The colorful characters of the Cosa Nostra, the ruthlessness of the Russian Mafia, and the drive by shootings of the LA street gangs have all hit the headlines in recent times, catching the public eye with lifestyles that appear at once exciting and menacing. Gangland investigates the world's most notorious gangs, and shines a light into the murky underworld that they inhabit, to give an unflinching insight into organized crime and its perpetrators. For anyone who has ever wanted to know what gangs are all about, Gangland is a must.

New Zealand's underworld of organised crime and deadly gangs 'The best true-crime book of the year by a long stretch.' - Steve Braunias, Newsroom 'A series of rip-snorting yarns about gangs, drugs, fancy cars, wads of cash, violence, and guns - Aotearoa New Zealand style.' - Simon Bridges New Zealand is now one of the most lucrative illicit drug markets in the world. Organised crime is about making money. It's a business. But over the past 20 years, the dealers have graduated from motorcycle gangs to Asian crime syndicates and now the most dangerous drug lords in the world - the Mexican cartels. In Gangland, award-winning investigative reporter Jared Savage shines a light into New Zealand's rising underworld of organised crime and violent gangs. The brutal execution of a husband-and-wife; the undercover cop who infiltrated a casino VIP lounge; the midnight fishing trip which led to the country's biggest cocaine bust; the gangster who shot his best friend in a motorcycle shop: these stories go behind the headlines and open the door to an invisible world - a world where millions of dollars are made, life is cheap, and allegiances change like the flick of a switch.

Beginning with the changing definition of organised crime, this history traces the complex links, trading and even homage which extends between the criminals of one country and another. Morton also looks at local gangs and their international links.

While many lawyers are honest, for Gangland figures, the best lawyer is often corrupt – a ‘shyster’ – who will act as a go between with the police, provide false alibis, bribe and intimidate witnesses, jurors and judges and occasionally organise robberies and burglaries. Sometimes these lawyers even kill or may be killed themselves. Gangland: The Lawyers brings us such lawyers as Frank Ragan, who acted for three mob leaders, and James Sawyer, the barrister and forger involved in the first Great train Robbery. From the amazing story of Gambino crime boss John Gotti (the ‘Teflon Don’) and his attorney Bruce Cutler, to the American judge Joseph Peel, who had his co-judge killed, James Morton presents a worldwide history of these shady individuals and their seedy but compelling stories.

Gangland figures cannot function without their lawyers - their mouthpieces - who speak for them in court, obtain bail, throw doubt on the evidence and, if all that fails, try to obtain a reduced sentence. However, in the underworld, this is only half the job. Although many lawyers are honest, possibly the preferred type of lawyer for Gangland figures is dishonest - a shyster - who will act as a go-between with the police, provide false alibis, bribe and intimidate witnesses, jurors and judges and, from time to time, finance and set up robberies and burglaries. Occasionally these lawyers will kill on their own or their client's behalf, or may be killed themselves.

Gangland Australia details the exploits of an unforgettable cast of villains, crooks and mobsters who have made up the criminal and gangland scene in Australia for over two centuries. In this fully updated and bestselling book, Britain's top true crime author James Morton and barrister and legal broadcaster Susanna Lobez track the rise and fall of Australia's talented contract killers, brothel keepers, club owners, robbers, bikers, standover men, conmen and drug dealers, and also examine the role of police, politicians and lawyers who have helped and hindered the growth of criminal empires. Vivid and explosive, Gangland Australia is compulsive reading.

This book uses detailed case studies as a way of exemplifying and exploring more general questions of socio-cultural responses to murder and their explanation, and also incorporates a valuable historical perspective to this issue. It is a seeks accessible account of the subject for people coming to it for the first time.