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.

This is the story of the world’s biggest unprosecuted fraud. A fraud that in today’s terms amounts to R26 billion.

The cast is stellar: top financial institutions, leading bankers, a world where every other player is a lawyer, a world where Brett Kebble was king. This is a world of outright denial and selective amnesia, of complex financial transactions designed to confuse, obfuscate and hide the spoils. This is a world of dirty dealings across the upper strata of the socio-political system.

Barry Sergeant, hard-hitting, bestselling author of Brett Kebble: The Inside Story, now tackles the murky world of shady financial dealings, post the Kebble murder. A frightening world, where whistle-blowers have to watch their backs. A world where so many major players are involved to such an extent that none of them can afford the cost of the truth. This is a major work that relies on painstaking details and many years of preparation. It is ultimately about unravelling one of the world’s biggest cover-ups.

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.

On 6th September 1949, twenty-eight-year-old Howard Barton Unruh shot thirteen people in less than twelve minutes on his block in East Camden, New Jersey. The shocking true story of the first recorded mass shooting in America has never been told, until now. The sky was cloudless that morning when twelve-year-old Raymond Havens left his home on River Road. His grandmother had sent him to get a haircut at the barbershop across the street - where he was about to witness his neighbour and friend Howard open fire on the customers inside. Told through the eyes of young Raymond, who had visited Howard regularly to listen to his war stories, and the mother trying to piece together the disturbing inner workings of her son's mind, Murder in the Neighbourhood uncovers the chilling true story of Howard Unruh, the quiet loner who meticulously plotted his revenge on the neighbours who shunned him and became one of America's first mass killers. With Ellen's access to Howard's diaries, newly released police reports and psychiatric records alongside interviews with surviving family members, Murder in the Neighbourhood is a compulsive page-turner that will have you asking - how well do we ever really know those around us? Are we ever really safe? A gripping untold true story that will leave your heart pounding. Perfect for fans of In Cold Blood, If You Tell and American Predator. Read what everyone is saying about Murder in the Neighbourhood: 'An engrossing and utterly fascinating insight into a chilling and untold part of American history... impossible to put down.' Gregg Olsen, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell 'A phenomenal read... incredible insight to human behavior and the brain. Green did a remarkable job bringing this tragedy to life through a haunting and encapsulating narration. I will recommend this piece of work over and over.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'God! I can't get enough of it! I wish I could read the book for the first time again!... fantastic.' Chubby girl with a page-a-vu, 5 stars 'An absolute cracker of an account... Brilliant.' Nigel Adams Bookworm, 5 stars 'I really enjoyed... very cleverly written... a fascinating and detailed account... I would recommend it to true crime aficionados.' NetGalley reviewer, 5 stars 'An arresting, exciting, compelling tale of true crime. Meticulously researched and pieced together into a narrative that is difficult to tear away from.' Goodreads reviewer 'Remarkable... A must for true crime fans.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'If you like true crime then I 100% recommend you read this book.' Goodreads reviewer 'An excellent read.' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Well-crafted true crime that's been wonderfully researched.' Book Zone

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.

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.

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.

Based on years of fieldwork and interviews with 129 human smugglers as well as scores of government and law enforcement officials, this book presents a rare look into the secretive world of the snakeheads (human smugglers), whose ingenious endeavors have transported hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants into the United States and other Western countries.The book is rich with vivid accounts of how groups of opportunistic entrepreneurs form loosely connected social circles to accomplish seemingly complex transnational negotiations. Zhang's findings and analyses challenge many widespread misconceptions about these smugglers in particular and Chinese organized crime in general. Bound together by little more than the pursuit of profit, these otherwise ordinary men and women have demonstrated remarkable flexibility in adapting to market and socio-legal constraints.The author's concept of the dyadic cartwheel network integrates major theoretical constructs to explain how and why freelance operators have come to dominate the human smuggling enterprise instead of a traditional crime syndicate.

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.

This expose investigates the evolution of the Almighty Black P Stone Nation, a motley group of poverty-stricken teens transformed into a dominant gang accused of terroristic intentions. Interwoven into the narrative is the dynamic influence of leader Jeff Fort, who--despite his flamboyance and high visibility--instilled a rigid structure and discipline that afforded the young men a refuge and a sense of purpose in an often hopeless community. Details of how the Nation procured government funding for gang-related projects during the War on Poverty era and fueled bonuses and job security for law enforcement, and how Fort, in particular, masterminded a deal for $2.5 million to commit acts of terrorism in the United States on behalf of Libya are also revealed. In examining whether the Black P Stone Nation was a group of criminals, brainwashed terrorists, victims of their circumstances, or champions of social change, this social history provides both an exploration of how and why gangs flourish and insight into the way in which minority crime is targeted in the community, reported in the media, and prosecuted in the courts.

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.

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.

Using an array of cultural documents from 1990 to the present, including diaries, testimonies, fiction, online video postings, and anti-mafia social networks, Robin Pickering-Iazzi examines the myths, values, codes of behaviour, and relationships produced by the Italian mafia through a wide cross-disciplinary lens. The Mafia in Italian Lives and Literature explores the ways that these literary engagements with the mafia relate to broader contemporary Italian life and offer implicit challenges, and a quiet code of resistance, to the trauma and injustice wrought by the mafia in various Italian cities. Despite the long tradition of representing the mafia in Italian literature, until now women's contributions to this literature have been overlooked. Pickering-Iazzi's aim is to encourage new critical reflection on a broader selection of literature through new theoretical lenses in order to enrich our understanding of crime fiction, Sicily and Sicilian identity in literature, narrative traits of the new Italian epic, and the cultural and social functions of storytelling in life and literature.

In the ebullient spirit of Ocean's 8, The Heist, and Thelma & Louise, a sensational and entertaining memoir of the world's most notorious jewel thief-a woman who defied society's prejudices and norms to carve her own path, stealing from elite jewelers to live her dreams. Growing up during the Depression in the segregated coal town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, Doris Payne was told her dreams were unattainable for poor black girls like her. Surrounded by people who sought to limit her potential, Doris vowed to turn the tables after the owner of a jewelry store threw her out when a white customer arrived. Neither racism nor poverty would hold her back; she would get what she wanted and help her mother escape an abusive relationship. Using her southern charm, quick wit, and fascination with magic as her tools, Payne began shoplifting small pieces of jewelry from local stores. Over the course of six decades, her talents grew with each heist. Becoming an expert world-class jewel thief, she daringly pulled off numerous diamond robberies and her Jewish boyfriend fenced the stolen gems to Hollywood celebrities. Doris's criminal exploits went unsolved well into the 1970s-partly because the stores did not want to admit that they were duped by a black woman. Eventually realizing Doris was using him, her boyfriend turned her in. She was arrested after stealing a diamond ring in Monte Carlo that was valued at more than half a million dollars. But even prison couldn't contain this larger-than-life personality who cleverly used nuns as well as various ruses to help her break out. With her arrest in 2013 in San Diego, Doris's fame skyrocketed when media coverage of her astonishing escapades exploded. Today, at eighty-seven, Doris, as bold and vibrant as ever, lives in Atlanta, and is celebrated for her glamorous legacy. She sums up her adventurous career best: "It beat being a teacher or a maid." A rip-roaringly fun and exciting story as captivating and audacious as Catch Me if You Can and Can You Ever Forgive Me?-Diamond Doris is the portrait of a captivating anti-hero who refused to be defined by the prejudices and mores of a hypocritical society.

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

Exploring the experiences of both male clients and female sex workers, China's Commercial Sexscapes expands upon the complex dynamics of sex worker and client relationships, and places them within the wider implications of expanding globalization and capitalism. The book is based in large part upon interviews with sex workers and their clients the author conducted while undercover as a bartender in Dongguan, an important industrial city in Guangdong province and an explicit, complicated, and multidimensional setting for study. In the wake of the financial crisis, the purchasing of sex by single, young-adult males has become an increasingly socially acceptable way for men to perform and experience heteronormative masculinity. Investigating human rights, social policy, and the criminal justice system in China, this book applies the concept of "edgework" to the commercial sex industry in Dongguan to study how men and women interact within the changing global economy.

For many people around the world, instances of what is described as organized crime may be part of their everyday experience; in their neighbourhoods, their streets, and the places they work and live. Policymakers, law enforcement, and the media rarely fail to bring up the issue when discussing the nature and seriousness of contemporary criminal threats, and the appropriate responses towards them. Many more people are familiar with the notion of organized crime, as the film and TV industry regularly draw on fictional and real figures and situations. Organized crime feels like a tangible, inescapable issue in today's world. In this Very Short introduction, Georgios A. Antonopoulos and Georgios Papanicolaou uncover the reality of organized crime in our world today. Shining a light on the people involved in organized crime, Antonopoulos and Papanicolaou question whether the term 'organized' is used to evoke the image, the operations, and power of a legitimate organization, such as a corporation. Discussing whether there are particular crimes that the label 'organized crime' applies to, or if any crime can be organized, they also consider what happens when organized crime extends beyond borders. Using examples from across the globe, they analyse the different cultural traditions of organized crime, such as the Mafia, Yakuza, and Triads, and also the nature of organized crime, from arms trafficking and drug dealing to extortion. Finally they explore the methods and agencies in place to control and prevent organized crime. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Individuals who have committed a number of crimes over their lifetimes have had complex, multi-faceted life experiences often characterized by extreme disadvantage and victimization. Those who are formally designated as "high-risk" by the Canadian criminal justice system often have a record of violent or sexual crimes. As a result, they are usually subject to additional monitoring in the community after completing a prison sentence. Pathways to Ruin? disentangles the numerous elements and pathways that lead to high rates of reoffending by focusing on developmental periods of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The book uses a case-study approach to consider individuals' entire crime pathway by examining the circumstances and factors that contribute to assumptions or official designations of "high-risk" behaviour. Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot and Tamara Humphrey overhaul society's popular crime narratives and instead draw on sociological and criminological perspectives to identify historical, social, and personal contexts that appear to increase the likelihood of reoffending. They also consider how negative life experiences may be addressed to circumvent trajectories of serious offending. Reducing the social distance that the "law-abiding" public may feel towards marginalized groups, Pathways to Ruin? details how legal systems could better serve these individuals, and acknowledges the many missed opportunities for compassion.

When criminal activity is as straightforward as a child's game of cops and robbers, the role of the police is obvious, but today's bad guys don't always wear black. In fact, the most difficult criminals to cope with are those who straddle the gray divide between licit and illicit activity. Many of these nefarious sorts operate on the fringe of society, often acting the part of businesspersons, meeting the demands of otherwise law-abiding clientele with illegally procured or delivered goods. Others, specially trained to occupy positions of responsibility, make the most of position and special knowledge to partake of ill-gotten gains. Then there are the organized crime families and syndicates who make use of common business models to turn dubious undertakings into profitable ventures. Policing Organized Crime: Intelligence Strategy Implementation addresses these very real types of modern criminals. It examines the methods and motives of those operating on the fringes of society, including more obvious outlaws as well as less obvious lawyers, businesspeople, and bankers, social outcasts as well as devoted family people. Written by Petter Gottschalk, an internationally respected police expert in organized crime, this book details the workings of entrepreneurial crime through the use of case studies from around the world. He presents strategies that will alter the thinking and investigative styles of those police charged with the responsibility of preventing and putting a stop to business crimes. Implementation of an effective intelligence strategy is a key element in his thinking. He demonstrates the shrewd skill set required to bring down those criminals who twist the rules of supply and demand with business models designed to maximize illegal gain. This important resource is a volume in the Advances in Police Theory and Practice Series, which features the work of international experts who provide researchers and those i