Sir

Pertinent historical question: What was formed first and what set up the model for other: government or organised crime?

It is evident that crime and organised crime existed long before the formation of the first government. Governments implemented laws because of the criminal activities that were visible in their society; in relation to that, we can say that crime is older than the first law and government. If three of more individuals organise themselves to commit a crime, that crime is characterised as organised crime.
Did governments learn from organised crime or did organised crime learn from governments? They learnt from each other, those who established governments applied some of the main principles of criminal organisations’ structure for the greater cause. In fact, many laws and government bodies were made because of criminal activities. Criminal organisations followed the evolution of governments and learnt to be more effective in criminal activities.

Throughout history, crime walked alongside governments, it was present in every known society, including dynasties, imperialism, colonialism, monarchism, communism, socialism, and modern democracy. In the contemporary world, criminal organisations are still successful in their business. Some governments, on the other hand, cannot be distinguished from organised crime because of their inherent corruption and lawlessness in their activities.

Today, many world governments, the United Nations and various law enforcement agencies are fighting criminal organisations and corruption, but as long as we have politicians and government officials behaving like criminals and taking bribes, criminal organisations will continue to grow.

Ivan Simic
Belgrade, Serbia