GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   organized crime n. Groups of persons organized for illegal purposes, such as bootlegging, conducting illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, etc.; -- a general term encompassing most forms of criminal groups, but especially those that are consolidated into “families” more or less recognizing each other's different regions of operation; sometimes considered synonymous with the mafia or the syndicate.
   
   [PJC]
   
   
         
       

2.       
   Syndicate (?), n. [Cf. F. syndicat, LL. syndicatus.]
   1. The office or jurisdiction of a syndic; a council, or body of syndics.  Bp. Burnet.
   
   [1913 Webster]
   
   
   2. An association of persons officially authorized to undertake some duty or to negotiate some business; also, an association of persons who combine to carry out, on their own account, a financial or industrial project; as, “a syndicate of bankers formed to take up and dispose of an entire issue of government bonds”.
   
   [1913 Webster]
   
   
   3. A more or less organized association of criminals controlling some aspects of criminal activity, in a specific area or country-wide; -- used loosely as a synonym for organized crime or the mafia.
   
   [PJC]
   
   
   4. (Journalism) a commercial organization that purchases various journalistic items, such as articles, columns, or comic strips, from their individual creators, and resells them to newspapers or other periodicals for simultaneous publication over a wide area.
   
   [PJC]