Organized crime overview and analysis

Criminal Justice

Organized Crime

The capability to be ingenious at information collecting and compilation is the key ingredient in the success of policing and criminal investigations. When police are missing witnesses, particularly eyewitnesses, dealing with sophisticated criminals, or not getting a lot out of the crime scene evidence, they often use tried and true methods of law enforcement that include informants and surveillance. The use of informants is the more legally accommodating, yet ethically revolting action; and the utilization of surveillance is the more lawfully regulated, yet ethically sound action. This is true for the reason that informants are frequently used in the loose, early stages of an investigation in order to expand leads, and the action of managing informants almost always compromises the honesty of law enforcement. Surveillance, conversely, is a deep-rooted technique concerning performance and gadgets, and is normally utilized to seal the destiny of a person that has already given the police enough facts to find probable cause (Informants, Surveillance, and Undercover Operations, 2010).

An example of a case that utilizes these practices is that of United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee v. Jesus Zambrana, Sr., Charles Cole and Jay Zambrana, 841 F.2d 1320 (1988). The defendants in this case were three of thirty two codefendants indicted on a variety of drug charges, including charges of possession of cocaine with intention to distribute, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and using a telephone in furtherance of a conspiracy. Each person was tried individually and convicted. Each of the three defendants in this case appealed his conviction on comparable, although not matching, grounds. The convictions were upheld by the appellate court.

The thirty-two indictments that were handed down against the members of this conspiracy were the outcome of months of investigation by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency. The DEA synchronized their investigation with many local law enforcement agencies. Ultimately, the investigation centered on the defendant Jesus Zambrana's family and his associates. Because the conspirators were mostly family members, undercover agents did not try to infiltrate the group. As an alternative, on the foundation of information obtained from confidential informants, the government petitioned the district court to give permission for the placement of an electronic surveillance wire tap on Jesus Zambrana's private telephone. Information obtained over this wire tap led law enforcement officers to think that Ernest Lonzo and another unidentified person were carrying narcotics from Miami, Florida, to Jesus Zambrana's house in Gary, Indiana.

On the foundation of this wire tap information, DEA agents, with the help of police officers from Lake County, Indiana, and East Chicago, Indiana, began the surveillance of Interstate Highway I-65 in the area of Crown Point, Indian. Prior to starting the surveillance, a DEA agent met with Lake County, Indiana, police officers and gave them a list of five people suspected as being involved in the carrying of narcotics between Florida and Indiana, as well as a list of four vehicles thought to be utilized by these suspects.