The Organized Crime Control Bureau (OCCB) was one of the ten bureaus that formed the New York Police Department. The Bureau was charged with the investigation and prevention of

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

within

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The OCCB was disbanded in March 2016 with all investigative entities moved to the Chief of Detectives' office. The reason for this was the NYPD launching a major reshuffle of its investigative forces, consolidating several of them in an effort to tackle the city's biggest crime problem — violence by gangs and youth crews. The Organized Crime Control Bureau was headed by Bureau Chief Thomas P. Purtell when it was disbanded.

History

Formed after the

Knapp Commission The Commission to Investigate Alleged Police Corruption (known informally as the Knapp Commission, after its chairman Whitman Knapp) was a five-member panel initially formed in April 1970 by Mayor John V. Lindsay to investigate corruption withi ...

investigations into police corruption, all investigations within the bureau were conducted by specially structured teams, in an effort to reduce the chance of corruption. Following the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks (also referred to as 26/11, pronounced "twenty six eleven") were a series of Terrorism, terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist terrorist organisation from P ...

, officers from the OCCB were trained in the use of

Ruger Mini-14 The Mini-14 is a lightweight semi-automatic rifle manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Co. Introduced in 1973, it is based on the M14 rifle and is essentially a scaled-down version chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO. It is made in a number of variants, inc ...

s to provide support to the

Emergency Service Unit In American law enforcement (municipal, county, or state), the Emergency Service Unit, or ESU, is a multi-faceted element within a law enforcement agency’s Special Operations Command. Structure The NYPD is credited with establishing the conce ...

forming the Critical Incident Response Capacity (CIRC) in case of a similar situation arising in New York City.

Organization

* Narcotics Division ** Narcotics Boroughs Manhattan North and Manhattan South ** Narcotics Boroughs Brooklyn North and Brooklyn South ** Narcotics Borough Bronx ** Narcotics Borough Queens ** Narcotics Borough Staten Island * Vice Enforcement Division (Merged with Narcotics Division in 2011) * Auto Crime Division * Gang Division ** Manhattan Gang Squad ** Brooklyn North and Brooklyn South Gang Squads ** Bronx Gang Squad ** Queens Gang Squad ** Staten Island Gang Squad * Firearms Suppression Division * Investigative Support Division * Organized Crime Investigation Division * Field Control Division (Internal Affairs)

Overview

The Organized Crime Control Bureau had numerous units and sub-units that investigated matters such as organized auto larceny rings, unlawful firearms, and prostitution. It was involved in using the

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was en ...

(RICO) to search for and destroy organized criminal activities and to seize property and vehicles. The OCCB used undercover police officers to infiltrate various criminal organizations and had been effective against the

Italian Mafia Organized crime in Italy and its criminal organizations have been prevalent in Italy, especially Southern Italy, for centuries and have affected the social and economic life of many Italian regions since at least the 19th century. There are six ...

, "

the Westies The Westies were a New York City-based Irish American organized crime gang, responsible for racketeering, drug trafficking, and contract killing. They were partnered with the Italian-American Mafia and operated out of the Hell's Kitchen nei ...

" of the

Irish Mob The Irish Mob (also known as the Irish mafia or Irish organized crime) is a collective of organized crime syndicates composed of ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia, and have been in ...

, Chinese Triads, and Russian Bratvas organized criminal elements. The OCCB's Joint Organized Crime Task Force worked in cooperation with the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

's New York Field Division (the largest FBI office in the US).

References

{{New York City Police Department 1971 establishments in New York City 2016 disestablishments in New York (state) Organizad Crime Control Bureau Organized crime in New York City

History

Organization

Overview

See also

References