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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Crime & criminology > Organized crime > General
Representing over four decades of work, this monograph by historian Mark H. Haller includes his work on organized crime in Chicago, particularly the origins of John Landesco's now classic work titled Organized Crime in Chicago (1929), written for the Illinois Crime Survey. Essays on organized crime in both Philadelphia and Chicago, as well as vignettes on Al "Scarface" Capone, Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, and Max "Boo Boo" Hoff, provide readers with a lively selection of Haller's commentary. Finally, this book incorporates Haller's critique of the Mafia model of organized crime and his elaboration of the illegal enterprise model of gangsters and their role in the American subeconomy, including the historical importance of prohibition and 19th century gambling syndicates in urban America.
Whilst corruption and organized crime have been widely researched, they have not yet been specifically linked to sport. Corruption, Mafia Power and Italian Soccer offers an original insight into this new research area. Adopting a psycho-social approach based mainly on Pierre Bourdieu's praxeology, the book demonstrates that corruption and the mafia presence in Italian soccer reflect the Italian socio-political and economic system itself. Supported by interviews with security agency officials, anticorruption organisations and antimafia organisations, and analysing empirical data obtained from a case study of 'Operation Dirty Soccer', this important study explains why mafia groups are involved in soccer, what the links are to political corruption and what might be done to control the problem. It also examines the mechanisms that make it possible for mafia groups and affiliates to enter the football industry and discusses how mafia groups exploit and corrupt Italian football. This is important reading for undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers and academics working in the areas of sociology, criminology, policing, anthropology, the sociology of sport, sport deviance, sport management and organised crime. It is also a valuable resource for practitioners in the football industry.
At a time when Latin America is experiencing societal unrest from human rights violations, corruption and weak institutions Government and Governance of Security offers an insightful understanding for the modern steering of crime policies. Using Chile as a case study, the book delivers an untold account of the trade-offs between political, judicial and policing institutions put in practice to confront organised crime since the country's redemocratisation. In an effort to encompass the academic fields of political science, public policy and criminology, Carlos Solar challenges the current orthodoxies for understanding security and the promotion of the rule of law in developing states. His research aptly illuminates the practicalities of present-day governance and investigates how networks of institutions are formed and sustained across time and, subsequently, how these actors deal with issues of policy consensus and cooperation. To unveil the uniqueness of this on-the-ground action, the analysis is based on an extensive revision of public documents, legislation, media accounts and interviews conducted by the author with the key policy makers and officials dealing with crimes including drug-trafficking, money laundering and human smuggling. Government and Governance of Security will be of interest to scholars of Latin American studies, security and governance and development.
Grounded in nine years of ethnographic research on the al Muhajiroun/Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah movement (ALM/ASWJ), Douglas Weeks mixes ethnography and traditional research methods to tell the complete story of al Muhajiroun. Beginning with three core events that became a primer for radical Islamic political thought in the UK, Al Muhajiroun, A Case Study in Islamic Activism traces the development of the movement form its incipient beginnings to its current status. Based on his extensive interaction with the group and its leaders, Weeks contextualizes the history, beliefs, methods, and differences between ALM/ASWJ, al Qaeda, and the Islamic State so that the group and the threat it poses is comprehensively understood.
In China, the central government has the political will to control organized crime, which is seen as a national security threat. The crux of the problem is how to control local governments that have demonstrated lax enforcement without sufficient regulation from the provincial governments. The development of prostitution, underground gambling and narcotics production has become so serious that the central government has to rely on anti-crime campaigns to combat these "three evils". This book explores the specific role of government institutions and agencies, notably the police, in controlling organised and cross-border crime in Greater China. Drawing heavily on original empirical data, it compares the both the states of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan, as well as city-states Hong Kong and Macao. This region has become increasingly economically integrated, and human interactions have been enhanced through improved trade relations, tourism, and increased individual freedom. The book argues that the regime capacity of crime control across Greater China has been expanded through regional and international police cooperation as well as anti-crime campaigns. It suggests that a strong central state in China is necessary to rein in the local states and to prevent the risk of deteriorating into a political-criminal nexus. Focusing on regime capacity in crime control, regime autonomy from crime groups, and regime legitimacy in the fight against organized crime, this thought-provoking book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Chinese politics and criminology more broadly.
This book offers a unique insight into the moral politics behind the making of human trafficking policy in Australia and the United States of America. As governments around the world rush to meet their international obligations to combat human trafficking, a heated debate has emerged over the rights, wrongs, and harms of prostitution, and its relationship to sex trafficking. The Politics of Sex Trafficking identifies and challenges intrinsic notions of moral harm that have pervaded trafficking discourse and resulted in a distinctly anti-prostitution agenda in trafficking policy in recent decades. Including rare interviews with key political actors, this book charts the competing perspectives of feminist, faith-based, and sex-worker activists, and their efforts to influence policy-makers. This critical account of the creation of anti-trafficking policy challenges the sex trafficking narrative dominant in US Congressional and Australian Parliamentary hearings, and demonstrates the power of a moral politics in shaping policy.This book will appeal to academics across the fields of criminology, criminal justice, law, human rights and gender studies, as well as policy-makers.
In recent years, in the context of the War on Terror and globalization, there has been an increased interest in terrorism and organized crime in academia, yet historical research into such phenomena is relatively scarce. This book resets the balance and emphasizes the importance of historical research to understanding terrorism and organized crime. This book explores historical accounts of organized crime and terrorism, drawing on research from around the world in such areas as the USA, UK, Ireland, France, Colombia, Somalia, Burma, Turkey and Trinidad and Tobago. Combining key case studies with fresh conceptualizations of organized crime and terrorism, this book reinvigorates scholarship by comparing and contrasting different historical accounts and considering their overlaps. Critical 'lessons learned' are drawn out from each chapter, providing valuable insights for current policy, practice and scholarship. This book is an indispensable guide for understanding the wider history of terrorism and organized crime. It maps key historical changes and trends in this area and underlines the vital importance of history in understanding critical contemporary issues. Taking an interdisciplinary approach and written by leading criminologists, historians and political scientists, this book will be of particular interest to students of terrorism/counter-terrorism, organized crime, drug policy, criminology, security studies, politics, international relations, sociology and history.
In the post-Cold War period new security threats have arisen in Western Europe. Among these, organized crime and illegal immigration are acknowledged to represent significant security challenges. The EU and Internal Security analyzes the nature of these challenges and investigates how the EU has been evolving to counter them. Written by experts in the fields of political science and law, this book addresses a hitherto neglected area of study.
Foreword from Professor Emeritus Robert Reiner, London School of Economics, UK.This book provides a critical examination of intelligence-led policing strategies, including an investigation of innovative strategies such as Problem Oriented Policing (POP), problem-solving, and community policing, and in-depth analyses of the Kent Policing Model, which became the template for ILP models across the world, and the UK's National Intelligence Model (NIM). Intelligence-led policing (ILP) approaches have proved particularly attractive to senior police officers and policymakers because they promise to deliver more efficient and effective solutions to the problems of crime than traditional policing practices. However, this book shows that these approaches have delivered far less than their supporters would have us to believe. In part, this has been because of what James terms as 'police orthodoxy'. However, this cannot wholly explain the relative failure of ILP in Britain and elsewhere in the developed world. Drawing on a range of material including extensive interviews with key NIM figures including ACPO members, senior police managers, intelligence workers, police detectives and staff, James questions to what extent British policing can truly be said to be intelligence-led, and whether there is a popular mandate for an alternative to traditional Peelian practice, where police aim simply to deliver intelligent rather than intelligence-led policing. The book provides important insights into the debate on intelligence-led policing and the mechanics and politics of policy development. As such it will be of great value within the policing sphere and more broadly for public policy studies.
This book explores the contours of women's involvement in the Irish Republican Army, political protest and the prison experience in Northern Ireland. Through the voices of female and male combatants, it demonstrates that women remained marginal in the examination of imprisonment during the Conflict and in the negotiated peace process. However, the book shows that women performed a number of roles in war and peace that placed constructions of femininity in dissent. Azrini Wahidin argues that the role of the female combatant is not given but ambiguous. She indicates that a tension exists between different conceptualisations of societal security, where female combatants both fought against societal insecurity posed by the state and contributed to internal societal dissonance within their ethno-national groups. This book tackles the lacunae that has created a disturbing silence and an absence of a comprehensive understanding of women combatants, which includes knowledge of their motivations, roles and experiences. It will be of particular interest to scholars of criminology, politics and peace studies.
The Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime represents a major step forward in the internationally co-operative fight against transnational organized crime. This book offers a comprehensive, article by article legal commentary on the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its two Protocols on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants. The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly in 2001, and came into force in 2003 with over 75 State Parties. The Convention defines offences, and lays down rules as to the co-operation of State Parties in various procedures aimed at preventing and detecting those offences, such as mutual legal assistance, extradition, law-enforcement cooperation, technical assistance and training, and the seizure of assets obtained by their commission. This commentary analyses the nature of transnational organized crime, in particular the aspects which the Convention articles address, and examines how it has been implemented since it came into force.
This title was first published in 2003. The "Red Mafia" in Russia have become the subject of increasing international interest and considerable misinterpretation. After well-received editions in Russian, French and Italian, Anton Oleinik's study of Russian prisons, in which he explores the social roots of organized crime in post-Soviet societies, is now published in English. This English edition includes a postscript on the Moscow terrorist crisis of 2002. Oleinik's analysis reveals prison society as a mirror of broader Russian society - characterized by the absence of the state as an organizer of social practices. He builds on this to make a central distinction between two types of societies - the modern "large" society and the "small" society, like Russia, that has only been partially modernized, and in which the world of everyday life, experiences and relationships remains entirely separated from the official aims of modernization and efficiency. Oleinik is interested in the void between these two separate worlds, a void he sees being filled in Russia by the Mafia.
Examining the widespread phenomenon of human trafficking in Vietnam during the period of French colonial rule, this book focuses on the practice of kidnapping or stealing Vietnamese women and children for sale in Chinese markets from the 1870s through to the 1940s. The book brings to light the fact that human trafficking between Vietnam and China existed prior to more contemporary instances of this trade. It provides information as to the perpetrators, the nature, and the scope of this illicit commerce and its impact on the lives of its victims, who were mainly domestic servants, concubines or prostitutes. The book also examines the ways in which French colonial actors (missionaries, administrators, military officers, adventurers and observers, and consuls) reported, described, and reacted to it, and goes on to analyse the impact of human trafficking on the concept of French 'prestige' and on the French colonial project in Vietnam. Human trafficking in colonial Vietnam illustrates the tensions and the conflicts not only between the French and the Vietnamese, but also between the Vietnamese and the Chinese, as well as between the colons and the French colonial administration, and between the colonial and metropolitan governments. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of Southeast Asian History, Colonial History and Criminology.
In this book the author examines the illegal wildlife trade from multiple perspectives: the historical context, the impact on the environment, the scope of the problem internationally, the sociocultural demand for illegal products, the legal efforts to combat it, and several case studies from inside the trade. The illegal wildlife trade has become a global criminal enterprise, following in the footsteps of drugs and weapons. Beyond the environmental impact, financial profits from the illegal wildlife trade often fund organized crime groups and violent gangs that threaten public safety and security in myriad ways. This innovative volume covers several key questions surrounding the wildlife trade: why is there a demand for illegal wildlife products, which actors are involved in the trade, how is the business organized, and what are the harmful consequences. The author performed ethnographic fieldwork in three key markets: Russia, Morocco, and China, and has constructed a detailed picture of how the wildlife trade operates in these areas. Conversations with informants directly involved in the illegal business ensure unique insights into this lively black market. In the course of his journey the author follows the route of the illegal wildlife trade from poor poaching areas to rich business districts where corrupt officials, legally registered companies, wildlife farms and sophisticated criminal organizations all have a share. A fascinating look inside the world of poachers, smugglers and traders.
The second volume of Sex Trafficking: International context and response Human trafficking and modern slavery have captured the imagination and attention of the international community. This book builds on the authors' first volume, Sex Trafficking: International context and response. Much has changed since the first volume was published, not least the shift away from sex trafficking to modern slavery as the dominant focus in policy and advocacy. Yet, as the authors argue, little has changed with regards to how nations respond. This volume re-examines the international counter-trafficking scholarship and policy response, to offer an analysis based on original and new data. This book lays the ground for specific forms of research and inquiry that are necessary to better understand and respond to the range of exploitative practices and conditions that give rise to human trafficking. This book offers a detailed analysis of the dominant response to human trafficking, which is framed by the criminal justice process. Examining the identification of victims, the investigation of cases, victim support, prosecutorial decisions and repatriation practices, the authors draw upon original research from Australia, Serbia and Thailand: three diverse nations that, like nations across the globe, have invested heavily in criminalisation as the dominant response to counter trafficking. They argue that exploitation sits at the nexus of global migration patterns and emphasise the importance of speaking to those directly affected by counter-trafficking policies and those directly involved in their implementation in order to produce empirical data to inform how we make sense of the numbers that are produced, the outcome of the policies and how we ought to determine success in this context. An empirical, criminologically informed opportunity to reconsider the dominant ways of understanding and strategies of responding to human trafficking, this multi-disciplinary book will be of interest to those engaged in criminology, sociology, law, political science, public policy and gender studies.
Cyberterrorism in the 21st century is now one of the greatest threats to global security and information. It transcends national borders (and by extension national legal systems), making it difficult for individual countries to formulate a cohesive defence plan against it. The world has yet to see any serious acts of cyberterrorism targeting multiple countries at once, but there's a need for countries to develop legal precedents to deal with this should it happen. This book investigates cyberterrorism in terms of the conventions and legislation developed in response to the growing need to protect the digital infrastructure and information of citizens, companies and governments. It looks at the challenges faced by international organisations in first defining then responding to and curbing cyberterrorism. Following this is analysis of legal provisions, with case studies of enforcement and of jurisdiction of these provisions.Unique in the way that all aspects of cyberterrorism are considered, from initial infringement to eventual prosecution, this book provides recommendations and guidance to law-based post-graduates and professionals working on digital crime, and to those interested in national and international legal legislation against it.
Gangs and militias have been a persistent feature of social and political life in Indonesia. During the authoritarian New Order regime they constituted part of a vast network of sub-contracted coercion and social control on behalf of the state. Indonesia's subsequent democratisation has seen gangs adapt to and take advantage of the changed political context. New types of populist street based organisations have emerged that combine predatory rent-seeking with claims of representing marginalised social and economic groups. Based on extensive fieldwork in Jakarta this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the changing relationship between gangs, militias and political power and authority in post-New Order Indonesia. It argues that gangs and militias have manufactured various types of legitimacy in consolidating localised territorial monopolies and protection economies. As mediators between the informal politics of the street and the world of formal politics they have become often influential brokers in Indonesia's decentralised electoral democracy. More than mere criminal extortion, it is argued that the protection racket as a social relation of coercion and domination remains a salient feature of Indonesia's post-authoritarian political landscape. This ground-breaking study will be of interest to students and scholars of Indonesian and Southeast Asian politics, political violence, gangs and urban politics.
Unregulated or lesser regulated maritime spaces are ideal theatres of operation and mediums of transportation for terrorists, insurgents and pirates. For more than a decade, the Indian Ocean waters adjoining Somalia have been a particular locus of such activities, with pirates hijacking vessels, and Al Qaeda and Al Shabab elements travelling between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, operating lucrative businesses and even staging deadly operations at sea. However, these operations and threats remain, by and large, understudied. Responses to the two threats have varied, highlighting the lack of cohesive regional and global institutions with the mandate and the capacity to address them. Those scholarly deliberations on Indian Ocean maritime security focus on piracy and armed robbery at sea, while their terrorist/insurgent counterparts have eluded sustained scrutiny. This volume will help close that gap by looking at both from the field in Somalia and Yemen, within broader frameworks of regional maritime security and port-state control, international maritime law and the ongoing search for maritime resources. The European, African and Middle Eastern case studies add salience to the regional and international complexity surrounding maritime security off the Horn of Africa. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of the Indian Ocean Region.
By analysing the complex issues surrounding internal and cross-border human trafficking in Asia, and asserting critical perspectives and methodologies, this book extends the range of sites for discussion and sectors in which human trafficking takes place. The book re-centres human trafficking as an area of legitimate academic inquiry in a region that is often considered as an epicentre for human trafficking: East and Southeast Asia. It thus offers an in-depth analysis and up-to-date knowledge on research methodologies and engagements, patterns and forms of human trafficking, constructively critiquing anti-trafficking campaigns and discourses, and offering examples of good practice within the region that help us move beyond the impasse that currently hampers human trafficking as a field of inquiry in the social sciences. Providing constructive avenues for human trafficking research to proceed methodologically, theoretically and ethically, this book is of interest to students and scholars of Politics, International Relations and Southeast Asian Studies.
This book is the first to consider the intersection between mafia power and deviant masonic lodges within the political sphere of the contemporary Italian state. At its core, it offers an analysis of the shifting interactions across powerful actors and the ways in which they balance reciprocal obedience, and a unique insight into the political processes where mafia actors and deviant lodges play a significant role in the allocation of resources. Mafia, Deviant Masons and Corruption draws on a wealth of literature from across criminology and political science and a range of primary data sources including judicial files indictments, arrest warrants, intercepted materials and sentences for key cases, official documentation from Parliamentary commissions and special committees of inquiry, rituals of affiliation and codes of initiation, and interviews with prosecutors, journalists and experts. In doing so it redefines how we have come to understand the relationship between mafias and power in Italy. It considers how criminal groups are defined and enriched by a relational capital in shifty environments where every actor assumes often a double nature: the mafia boss acts as an entrepreneur; the entrepreneur acts as a politician; the politician mixes with masons; a deviant mason supports mafia organisations. This book is a major contribution to the literature on mafias and organised crime across criminology, sociology and political science, and will be of great interest to students, researchers, scholars and engaged general readers.
A raw, gritty and hot read from the author of The Artists Trilogy, Love, in English and The Pact. Filled with forbidden love, twisted lives, and explosive action, and set in the scorching heat and headiness of Mexico, fans of Joanna Wylde, Kristen Proby and Tarryn Fisher won't want to miss this. For Luisa Chavez, former beauty queen, every day is a struggle to survive. Working as a waitress in Cabo San Lucas is her only hope until Salvador Reyes, depraved leader of a Mexican drug cartel, offers her a lifeline. Salvador wants Luisa as his prized wife, and she can't say no. Robbed of all her freedom, even the finest wines and most precious jewels can't make up for the ugliness and violence of her marriage. Desperate to escape, Luisa's wish comes true in the deadliest form: Javier Bernal, head of a rival cartel. Javier will stop at nothing to get what he wants. And he wants to take Luisa, use her, and ruin her. Unless she ruins him first... Don't miss Book Two in the Dirty Angels series, Dirty Deeds - for more dark, dangerous and breathtakingly sexy action. And be sure to catch The Artists Trilogy for more of Javier...
This book responds to the claim that criminology is becoming socially and politically irrelevant despite its exponential expansion as an academic sub-discipline. It does so by addressing the question 'what is to be done' in relation to a number of major issues associated with crime and punishment. The original contributions to this volume are provided by leading international experts in a wide range of issues. They address imprisonment, drugs, gangs, cybercrime, prostitution, domestic violence, crime control, as well as white collar and corporate crime. Written in an accessible style, this collection aims to contribute to the development of a more public criminology and encourages students and researchers at all levels to engage in a form of criminology that is more socially relevant and more useful.
Cultural warfare and trust: fighting the Mafia in Palermo concentrates on a central issue in research on democratic processes: the development of generalised trust. The existence of generalised trust and confidence in a society is decisive for economic development and an effective democracy. Is it possible to fight persistent values of distrust and non-cooperation? Is it possible to support the development of generalised trust through public action and education? The book addresses these questions by examining political efforts to combat Palermo's Mafia-controlled heritage and to turn a tradition of non-cooperation and distrust into cooperation and trust. In particular, it focuses on the school program launched in Palermo during the mid-1990s, which was designed to break the Mafia's territorial and mental control. Combining theories on social capital and civic education, the author presents and analyses new quantitative and qualitative research carried out in seven public schools in Palermo. This book will be valuable to students, academics and researchers interested in social capital and trust, Italian politics, civic education, organised crime, local government and democratic practice. -- .
Organised crime covers a wide range of activities, including drug trafficking, illegal trafficking of people, and fraud. The existence of a land border does not impede these operations; instead in many cases it is used to their advantage. In response, law enforcement strategies must include a transnational, multi-agency approach. This book critically analyses the extent to which Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have been successful in implementing effective action against transnational organised crime. It explores the adoption of key law enforcement strategies and measures in these jurisdictions, and evaluates how regional (EU law) and international (UN Convention) standards have been implemented at the national level. Drawing on interviews with over 90 stakeholders including the Department of Justice Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice and Equality in Ireland, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and An Garda Siochana, Tom Obokata and Brian Payne discuss the factors affecting the effective prevention and suppression of organised crime, particularly in relation to cross-border cooperation. In exploring challenges of transnational crime and cooperation, this book will be of great use to students and researchers in international and transnational criminal law, criminology, and crime prevention.
A tour de force of investigative journalism, Killing Pablo tells the story of the violent rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, the head of the Colombian Medellin cocaine cartel. Escobar's criminal empire held a nation of thirty million hostage in a reign of terror that would only end with his death. In an intense, up-close account, award-winning journalist Mark Bowden exposes details never before revealed about the covert sixteen-month manhunt that was led by US Special Forces and intelligence services. With unprecedented access to important players - including Colombian president Cisar Gaviria and the incorruptible head of the special police unit that pursued Escobar, Colonel Hugo Martinez - as well as top-secret documents and transcripts of Escobar's intercepted phone conversations, Bowden has produced a gripping narrative that is a stark portrayal of rough justice in the real world. |
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