In recent years, the south-western border of the United States has come under increasing pressure from the activities of Mexican narco-insurgents. These insurgents have developed rapidly from beginnings as nebulous gangs into networked cartels that have exposed the porosity of the border. These cartels declare no allegiance to any nation and are engaging in asymmetrical warfare against sovereign states throughout Mexico and in Central America. Within such states, de facto political control is shifting to the cartels in the 'areas of impunity' that have emerged. This book addresses these concerns and focuses on the criminal insurgencies being waged by the gangs and cartels. It is divided into sections on theory, Mexico, and the Americas and contains a number of introductory essays pertaining to this premier security threat to the United States and her allies in the region. Topics covered include criminal and spiritual insurgency, cartel weapons, corruption, feral cities, Los Zetas, politicized gangs, and threat analysis in Central America. This book will be a valuable resource to scholars in the fields of regional security, criminal justice and American Studies. It will be of great benefit to military and civil policymakers and practitioners in the areas of law enforcement and counternarcotics. This book was published as a special issue of Small Wars and Insurgencies.

Peace operations are increasingly on the front line in the international community's fight against organized crime; this book explores how, in some cases, peace operations and organized crime are clear enemies, while in others, they may become tacit allies. The threat posed by organized crime to international and human security has become a matter of considerable strategic concern for national and international decision-makers, so it is somewhat surprising how little thought has been devoted to addressing the complex relationship between organized crime and peace operations. This volume addresses this gap, questioning the emerging orthodoxy that portrays organized crime as an external threat to the liberal peace championed by western and allied states and delivered through peace operations. Based upon a series of case studies it concludes that organized crime is both a potential enemy and a potential ally of peace operations, and it argues for the need to distinguish between strategies to contain organized crime and strategies to transform the political economies in which it flourishes. The editors argue for the development of intelligent, transnational, and transitional law enforcement that can make the most of organized crime as a potential ally for transforming political economies, while at the same time containing the threat it presents as an enemy to building effective and responsible states. The book will be of great interest to students of peacebuilding, peace and conflict studies, organised crime, Security Studies and IR in general.

'How did a kid from the country who dreamed of joining the Victoria Police, end up on the wrong side of the bars? There are a lot of reasons, and I hope this story will help clarify some of them, not only for you, the reader, but for me too, because a lot of the time I am left shaking my head, wondering how things went so wrong.' Paul Dale knows he is tainted. After almost fifteen years as a cop, working in Homicide and rising to the rank of Detective Sergeant in the Victorian Drug Squad, he saw the worst of what people can do. But when he was accused and jailed firstly for drug offences and then for murder, Dale realised the murky world he was navigating was going to take him under too. Dale dealt with crims like Carl Williams, Terry Hodson and Tommy Ivanovic on the Melbourne streets. But when a burglary ended in Hodson's arrest, Dale's life started to unravel. He turned to Nicola Gobbo, a lawyer and friend he thought could help: the lawyer who became known as Lawyer X. Eventually exonerated of any crimes, Paul Dale's story reveals the shocking deals done at the highest levels of the Victorian Police Force and the damage wrought by Victoria Police's use of Lawyer X.

Terrorist's Creed casts a penetrating beam of empathetic understanding into the disturbing and murky psychological world of fanatical violence, explaining how the fanaticism it demands stems from the profoundly human need to imbue existence with meaning and transcendence.

Human trafficking is a crime that undermines fundamental human rights and a broader sense of global order. It is an atrocity that transcends borders-with some regions known as exporters of trafficking victims and others recognized as destination countries. Edited by three global experts and composed of the work of an esteemed panel of contributors, Human Trafficking: Exploring the International Nature, Concerns, and Complexities examines techniques used to protect and support victims of trafficking as well as strategies for prosecution of offenders. Topics discussed include: How data on human trafficking should be collected and analyzed, and how data collection can be improved through proper contextualization The importance of harmonization and consistency in legal definitions and interpretations within and among regions The need for increased exchange of information and cooperation between the various actors involved in combating human trafficking, including investigators, law enforcement and criminal justice professionals, and social workers Problems with victim identification, as well as erroneous assumptions of the scope of victimization Controversy over linking protection measures with cooperation with authorities Highlighting the issues most addressed by contemporary scholars, researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers, this volume also suggests areas ripe for further inquiry and investigation. Supplemented by discussion questions in each chapter, the book is sure to stimulate debate on a troubling phenomenon.

One of the dark sides to democratization can be crime and corruption. This book looks at the way political liberalization affects these practices in a number of ways whilst also challenging some of the scare stories about democracy. The book also brings the politics of power back into an examination of corruption.

Organized crime in the twenty-first century is a knowledge war that poses an incalculable global threat to the world economy and harm to society - the economic and social costs are estimated at upwards of GBP20 billion a year for the UK alone (SOCA 2006/7). Organized Crime: Policing Illegal Business Entrepreneurialism offers a unique approach to the tackling of this area by exploring how it works through the conceptual framework of a business enterprise. Structured in three parts, the book progresses systematically through key areas and concepts integral to dealing effectively with the myriad contemporary forms of organised crime and provides insights on where, how and when to disrupt and dismantle a criminal business activity through current policing practices and policies. From the initial set up of a crime business through to the long term forecasting for growth and profitability, the authors dissect and analyse the different phases of the business enterprise and propose a 'Knowledge-Managed Policing' (KMP) approach to criminal entrepreneurialism. Combining conceptual and practical issues, this is a must-have reference for all police professionals, policing academics and government policy makers who are interested in a Strategy-led, Intelligence supported, Knowledge-Managed approach to policing illegal business entrepreneurialism.

A biography of the spectacular rise and fall of Eddie Antar, better known as "Crazy Eddie," whose home electronics empire changed the world even as it turned out to be one of the biggest business scams of all timeBack in the fall of 2016 we heard the news about the passing of Eddie Antar, "Crazy Eddie" as he was known to millions of people, the man behind the successful chain of electronic stores and one of the most iconic ad campaigns in history. Few things evoke the New York of a particular era the way "Crazy Eddie! His prices are insaaaaane!" does. The journalist Herb Greenberg called his death the "end of an era" and that couldn't be more true. What's insane is that his story has never been told.Before Enron, before Madoff, before The Wolf of Wall Street, Eddie Antar's corruption was second to none in the U.S.A. The difference was that it was a street franchise, a local place that was in the blood stream of everyone's daily life in the 1970s and early '80s. And Eddie pulled it off with a certain style, an in your face blue collar chutzpah. Despite the fact that then Attorney General Ron Chertoff called him "the Darth Vader of capitalism" after the extent of the fraud was revealed, one of the largest SEC frauds in American history after Crazy Eddie's stores went public in 1984, Eddie was talked about fondly by the people who worked for him. They still do-there are myriads of ex-Crazy Eddie employee web pages that still attract fans.Many years have passed since the franchise went down in spectacular fashion but Crazy Eddie's moment has endured the way that iconic brands and characters do--one only need Google the media outpouring that accompanied his death. Maybe it's because it crystallized everything about 1970s New York almost perfectly, the merchandise and rise of consumer electronics (stereos!), the ads (cheesy!), the money (cash!). In Retail Gangster, investigative journalist Gary Weiss takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most unbelievable business scam stories of all time, reaffirming the old adage that the truth is often stranger than fiction.

This edited volume provides a contemporary overview of major issues and control strategies associated with fraud and financial crime, including prevention, public ethics, compliance mechanisms, and law enforcement in England and Wales. The UK - and in particular, England & Wales - has had a number of public strategies and plans to address fraud and financial crime, beginning (in this edited volume) with the 2008 National Fraud Strategy and now including, most recently, the 2020 Local Government Fraud and Corruption strategy, the 2019 Economic Crime Plan and National Fraud Policing Strategy, the 2018 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, and the 2017 Anti-Corruption Plan. All, together with a number of past, existing, reconfigured and new institutions and procedures, reflect a continuing collective response to emerging issues and themes in fraud and financial crime. Frauds and Financial Crimes: Trends, Strategic Responses and Implementation Issues in England and Wales contributes insights about the continuing interplay of strategic responses, priorities and implementation in an era of budget reductions, competing local and national agendas and a continuing absence of joined-up oversight and ownership. Drawing on both academic and practitioner experts, the book seeks to explore a range of important themes, including: the gaps between strategic intentions and practice on the ground; different approaches to the same issue; labelling of crimes as 'organised' and/or 'economic'; collaborative public-private and inter-agency approaches and problem ownership; the role of prevention; and the translation of experience upwards and policy downwards in development and implementation. In doing so, it seeks to inform more effective strategic responses to fraud and financial crime. The chapters in this book were originally published in the journal Public Money and Management.

Digital Pirates examines the unauthorized creation, distribution, and consumption of movies and music in Brazil. Alexander Sebastian Dent offers a new definition of piracy as indispensable to current capitalism alongside increasing global enforcement of intellectual property (IP). Complex and capricious laws might prohibit it, but piracy remains a core activity of the twenty-first century. Combining the tools of linguistic and cultural anthropology with models from media studies and political economy, Digital Pirates reveals how the dynamics of IP and piracy serve as strategies for managing the gaps between texts-in this case, digital content. Dent's analysis includes his fieldwork in and around Sao Paulo with pirates, musicians, filmmakers, police, salesmen, technicians, policymakers, politicians, activists, and consumers. Rather than argue for rigid positions, he suggests that Brazilians are pulled in multiple directions according to the injunctions of international governance, localized pleasure, magical consumption, and economic efficiency. Through its novel theorization of "digital textuality," this book offers crucial insights into the qualities of today's mediascape as well as the particularized political and cultural norms that govern it. The book also shows how twenty-first century capitalism generates piracy and its enforcement simultaneously, while producing fraught consumer experiences in Latin America and beyond.

The first English-language book to document the men who emerged from the gulags to become Russia's much-feared crime class: the vory v zakone Mark Galeotti is the go-to expert on organized crime in Russia, consulted by governments and police around the world. Now, Western readers can explore the fascinating history of the vory v zakone, a group that has survived and thrived amid the changes brought on by Stalinism, the Cold War, the Afghan War, and the end of the Soviet experiment. The vory-as the Russian mafia is also known-was born early in the twentieth century, largely in the Gulags and criminal camps, where they developed their unique culture. Identified by their signature tattoos, members abided by the thieves' code, a strict system that forbade all paid employment and cooperation with law enforcement and the state. Based on two decades of on-the-ground research, Galeotti's captivating study details the vory's journey to power from their early days to their adaptation to modern-day Russia's free-wheeling oligarchy and global opportunities beyond.

What is terrorism? Can anyone be radicalized? How can we respond to terrorist acts?

The Psychology of Terrorism seeks to explain why some acts of violence are considered terrorism and others are not, and why some individuals may be more susceptible to engaging in radical terrorist behavior. Debunking myths and lazy stereotypes, the book delves into some of the most shocking atrocities of our times to discuss the complex and varied psychological characteristics of individual terrorists, organized groups, and their acts.

Whilw there is no simple solution, The Psychology of Terrorism shows us that a growing reverse radicalization movement and modern interventionist techniques can give us hope for the future.

Table of Contents

1. What is terrorism?

2. Who is a terrorist?

3. Why do people become terrorists?

4. Can people stop being terrorists?

5. Can we stop terrorism?

6. Conclusion

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The world of crime demonology once seemed so simple. There was the Underworld, consisting of full-time criminals emanating principally from the 'dangerous classes' who, depending on particular conditions, might form 'organised crime' groups ranging from Mafias to looser collaborative networks. At the other end of the social spectrum there was the primarily law-abiding Upperworld, whose elite black sheep might occasionally stray. Sutherland sought to puncture this bifurcated model intellectually by his stress on criminality as learned behaviour and assertion that white-collar crime was 'organised' crime. From Libor manipulation to international bribery, from corporate fraud to money laundering, the concept of white-collar crime incorporates a diverse array of criminal activities, all of which usually involve deliberate deception or dishonesty to obtain an advantage, usually financial. However, the organisation of such criminal phenomena remains intellectually under-conceptualised. This book reconceptualises the debate around white-collar crime, providing an advanced analytical framework for comprehensively understanding how such crimes are organised, why they are organised as they are, and the key factors and conditions that shape their 'organisation' over time and in particular places.

This groundbreaking book investigates the emergence and evolution of the organ trade across North Africa and Europe. Sean Columb illuminates the voices and perspectives of organ sellers and brokers to demonstrate how crime and immigration controls produce circumstances where the business of selling organs has become a feature of economic survival. Drawing on the experiences of African migrants, Trading Life brings together five years of fieldwork charting the development of the organ trade from an informal economic activity into a structured criminal network operating within and between Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, and Europe. Ground-level analysis provides new insight into the operation of organ trading networks and the impact of current legal and policy measures in response to the organ trade. Columb reveals how investing financial and administrative resources into law enforcement and border securitization at the expense of social services has led to the convergence of illicit smuggling and organ trading networks and the development of organized crime. Trading Life delivers a powerful and grounded analysis of how economic pressures and the demands of survival force people into exploitative arrangements, like selling a kidney, that they would otherwise avoid. This fascinating and accessible book is a must-read for anyone interested in migration, organized crime, and exploitation.

Biker Gangs and Transnational Organized Crime, Second Edition, describes and analyzes a rapidly expanding global problem: criminal acts committed by motorcycle gangs. Thomas Barker, one of the world's top experts on outlaw biker gangs, offers fascinating details about the Bandidos, the Vagos, the Mongols, and other "one percenters" (criminal biker gangs, as opposed to the vast majority of motorcycle enthusiasts). He combines this data with a strengthened conceptual framework that makes sense of this complicated picture. U.S.-based motorcycle gangs like the Hells Angels have proliferated, especially in Canada and Europe, to the point where these gangs have more members in other countries than in the United States. Increasingly more often in recent years their crimes are not limited to rumbles or drug use-these gangs challenge the dominance of organized crime, leading to violent conflicts between the rivals. Germany, Scandinavia, the UK, the Netherlands, and Canada are particularly hard-hit by this rising violence. One of Barker's unique contributions is his Criminal Organization Continuum, building on the groundbreaking network approach to organized crime proposed by Klaus von Lampe. Introduced in the first edition, Barker elaborates his continuum tool and makes it more multi-dimensional to help refine the definition of adult criminal gangs. The product of years of research, this book lays the groundwork for further study by offering students, police, and researchers the most thorough account available of outlaw motorcycle gangs.

The classic, bestselling account of the infamous Kray twins, now a major film, starring Tom Hardy. Reggie and Ronnie Kray ruled London's gangland during the 60s with a ruthlessness and viciousness that shocks even now. Building an empire of organised crime that has never been matched, the brothers swindled, extorted and terrorised - while enjoying a glittering celebrity status at the heart of the swinging 60s scene, until their downfall and imprisonment for life.

Piracy in Somalia sheds light on an often misunderstood world, oversimplified and demonized in the media and largely decontextualized in scholarly and policy works. It examines the root causes of piracy in Somalia, its impact on coastal communities, local views about it, and the measures taken against it. Drawing on six years' worth of extensive fieldwork, Awet Tewelde Weldemichael amplifies the voices of local communities who have suffered under the heavy weight of illegal fishing, piracy and counter-piracy and makes their struggles comprehensible on their own terms. He also exposes complex webs of crimes within crimes of double-dealing pirates, fraudulent negotiators, duplicitous intermediaries, and treacherous foreign illegal fishers and their local partners. In so doing, this book will help inform regional and global counter-piracy endeavors, avoid possible reversals in the gains so far made against piracy, and identify the gains that need to be made against its root causes.

Dispelling current myths regarding organized crime, Lyman and Potter's fourth edition reveals a truer picture of organized crime and criminal activity today. Providing scholarly treatment and a social perspective, the authors explore the concept of organized crime, the historical foundation for its evolution and development, and the current status of criminal groups in today's society. Offering timely and respected research, this edition includes a thorough examination of drug trafficking, new sections on emerging organized crime groups, updated case studies, more coverage international groups, updated statistics, graphics and more! Presents a broad view of organized crime that incorporates more than just ethnically- driven, pop-culture stereotypes. Incorporates two parallel themes-organized crime consists of many different groups and corrupt individuals in public office, business etc., contribute to the continuation of the problem. Uses thematic questions (What is organized crime? Is there really a Mafia? Is terrorism organized crime? Do political machines still exist?) to promote higher-order thinking skills and a critical examination of the topic. Synthesizes volumes of historical data and archives to present the most salient aspects of the organized crime problem. References information and reports generated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, the National Institute of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Statistics and well-known researchers in the field. Law enforcement professionals and those interested in a scholarly treatment and a social perspective of organized crime.

Since the late 1940s, a violent African criminal society known as the Marashea has operated in and around South Africa’s gold mining areas. With thousands of members involved in drug smuggling, extortion, and kidnapping, the Marashea was more influential in the day-to-day lives of many black South Africans under apartheid than were agents of the state. These gangs remain active in South Africa.

In We Are Fighting the World: A History of the Marashea Gangs in South Africa, 1947–1999, Gary Kynoch points to the combination of coercive force and administrative weakness that characterized the apartheid state. As long as crime and violence were contained within black townships and did not threaten adjacent white areas, township residents were largely left to fend for themselves. The Marashea’s ability to prosper during the apartheid era and its involvement in political conflict led directly to the violent crime epidemic that today plagues South Africa.

Highly readable and solidly researched, We Are Fighting the World is critical to an understanding of South African society, past and present. This pioneering study challenges previous social history research on resistance, ethnicity, urban spaces, and gender in South Africa. Kynoch’s interviews with many current and former gang members give We Are Fighting the World an energy and a realism that are unparalleled in any other published work on gang violence in southern Africa.

Crime is recognized as a constant factor within human society, but in the twenty-first century organized crime is emerging as one of the distinctive security threats of the new world order. The more complex, organized and interconnected society becomes, its crime becomes too. This book recognizes that the new century will be defined in part by a struggle between an 'upperworld', defined by increasingly open economic systems and democratic politics, and a transnational, entrepreneurial, dynamic and richly varied underworld, willing and able to use and distort these trends for its own ends. In order to understand this challenge, this book gathers together experts from a variety of fields to understand how organized crime is changing. From the Sicilian Mafia and the Japanese Yakuza, to the new challenges of Russian and East European gangs and the 'virtual mafias' of the cybercriminals, this book offers a clear and concise introduction to many of the key players moving in this global criminal underworld. This book is a special issue of Global Crime

To underworld kingpins Meyer Lansky and Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Cuba was the greatest hope for the future of American organized crime in the post-Prohibition years. In the 1950s, the Mob--with the corrupt, repressive government of brutal Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in its pocket--owned Havana's biggest luxury hotels and casinos, launching an unprecedented tourism boom complete with the most lavish entertainment, top-drawer celebrities, gorgeous women, and gambling galore. But Mob dreams collided with those of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and others who would lead an uprising of the country's disenfranchised against Batista's hated government and its foreign partners--an epic cultural battle that bestselling author T. J. English captures here in all its sexy, decadent, ugly glory.

In the post-Cold war period new security threats have arisen in Western Europe. Amongst these, organized crime and illegal immigration are acknowledged to represent significant security challenges. The European Union and Internal Security analyses 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.