That which we call organized crime, has been around in one form or another, since civilizations were first created; in the sense, that there is almost always going to be some sort of underworld activity going on in a given society, because many a person or organization, has a preference to make their money, or their livelihood, not by doing something constructure, but rather by taking advantage of other people’s proclivities or weaknesses, for the expressed benefit of that organization, that performs such.
America is a nation that leads the world in the amount of prescription drugs so consumed, which thus also lends itself to being a nation with a tendency to desire to ingest illicit drugs of all sorts, in the hopes that by taking these drugs, prescribed or not, that they will thus receive some desirable return from such. Additionally, America is the richest nation in the world, of which, a significant amount of its peoples, have time on their hands to indulge into whatever that is of interest to them. Also, America is a rather large country, with borders that can be readily crossed by land, sea, or by air, and of which, based upon the sheer amount of humans successfully trafficking themselves into this nation, proves then, that crossing the border with illicit drugs, is not going to be all that problematic.
When it comes to organized crime, the main business that organized crime is actually in, is the business of making money. So then, while organized crime, has historically concentrated on prostitution, loan sharking, gambling, bootlegging, and other assorted activities that are seen as being both immoral and illegal, the bottom line is organized crime doesn’t care so much about what the business proposition is, but rather cares more about the best way to improve their gross margins, with the least amount of work and legal concerns to deal with. The thing about drug trafficking, is that business is not only highly lucrative, but also we do find that the actual goods being trafficked are, with the exception of marijuana, compact and very small in structure, which thus lends itself to far more ease and flexibility in trafficking those drugs from one destination to another.
So too, when it comes to illicit drugs, that business is going to be desirable, because the “high” off of illicit drugs, only lasts a fairly brief transitory period of time – signifying that the person that so buys today, is going to be very susceptible to buying tomorrow, or if not right then and there, then next weekend, when they go out and party again. Additionally, the overall price of illicit drugs per the dosage so consumed, is typically very reasonable, which is good for not only repeat business, but also good for the solicitation of customers in the first place.
All of this clearly indicates that drug trafficking is the place to be for organized crime, because there is not only a very willing consumer base that wants such, but also of high importance, the profitability of the drug trafficking is excellent, which thus makes it easy to utilize that money so being made, to pay off, as necessary, those that need to be paid off, so that this relentless cycle can continue, unabated; of which, the only people typically being caught for drug trafficking are “nobodies” without connections, while the real money is being made hand over fist, by organized crime.