At the turn of the twentieth century, thousands of Italian immigrants left their home country for the United States and, particularly, New York City. A small minority of the immigrants were members of a criminal syndicate that largely victimized fellow immigrants. The most common crime was a type of extortion known as "Black Hand." The methods of extortion were particularly violent, and included kidnapping, arson, and murder. The New York Police Department, unable to speak the language and unaware of the traditions of the immigrants, was virtually helpless in dealing with them. In 1904, Italian-American Lt. Detective Joseph Petrosino formed a group of Italian detectives to deal exclusively with the extortion crimes and the criminal underworld of Italian society in New York which had become known in the American press as "The Black Hand Society." This book tells the story of The Italian Squad from its inception, through Petrisnio's death, to the squad's expansion into Queens and Brooklyn.

This important reference work examines trafficking from a geographic perspective and investigates the driving forces behind it and the powers that are trying to curtail the problem. The worldwide crime of trafficking involves countless people, animals and animal parts, and illicit goods such as drugs and weapons being moved and sold illegally. Often, the trafficking occurs with the local government or law enforcement's knowledge and complicity. This one-volume encyclopedia sheds light on a frightening and major issue, investigating the geography of trafficking and examining a range of examples of illegal human, animal, drug, and weapons movement around the world. After a preface and introduction that provides an exact definition of trafficking, the encyclopedia presents thematic essays that explore the various specific kinds of trafficking. Approximately 30 country profiles describe who and what is trafficked in each country, the motivations of those doing the trafficking, where people and things are being moved to, how the trafficking occurs, and what actions are being taken in an effort to prevent it. An appendix of primary documents, interesting sidebars, a bibliography, and a glossary listing key terms and important organizations round out the work. Provides a comprehensive look at the geography of trafficking as a whole that highlights how different kinds of trafficking are often related Supplies a much-needed reference book on a topic that is of perennial interest and often mentioned in media Includes an appendix of primary documents that includes excerpts from anti-trafficking acts and policies, declarations, human rights campaigns, and other important sources, each with an introduction

The death of Michael Brown at the hands of a white Ferguson police officer has uncovered an apparent legitimacy crisis at the heart of American policing. Some have claimed that de-policing may have led officers to become less proactive. How exactly has the policing of gangs and violence changed in the post-Ferguson era? This book explores this question, drawing on participant observation field notes and in-depth interviews with officers, offenders, practitioners, and community members in a Southern American state. As demands for police reform have once again come into focus following George Floyd's death, this crucial book informs future policing practice to promote effective crime prevention and gain public trust.

The threat of terrorism, if not adequately managed, is likely to increase exponentially. As terrorist groups' influence and networks spread globally, a concerted effort in counterterrorism strategy is critical to mitigating the threat they present. Governments facing the threat of terrorism are typically strengthening their law enforcement, military and intelligence capabilities, but more complex initiatives such as deradicalisation and terrorist rehabilitation are more time-consuming and less attention-grabbing and so tend to be neglected. It is all too easy to 'do' rehabilitation ineffectively or to simply ignore it altogether. This is unfortunate, as an effective rehabilitation strategy can yield dividends over the longer term. Every committed terrorist is a potential recruiter, whether in prison or at liberty, for more terrorists. Even in death, they can potentially be presented as martyrs. Conversely, successfully rehabilitated terrorists can be valuable assets in the public relations theatre of battle. There is no single, simple solution to the challenges of deradicalisation and rehabilitation, but this book places examples of best practice within a robust, but flexible, conceptual framework. It gives guidelines for establishing and implementing a successful deradicalisation or rehabilitation programme, derived from a series of empirical case studies of successful projects around the world. It sets out both the necessary and desirable facets of such a programme, identifying which areas to prioritise and where budgets can be best spent if resources are tight. The authors provide detailed case studies of each step to illustrate an approach that has worked and how best to replicate this success.

Postmodern global terrorist groups engage sovereign nations asymmetrically with prolonged, sustained campaigns driven by ideology. Increasingly, transnational criminal organizations operate with sophistication previously only found in multinational corporations. Unfortunately, both of these entities can now effectively hide and morph, keeping law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the dark and on the run. Perhaps more disturbing is the fact that al Qaeda, Hezbollah, FARC, drug cartels, and increasingly violent gangs-as well as domestic groups such as the Sovereign Citizens-are now joining forces. Despite differing ideologies, they are threatening us in new and provocative ways. The Terrorist-Criminal Nexus: An Alliance of International Drug Cartels, Organized Crime, and Terror Groups frames this complex issue using current research and real-world examples of how these entities are sharing knowledge, training, tactics, and-in increasing frequency-joining forces. Providing policy makers, security strategists, law enforcement and intelligence agents, and students with new evidence of this growing threat, this volume: Examines current and future threats from international and domestic criminal and terror groups Identifies specific instances in which these groups are working together or in parallel to achieve their goals Discusses the "lifeblood" of modern organizations-the money trail Describes how nefarious groups leverage both traditional funding methods and e-commerce to raise, store, move, and launder money Explores the social networking phenomenon and reveals how it is the perfect clandestine platform for spying, communicating, recruiting, and spreading propaganda Investigates emergent tactics such as the use of human shields, and the targeting of first responders, schools, hospitals, and churches This text reveals the often disregarded, misunderstood, or downplayed nexus threat to the United States. Proving definitively that such liaisons exist despite differing ideologies, the book provides a thought-provoking new look at the complexity and phenomena of the terrorist-criminal nexus. This book was excerpted in the February/March 2013 issue of The Counter Terrorist.

Labour exploitation is a highly topical though complex issue that has international resonance for those concerned with social justice and social welfare, but there is a lack of research available about it. This book, part of the Studies in Social Harm series, is the first to look at labour exploitation from a social harm perspective, arguing that, as a global social problem, it should be located within the broader study of work-based harm. Written by an expert in policy orientated research, he critiques existing approaches to the study of workplace exploitation, abuse and forced labour. Mapping out a new sub-discipline, this innovative book aims to shift power from employers to workers to reduce levels of labour exploitation and work-based harm. It is relevant to academics from many fields as well as legislators, policy makers, politicians, employers, union officials, activists and consumers.

This is the first book to examine and compare how rebels govern civilians during civil wars in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. Drawing from a variety of disciplinary traditions, including political science, sociology, and anthropology, the book provides in-depth case studies of specific conflicts as well as comparative studies of multiple conflicts. Among other themes, the book examines why and how some rebels establish both structures and practices of rule, the role of ideology, cultural, and material factors affecting rebel governance strategies, the impact of governance on the rebel/civilian relationship, civilian responses to rebel rule, the comparison between modes of state and non-state governance to rebel attempts to establish political order, the political economy of rebel governance, and the decline and demise of rebel governance attempts.

Rami was fourteen when his parents uprooted the family, moving from Finland to the mission field of Africa. Here, amid suffocating heat and dust, Rami became a kung fu master, tapping into supernatural force that gave him power he had never dreamed of. Soon Rami found his life and body taken over by the darkness. Fueled by a demon inside of him, he soared through international criminal ranks, earning a coveted spot in the Russian mafia's inner circle, and overseeing booming drug distribution business. Yet the beast inside would not be satisfied.It wanted more. It wanted complete control. From the beautiful shores of Finland to the luxurious, deadly underworld of the Russian mafia, and to the deepest places of a man's being, a physical and spiritual war raged. Based on real events, the red scorpion is a modern day parable of the prodigal son.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom - and almost got away with it. In 2011, a twenty-six-year-old programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine Web site hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything - drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons - free of the government's watchful eye. While the federal government were undertaking an epic two-year manhunt for the site's elusive proprietor, the Silk Road quickly ballooned into a $1.2 billion enterprise. Ross embraced his new role as kingpin, taking drastic steps to protect himself - including ordering a hit on a former employee. As Ross made plans to disappear forever, the Feds raced against the clock to catch a man they weren't sure even existed, searching for a needle in the haystack of the global Internet. Drawing on exclusive access to key players and two billion digital words and images Ross left behind, New York Times bestselling author Nick Bilton offers a tale filled with twists and turns, lucky breaks and unbelievable close calls. It's a story of the boy next door's ambition gone criminal, spurred on by the clash between the new world of libertarian-leaning, anonymous, decentralised Web advocates and the old world of government control, order and the rule of law.

New York Times Bestseller! "Sam Giancana tells all . . . Controversial . . . ties seven United States presidents to the mob."-Larry King, CNN One of the most feared Chicago mobsters Sam Giancana clawed his way to the top of the Mafia hierarchy by starting as a hit man for Al Capone. He was known as one of the best vehicle escape artists, a tenacious business man, and a ruthless killer. He partied with major stars such as Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe and did business with agents ranging from the CIA to the Vatican to the shah of Iran. When politician Joe Kennedy gave Giancana the chance to use mob muscle to get his son John elected, Giancana jumped at the task. But the Kennedy brothers double-crossed him, waging full-out war on organized crime throughout the United States. And Giancana went after them. Written with suspense and conviction, we learn about how the CIA asked Giancana to assassinate Fidel Castro The book includes Giancana's testimony about the truth of his involvement in the deaths of Monroe and others, among others. Chuck Giancana, Sam's brother, contributes a unique perspective of the mob's relationship with the Bay of Pigs and many other pivotal events of the 60's and beyond. Double Cross is an eye-opening account of the interworking of the government and the mob and how this relationship has impacted American history. "Mobster chief Sam Giancana was at the heart of one of America's most notorious criminal conspiracies and this book gives us fresh information on that. His web of crimes and associations involve some of the most glamorous figures of his age, including the Kennedy family, Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe. Written with the crisp cadence of a thriller, it is a fascinating expose of dark deals and adds more layers to that most famous mystery-who really killed President John Kennedy?"-Tim Newark from his Foreword

In 1940 and 1941 a group of ruthless gangsters from Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood became the focus of media frenzy when they-dubbed "Murder Inc.," by New York World-Telegram reporter Harry Feeney-were tried for murder. It is estimated that collectively they killed hundreds of people during a reign of terror that lasted from 1931 to 1940. As the trial played out to a packed courtroom, shocked spectators gasped at the outrageous revelations made by gang leader Abe "Kid Twist" Reles and his pack of criminal accomplices. News of the trial proliferated throughout the country; at times it received more newspaper coverage than the unabated war being waged overseas. The heinous crimes attributed to Murder, Inc., included not only murder and torture but also auto theft, burglary, assaults, robberies, fencing stolen goods, distribution of illegal drugs, and just about any "illegal activity from which a revenue could be derived." When the trial finally came to a stunning unresolved conclusion in November 1941, newspapers generated record headlines. Once the trial was over, tales of the Murder, Inc., gang became legendary, spawning countless books and memoirs and providing inspiration for the Hollywood gangster-movie genre. These men were fearsome brutes with an astonishing ability to wield power. People were fascinated by the "gangster" figure, which had become a symbol for moral evil and contempt and whose popularity showed no signs of abating. As both a study in criminal behavior and a cultural fascination that continues to permeate modern society, the reverberations of "Murder, Inc." are profound, including references in contemporary mass media. The Murder, Inc., story is as much a tale of morality as it is a gangster history, and Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life by Robert Whalen meshes both topics clearly and meticulously, relating the gangster phenomenon to modern moral theory. Each chapter covers an aspect of the Murder, Inc., case and reflects on its ethical elements and consequences. Whalen delves into the background of the criminals involved, their motives, and the violent death that surrounded them; New York City's immigrant gang culture and its role as "Gangster City"; fiery politicians Fiorello La Guardia and Thomas E. Dewey and the choices they made to clean up the city; and the role of the gangster in popular culture and how it relates to "real life." Whalen puts a fresh spin on the two topics, providing a vivid narrative with both historical and moral perspective.

The life, crimes and bloody end of John 'Goldfinger' Palmer were straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster - and Marnie Palmer, his wife of forty years, had a front row seat. The poor Solihull lad, whose childhood home was so cold the goldfish froze, fought his way up to a lifestyle of private jets, yachts and Ferraris, thanks to a home-made gold smelter in his back garden and a multi-million-pound timeshare empire. By the turn of the millennium, Palmer was 105th on the Sunday Times Rich List, but Goldfinger had a long list of enemies. In Goldfinger and Me, his widow Marnie shares her unique insight into his roller coaster life, from dealing scrap in Bristol, to the Brink's-Mat raid that changed their lives - ending with his downfall of betrayals, jail stints and his still unsolved assassination.

The definitive story of the greatest art theft in history.In a secret meeting in 1981, a low-level Boston thief gave career gangster Ralph Rossetti the tip of a lifetime: the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was a big score waiting to happen. Though its collections included priceless artworks by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, and others, its security was cheap, mismanaged, and out of date. And now, it seemed, the whole Boston criminal underworld knew it.Nearly a decade passed before the Museum museum was finally hit. But when it finally happened, the theft quickly became one of the most infamous art heists in history: thirteen works of art valued at up to 500 million, by some of the most famous artists in the world, were taken. The Boston FBI took control of the investigation, but twenty-five years later the case is still unsolved and the artwork is still missing.Stephen Kurkjian, one of the top investigative reporters in the country, has been working this case for over nearly twenty years. In Master Thieves , he sheds new light on some of the Gardner's most abiding mysteries. Why would someone steal these paintings, only to leave them hidden for twenty-five years? And why, if one of the top crime bosses in the city knew about this score in 1981, did the theft happen in 1990? What happened in those intervening years? And what might all this have to do with Boston's notorious gang wars of the 1980s?Kurkjian's reporting is already responsible for some of the biggest breaks in this story, including a meticulous reconstruction of what happened at the Museum museum that fateful night. Now Master Thieves will reveal the identities of those he believes plotted the heist, the motive for the crime, and the details that the FBI has refused to discuss. Taking you on a journey deep into the gangs of Boston, Kurkjian emerges with the most complete and compelling version of this story ever told.

The unbelievable account of life as a hitman from a man who has been doing it for decades. Hitmen commit heinous crimes virtually every day of the week and, in most instances, we don't even realise. I've been a killer for hire for more than twenty years now, but life as a fulltime professional assassin has never been easy. There have been close calls, failed attempts and a lot of looking over my shoulder. And now, I've decided to come clean and seek atonement for my life as a murderer and one of the most covertly dangerous men alive. This is an account of a life lived between our world and a shadowy underworld of criminals... a life lived under the radar of the law... a life lived in death. This is the story of my life as a hitman.

The ever increasing use of computers, networks and the Internet has led to the need for regulation in the fields of cybercrime, cybersecurity and national security. This SpringerBrief provides insights into the development of self- and co-regulatory approaches to cybercrime and cybersecurity in the multi-stakeholder environment. It highlights the differences concerning the ecosystem of stakeholders involved in each area and covers government supported initiatives to motivate industry to adopt self-regulation. Including a review of the drawbacks of existing forms of public-private collaboration, which can be attributed to a specific area (cybercrime, cybersecurity and national security), it provides some suggestions with regard to the way forward in self- and co-regulation in securing cyberspace.

This edited collection offers in-depth essays on outlaw motorcycle clubs and street gangs. Written by sociologists, anthropologists and criminologists, it asks the question of how the self-proclaimed 'outlaws' integrate into society. While these groups may cultivate a deviant image, these original studies show that we should not let ourselves be deceived by appearances. These 'outlaws' are, paradoxically, well integrated into mainstream society. The essays read the relationship of these groups to the media, law enforcement and society through the lens of their strategies of 'scheming legality' and 'resisting criminalization'. These reveal most strikingly how the knowledge of social codes, norms and mechanisms is put to use by these groups. This groundbreaking volume provides answers to previously understudied questions through well-researched case studies drawn from across Europe and United States. With wide-reaching implications for communities around the world, this exciting collection of essays will be of great interest to academics and governmental institutions as well as students and general readers of anthropology, sociology and criminology.

This innovative book investigates the paradoxical situation whereby organized crime groups, authoritarian in nature and anti-democratic in practice, perform at their best in democratic countries. It uses examples from the United States, Japan, Russia, South America, France, Italy and the European Union.

Just a few months after the entry into force of the EU Framework Decision on the fight against organized crime, this book provides an unprecedented analysis of the national and European legislation on organized crime. The book provides a critical examination of the European policies and legal instruments to promote the harmonization and approximation of criminal law in this field (including the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime). The current level of harmonization among EU Member States and the approximation to the standards of the new Framework Decision are discussed in detail, with the help of tables, graphs and maps. The results highlight the problems surrounding the international legal instruments and the inconsistencies of the national approaches to combating organized crime.

In this vivid account, Ron Chepesiuk tells the story of the organised crime in Harlem through in-depth profiles of the major gangs and motley gangsters whose exploits made them legends.

Organized crime is now a major threat to all industrial and non-industrial countries. Using an inter-disciplinary and comparative approach this book examines the nature of this threat. By analysing the existing, official institutional discourse on organized crime it examines whether or not it has an impact on perceptions of the threat and on the reality of organized crime. The book first part of the book explores both the paradigm and the rationale of policy output in the fight against organized crime, and also exposes the often 'hidden' internal assumptions embedded in policy making. The second part examines the perceptions of organized crime as expressed by various actors, for example, the general public in the Balkans and in Japan, the criminal justice system in USA and circles within the international scientific community. Finally, the third part provides an overall investigation into the realities of organized crime with chapters that survey its empirical manifestations in various parts of the world. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, criminology, security studies and practitioners.

Gang violence is on the increase in certain neighbourhoods. There is an urgent need for a fresh perspective that offers insight into gang structure, organisation and offending behaviour to explain this increase. Using the findings from an extensive ethnographic study of local residents, professionals and gang members in south London, and drawing on his vast experience and knowledge of the field, Simon Harding proposes a unique theoretical perspective on survival in violent street gangs. He applies Bourdieu's principles of social field analysis and habitus to gangs, establishing them as a social arena of competition where actors struggle for distinction and survival, striving to become 'players in the game' in the 'casino of life'. Success is determined by accruing and retaining playing chips - street capital. Harding's dramatic and compelling insights depict gang life as one of constant flux, where players jostle for position, reputation, status and distinction. This perspective offers new evidence to the field that will help academics, students, practitioners and policy makers to understand the dynamics of gang behaviour and the associated risks of violence and offending. Simon Harding is currently a senior lecturer in criminology at Middlesex University, UK. He draws on 25 years of experience in research, public policy and project delivery as a crime reduction and community safety practitioner.

Graphic narratives of tragedies involving the journeys of irregular migrants trying to reach destinations in the global north are common in the media and are blamed almost invariably on human smuggling facilitators, described as rapacious members of highly structured underground transnational criminal organizations, who take advantage of migrants and prey upon their vulnerability.

This book contributes to the current scholarship on migration by proving a window into the lives and experiences of those behind the facilitation of irregular border crossing journeys. Based on fieldwork conducted among "coyotes" in Arizona - the main point of entry for irregular migrants in the United States by the turn of the 21st Century - this project goes beyond traditional narratives of victimization and financial exploitation and asks: who are the men and women behind the journeys of irregular migrants worldwide? How and why do they enter the human smuggling market? How are they organized? How do they understand their roles in transnational migration? How do they explain the violence and victimization so many migrants face while in transit?

This book will be suitable for students and academics involved in the study of migration, border enforcement and migrant and refugee criminalization.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS ARE THE THIRD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH AFTER HEART DISEASE AND CANCER. In his latest ground-breaking book, Peter C Gotzsche exposes the pharmaceutical industries and their charade of fraudulent behaviour, both in research and marketing where the morally repugnant disregard for human lives is the norm. He convincingly draws close comparisons with the tobacco conglomerates, revealing the extraordinary truth behind efforts to confuse and distract the public and their politicians. The book addresses, in evidence-based detail, an extraordinary system failure caused by widespread crime, corruption, bribery and impotent drug regulation in need of radical reforms. "The main reason we take so many drugs is that drug companies don't sell drugs, they sell lies about drugs. This is what makes drugs so different from anything else in life...Virtually everything we know about drugs is what the companies have chosen to tell us and our doctors...the reason patients trust their medicine is that they extrapolate the trust they have in their doctors into the medicines they prescribe. The patients don't realise that, although their doctors may know a lot about diseases and human physiology and psychology, they know very, very little about drugs that hasn't been carefully concocted and dressed up by the drug industry...If you don't think the system is out of control, please email me and explain why drugs are the third leading cause of death...If such a hugely lethal epidemic had been caused by a new bacterium or a virus, or even one-hundredth of it, we would have done everything we could to get it under control." FROM THE INTRODUCTION

Special Agent Michael Santini offers an inside account of the takedown of MS-13 in San Francisco-one of the largest federal takedowns of a criminal gang in U.S. history. In a bid to take down MS-13's criminal network in the Mission District of San Francisco, Michael Santini, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, recruits a pair of hardened gang members and convinces them to risk their lives as criminal informants. Set in a city with one of the strictest sanctuary policies protecting illegal immigrants in America, Operation Devil Horns illustrates how politically correct ideology impacts life-or-death crime fighting on the streets. Through the informants' eyes, Operation Devil Horns offers a rare glimpse into the pervasive criminal subculture of MS-13, a gang of Spanish-speaking immigrants that still terrorizes pockets of American society today - including their own compatriots. The case begins with a focus on the gang in San Francisco, eventually widening to include a network that reaches across borders. Santini tracks down the gang's leadership from the Bay Area to the prison cells of corrupt Central American regimes. Eventually, it takes the cold-blooded murder of three family members in San Francisco to shake the American public out of complacency and focus sober attention on a growing and violent threat. This is the story of a dedicated team of special agents, federal prosecutors, and local police who overcome political and legal challenges to take down more than two dozen violent criminal targets.