Provides readers with an understanding of organized crime, including its definition and causes, how it is categorized under the law, models to explain its persistence, and the criminal justice response to organized crime, including investigation, prosecution, defense, and sentencing.

Provides readers with an understanding of organized crime, including its definition and causes, how it is categorized under the law, models to explain its persistence, and the criminal justice response to organized crime, including investigation, prosecution, defense, and sentencing.

This is designed to be an introductory text serving several purposes in the field of criminal justice. First, it gives the reader an understanding of the concept of organized crime-what it is and what it is not-and the necessary historical foundation for understanding the evolution, development, and current status of organized crime. Most important, the book is designed to dispel the myth that organized crime is composed exclusively of Italian American criminal groups. Another important component of the book is that drug trafficking plays an important role in the continuing proliferation of organized crime groups. The existence of the illegal drug trade says much about both the groups that traffic in illicit drugs and the members of society who use these drugs, consequently lending support to organized criminals. Finally, terrorism has dominated public policy since September 11, 2001. With increasing global awareness of terrorist organizations and those who belong to them, traditional models of terrorism have been challenged because the structure, financing, and recruiting mechanisms of such organizations are becoming more and more like their criminal counterparts in conventional organized crime. Logically organized and highly readable, the text promotes learning with extensive pedagogical features, from critical thinking projects to suggested readings.

Historisch overzicht van de samenhang en wederzijdse beïnvloeding van de georganiseerde misdaad en de politiek in de Verenigde Staten.

Today, mafias operate across the globe, with hundreds of thousands of members and billions of dollars in revenue. From Hong Kong to New York, these vast organizations spread their tentacles into politics, finance and everyday life. Criminologist Federico Varese draws on a lifetime's research to give us access to some of the world's most secretive societies. Mixing reportage with case studies and historical insights, this is the story of mafia as it really is: filled with boredom and drama, death and disaster, ambition and betrayal.

This book is a comparative study of organized crime groups from five different parts of the world: Europe; North America; Central America/South America/Caribbean basin; Africa; and Asia/Western Pacific. Each part contains two case studies and a shorter essay, a vignette. From Europe the case studies focus on the Italian mafias and the Russian mafia; the vignette, on the Albanian mafia. From North America the case studies highlight the US Mafia and the Mexican drug cartels; the vignette, organized crime in Canada. From Central America/South America/Caribbean basin the case studies concentrate on the Colombian drug cartels and gangs of the Caribbean; the vignette, on organized crime in Cuba. From Africa the case studies examine resource wars and Somali piracy; the vignette, relations among international drugs trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism in North and West Africa. And from Asia/Western Pacific the case studies spotlight the Chinese Triads and Japanese Yakuza; the vignette, relations among international drugs trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism in Afghanistan. Written in non-specialist language, An Economic History of Organized Crime provides an original overview of a crucial problem of our times: the growing scourge of global organized crime. This book can be read with profit by the general public, but it also has value for academic specialists and professionals in law enforcement.

Ever dynamic, organized crime continues to change. For example, efforts to combat one aspect of the phenomenon, the American Mafia, have reached high levels of prosecutorial success -- resulting in a decline in the organization's relative importance. Meanwhile, criminal organizations operating on a global scale have become more sophisticated and more threatening, and additional crime groups have been added to the pantheon we refer to as organized crime. Reflecting changes that have occurred in recent years, this eleventh edition updates information and analyses of organized crime, including how criminal groups around the world are organized; the widening of their business activities; and the statutes, agencies, and techniques used to combat them. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.