: The Impact of InformationTechnologyon Police Practices, Queensland,
Australia:The CriminalJusticeCommission
Chomsky, Noam
1991 Deterring Democracy,London:Verso
CISC
2000 CriminalIntelligence Service Canada, 1999 Annual Report on Organized Crime in
Canada, Ottawa:CISC, Cat. No. JS61-8/1999
Cohen, Stanley, and Young, Jock
1973 The Manufactureof News; Deviance, Social Problemsand the Mass Media. London:
Constable
Commission on Global Governance
1995 Our Global Neighbourhood.Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress
514 CanadianJournalof Sociology
CriminalAnalysis Branch
2000 Sleipnir: The Long Matrix for Organized Crime: An Analytical Technique for
DeterminingRelativeLevelsof ThreatPosedby OrganizedCrimeGroups,(Unclassified
Version),RCMP,Ottawa:CriminalAnalysisBranch,CriminalIntelligenceDirectorate
Deflem, Mathieu
1997 "Surveillanceand CriminalStatistics:HistoricalFoundationsof Governmentality"in
Studiesin Law,Politics and Society, 17: 149-84
den Boer, Monicaand Doelle, Patrick
2000 ControllingOrganisedCrime:OrganisationalChanges in the Law Enforcementand
ProsecutionServicesof the EUMemberStates,Maastricht:
EuropeanInstituteof Public
Administration
den Boer, Monica
2002 OrganizedCrime:A Catalystin theEuropeanisationof NationalPolice andProsecution
Agencies?. Maastricht:EuropeanInstituteof PublicAdministration
Dintino,J. J. andMartens,F.
1983 Police IntelligenceSystemsin CrimeControl,Springfield,IL.:CharlesC. Thomas
EdwardsAdamand Gill, Peter
2002a TransnationalOrganisedCrime;the Polic, and Politics of the GlobalCrimeProblem,
London:Routledge
2002b "Crimeas Enterprise:The case of 'transnationalorganisedcrime"'in Crime,Lawand
Social Change,37: 203-223
Ericson,RichardV. and Haggerty,Kevin D.
1997 Policing the RiskSociety,Oxford:Clarendon
Ericson,RichardV. and Stehr,Nico
2000 GoverningModernSocieties, Toronto:Universityof TorontoPress
Foucault,Michel
1991 "Governmentality" in G. Burchell,C. Gordon,andP. Miller(eds.) TheFoucaultEffect:
Studiesin Governmentality,London:HarvesterWeatsheaf
Fowles, Jib, ed
1978 TheHandbookof FuturesResearch.Greenwood,Westport,Conn.
Garland,David
1999 "'Governmentality' andtheProblemof Crime"in GovernablePlaces, R.Smandych(ed.)
Aldershot:Ashgate,pp. 15-44
Gill, Peter
2000 RoundingUp the Usual Suspects?:Developmentsin ContemporaryLawEnforcement
Intelligence,Aldershot:Ashgate
Haggerty,Kevin D.
2001 MakingCrimeCount,Toronto:Universityof TorontoPress
Hobbs,Dick
1997 "CriminalCollaboration:Youth Gangs, Subcultures, Professional Criminals and
OrganisedCrime"in TheOxfordHandbookof Criminology,M.Maguire,R. Morganand
R. Reiner(eds.) Oxford:Clarendon
1998 "GoingDownto theGlocal;Thelocalcontextof organisedcrime"TheHowardJournal,
Vol 37, No. 4 pp 407-22
Jessop, Bob
1993 "Towardsa SchumpeterianWelfareState?PreliminaryRemarkson the Post-Fordist
Vol. 40 (Spring)pp. 7-39
PoliticalEconomy,"Studiesin Political Economny,
The Governance of Organised Crime in Canada 515
Journalof HumanJustice
1992 Special Issue on Crimesof the Power/ul, special issue editorsF. Pearceand L. Snider,
Vol. 3 No. 2, Spring 1992
Manning, Peter K.
1992 OrganizationalCommunication,New York:Aldine De Gruyter
1997 Police Work:TheSocial OrganisationofPolicing, ProspectHeights,IL:WavelandPress
Mawby, Rob
1990 ComparativePolicing Issues, London:Unwin Hyman
NathansonCentrefor the Study of OrganizedCrimeand Corruption
2002 NathansonCentreNewsletterNo. 5, Summer2002, Toronto:Osgoode HallLaw School,
York University
Palango,Paul
1994 Above the Law: The Crooks,the Politicians, the Mountiesand Rod Stanler, Toronto:
McClellandand Stewart
Pavarini,Massimo
1994 "Is Criminology Worth Saving?" in D. Nelken (ed.) The Futures of Criminology,
London:Sage
Pearce,Frankand Snider,Laureen
1995 CorporateCrime:ContemporaryDebates, Toronto:Universityof TorontoPress
Pearce, Frankand Tombs, S.
1993 "US Capital versus the Third World: Union Carbideand Bhopal" in Global Crime
Connections,F. Pearceand M. Woodiwiss (eds.) Basingstoke:Macmillan
Pearce,Frank,and Woodiwiss, Michael
1993 Global CrimeConnections,Basingstoke:MacMillan
Porteous,Samuel D.
1998 Organized CrimeImpact Study: Highlights, Ottawa:Public Works and Government
Services Canada
Punch,Maurice
1998 Searching for a Future: Reappraisingthe Functioning of the Police, Dordrecht:The
Dutch Foundationfor Society, Safety and Police
Rawlinson,Paddy
2002 "Capitalists,criminals and oligarchs - Sutherlandand the new 'robberbarons"' in
Crime,Law and Social Change,Vol. 37 pp. 293-307
Reiman,Jeffrey
1995 TheRich Get Richerand the Poor Get Prison, (4thed.) Boston: Allyn and Bacon
Reiner,Robert
2000 The Politics of the Police, Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress
Rider,BarryK., ed.
1997 Corruption:TheEnemyWithin,The Hague:KluwerLaw International
Sheptycki,JamesW. E.
2002 In Search of TransnationalPolicing, Aldershot:Ashgate
2003 "AgainstTransnationalOrganisedCrime"in TransnationalOrganised Crime,Money
Laundering and Corruption:A Critical View, M. Beare (ed.) Toronto: Toronto
UniversityPress
516 CanadianJournalof Sociology
Simon, Jonathan
1997 "GoverningThroughCrime"in The CrimeConundrum.Essays on CriminalJustice.
LawrenceM. Friedmanand GeorgeFisher(eds.) Oxford:WestviewPress
Smandych,Russell
1999 Governable Place: Readings on Governmentalityand Crime Control. Aldershot:
Dartmouth
Snider,Laureen
1993 "ThePoliticsof CorporateCrimeControl"in GlobalCrimeConnections,FrankPearce
and MichaelWoodiwiss(eds.) London:Macmillan
Sutherland,Edwin H.
1983 White-CollarCrime:The UncutVersion,New Haven:Yale UniversityPress
Verbruggen,F.
1995 "EuroCops?Just Say Maybe;EuropeanLessons fromthe 1993 Reshuffleof US Drug
Enforcement"EuropeanJournalof Crime,CriminalLawand CriminalJustice, 3( 2):
150-201
Williams,Phil and Savona,Eresto, eds.
1995 TransnationalOrganizedCrime,Special Issue The UnitedNationsand Transnational
OrganizedCrime, 1(3) London:FrankCass
Williams,Phil
1999 "TransnationalCrimeand Its Control"in The Global Reporton Crimeand Justice,
publishedfor the UnitedNationsOffice for DrugControland CrimePrevention,New
York:OxfordUniversityPress
Woodiwiss,Michael
2001 OrganizedCrimeandAmericanPower:A History,Toronto:Universityof TorontoPress