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.

Organized Crime in Our Times provides readers with a clear 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 book offers a comprehensive survey, including an extensive history of the Mafia in the United States; a legal analysis of the offenses that underlie organized crimes; specific attention to modern manifestations of organized crime activity, such as human smuggling, Internet crimes, and other transnational criminal operations; and the application of ethics to the study of organized crime.

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.

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

Organized crime is spreading like a global virus as mobs take advantage of open borders to establish local franchises at will. This book argues that mafiosi often find themselves abroad against their will, rather than through a strategic plan to colonizethe territories.

Why do Americans alternately celebrate and condemn gangsters, outlaws and corrupt politicians? Why do they immortalize Al Capone while forgetting his more successful contemporaries George Remus or Roy Olmstead? Why are some public figures repudiated for their connections to the mob while others gain celebrity status? Drawing on historical accounts, the author analyzes the public's understanding of organized crime and questions some of our most deeply held assumptions about crime and its role in society.

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.

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.

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.

A compelling introduction to the global impact of organized crime Famous for being ruthless, cruel, and cool, the Mafia has always captured the darker side of the imagination. Here, James Finckenauer debunks the myths surrounding the Mafia to reveal the harsh realities of global organized crime from Japan to Russia to Colombia. Despite popular appeal, these incredibly complex organizations destabilize society on a global scale, perpetuating untold economic, physical, psychological, and societal damage. "Mafia and Organized Crime: A Beginner's Guide" provides vital insight into the real stories behind the world's richest and most successful criminals.