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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Organized Crime: From the Mob to Transnational Organized Crime, Seventh Edition, 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. A new section has been added on threat assessment in organized crime. Chapters are enhanced by updated photos, tables, charts, and critical thinking exercises that help students apply concepts to actual organized crime cases. Every chapter includes two student-friendly special features: Organized Crime Biography and Organized Crime at the Movies. A glossary gives students a quick reference for looking up important definitions of organized crime-related terms, and a Timeline of Organized Crime in the United States highlights important events in the history of organized crime.

Organized Crime From the obscure origin of the term Mafia to the hit TV series The Sopranos, Lunde, who, according to his bio, has long been interested in the structure and spread of organized crime, surveys a subculture that most law-abiding readers will hope they never directly encounter. In the first section, What Is Organized Crime?, the author gives a succinct overview, then in part two identifies four major areas of criminal activity: Exploiting the Human Condition, Supplying the Illicit, Extortion and Protection and Manipulating Money. The bulk of the book focuses on crime groups by geographic or cultural origin, starting with the Sicilian Mafia and including those that operate in Britain, Russia, Japan, China, the U.S., Mexico and South America. Color and sepia-toned illustrations, ranging from photos of such recent white-collar felons as Nick Leeson and Michael Milken to mug shots of such legendary mobsters as Al Capone and grimly similar pictures of bloody victims of gangland hits, perfectly complement the incisive text. FYI: James Morton (Gangland International) is credited as the associate author.Looking at the characteristics, resources, and strategies of organized crime from around the world and the social, political, and economic context in which they function, Organized Crime provides a fascinating and in-depth account of the criminal underworld and its inhabitants. From Al Capone and Pablo Escobar to the lesser-known Russian, Chinese, and Southeast-Asian crime figures, this is an insider's guide to each organization's origins, codes of conduct, and control of illegal markets-and the law-enforcement agencies and justice systems around the world that try to stop them.