Government is the governing authority of a political unit, the ruling power in a political society, and the apparatus through which a governing body functions and exercises authority.

Government have the authority to make laws, to arbitrate disputes, to issue
administrative decisions, with a monopoly in authorizing force. A State,
depending on the size can have local, regional and national government. There
are many types of governments, such as: Monarchy, Despotism, Dictatorship,
Oligarchy, Plutocracy, Democracy, Theocracy, and Anarchy. 

A Government depending on the type can by headed by politicians, monarchs, dictators, group of people (families), wealthy class, and religious elite. History does not have the exact date of the formation of the first government, though, it
holds some records of formation of the very first governments 3000 years ago.

Organized crime or criminal organizations are groups run by controversial individuals for the purpose of generating financial profits and social power (influence). Organized crime, however defined, is characterized by a few basic qualities including durability over time, diversified interests, hierarchical structure, capital accumulation, reinvestment, access to political protection and the use of violence to protect its interests. The best known criminal organizations are: Cosa Nostra,
commonly known as Mafia, the Russian Mafia, the Japanese Yakuza, the Chinese
Triads, the Colombian and the Mexican drug cartel, the Chechen Mafia, and
young Mara Salvatrucha,* *among others. History has it, that the first sign
of organized crime was seen 3000 years ago.

It is important to make a distinction between organized crime (criminal
organizations) and terrorist organizations, military organizations,
political and paramilitary organizations, such as: Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, IRA,
Irgun, among others. In relation, we should not forget the Nuremberg Trials
in Germany, famous for the prosecution of the leadership of Nazi Germany. The best
known was the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the
InternationalMilitary Tribunal (
IMT) in 1945. On this trial followed were indicted as criminal
organizations:

The Nationalsozialismus Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDP),* *the Nazi party
- National Socialist German Workers Party.

The Schutzstaffel (SS), Protective Squadron – military organization.

The Sicherheitsdienst (SD), Security Service – intelligence service of
SS and NSDP.

The Gestapo, secret state police.

The Sturmabteilung (SA), Storm Division – paramilitary organization.

The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), Supreme Command of the Armed
Forces.

This concept of criminal organizations was, and still continues to be
controversial, and it was not used in International Human Rights Law since
then.

Throughout history, there has been constant struggle, but also connection
between governments and organized crime. In addition, many world famous
political and military leaders have been accused of running their countries
like criminal organizations, for instance: Joseph Stalin,* *Adolf Hitler, Mao
Zedong, Nicolae Ceausescu, Idi Amin Dada, Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno,
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, among others. Top government
politicians are believed to grow enormous wealth by running a kleptrocracy, a
government that extends the personal wealth and political power of
government officials and the ruling class at the expense of the population.

Few years ago an unofficial list has been released of those believed to be the most self-enriching political leaders, top of which are: Suharto (former President of Indonesia, $15-$35 billion USD), Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos (former President of the Philippines, $5-$10 billion USD), Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga (former President of Zaire, $5 billion USD), among many others.

What make governments and organized crime to be so connected?

Governments have Head of States, leaders, military, laws, taxes, customs,
punishments; governments control States and go into wars, among others. On
the other side, criminal organizations (organized crime) has bosses, dons,
families, soldiers, gangs, codes and outs, a protection racket and
extortion, punishments. They also control territories and small cities, and
also go into wars with other criminal organizations, and governments,
among others.

Looking at these examples we can see that there are many similarities in the
structure of government and organized crime. Many governments have been
involved in criminal activities trough politicians, such as: weapons sales,
narcotics, international loans, confiscation of private property, and
corruption. A socio-political phenomenon called "political corruption" is
visible in all forms of governments, and includes extortion, nepotism,
bribery, cronyism, patronage, graft and embezzlement. Global corruption is
estimated at one trillion US Dollars, which is equal to what organized crime
makes per year around the world.

According to history, ancient civilizations like Summer, Indus Valley
Civilization, Babylon, Maya Civilization, Yellow River, Ancient Egypt,
Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome had governments, military, laws, and
crimes. The Summer Civilization had the first ever written code of law written by the ruler Urukagina, who was best known for his reforms to combat corruption. Later King Ur-Nammu wrote "the Code of Ur-Nammu", which is oldest surviving code of law in the world. His code of law is considered remarkably advanced, and the capital crimes of murder, robbery, adultery and rape were punished with death.

Many people, mostly historians believe that organized crime emerged from
piracy and banditry in the 17th century, or from some famous warriors and
conquers earlier. However, if we look at this ancient laws, we can see that
organized crime and crime generally existed long before piracy and banditry.
Even Julius Cesar was kidnapped and held prisoner in 75BC by
Cilician pirates, and was later released after ransom was paid.
Afterwards, Cesar raised fleet and captured the pirates, who were later
imprisoned and later crucified.

A pertinent historical question. So, what was formed first and what did set
up the model for other; a government or organized crime?

It is evident that crime and organized 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
tree of more individuals organize themselves to commit a crime, that crime
is characterized as organized crime.

It was very hard, for example, in 24 century BC to distinguish
between what was right and what was wrong, however, people held something
deep inside of themselves for centuries of human evolution, and that is the
sense for righteousness on which civilizations were able to build their
respective societies.

Did governments learned from organized crime or did organized crime learned
from governments?

They learned from each other, governments applied some of the
main principles of criminal organizations structure for the greater cause.
In fact, many laws and government were made because of criminal
activities. Criminal organizations followed the evolution of governments and
learned to be more effective in criminal activities.

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

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


Ivan Simic lives in Belgrade, Serbia. Address: Paloticeva 12, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia, Tel: +381 63  7508500.                                                            

                                                                                                                                 Ivan