Organized crime has been present throughout history and has changed its definition several times. A definition, similar to that used by many scholars, is that of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) glossary which "defines organized crime as any group with some sort of formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities . Such groups maintain their position through the use of actual or threatened violence, bribery of public officials, bribery or extortion and generally have a significant impact on people in their places, regions or the country as a whole.” This very broad topic encompasses everything from drug trafficking to most cybercrimes. Furthermore, organized crime is not limited geographically. Traditionally when we talk about organized crime we think of the mafia or local gangs, but nowadays organized crime can also mean transnational crime (Albanese 3). Albanese defines transnational crime as a “violation of the law that involved more than one country in its planning, execution or impact (3)”. A recurring term in research is globalization. These broad definitions create many topics to examine. Examining organized crime is especially important today, because it has changed as much as technology over the past two decades. Organized crime has become such a problem that in 2012 the Congressional Research Service created a report for congress titled Organized Crime: An Evolving Challenge for US Law Enforcement. This paper will review current literature on organized crime, transnational organized crime, as well as law enforcement issues arising from the globalization of crime. Specifically organized criminal groups that participate in international law tr...... of paper ...... ied are needed. They hypothesize that there is no way to “escape international crime, because transnational organized criminal groups operate across borders and seas” (94). To test this hypothesis they create a qualitative case study of journal articles, Internet sources, and comments from political actors. They use an exploratory research approach in order to “seek an explanation of the causes and methods of inhibiting such crime” (97). They also focus their research on the similarities of these organizations, the problems they create for states, and the tactics that may be able to successfully deal with transnational criminal organizations. Ruetschlin and Bangura managed to derive some societal benefits from transnational organized crime. However, these benefits are still significantly outweighed by the disadvantages of transnational crime.