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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Crime & criminology > Organized crime
'Action-packed, gripping, and wildly entertaining . . . Amen Alonge
is a powerful new voice in thriller writing and a talent to watch'
ADAM HAMDY Meet Pretty Boy. Vengeance is on his mind. His real
name: Unknown His code of conduct: Don't be a pawn in someone
else's game. Never underestimate the enemy. Above all, survive.
There is no glory in death. His mission: It's been ten years since
Pretty Boy left the big city - today he's back. No one knows why,
but it's clear that revenge is on his mind: he is determined to
make the person responsible for his exile from the London scene
finally pay. But his plans seem derailed when he takes possession
of a bracelet, unaware that its original owner has set a high price
for its safe return. Suddenly, the hunter becomes the hunted and
Pretty Boy will have to find out if it is indeed a 'good day to
die'. Jam-packed with action, an unforgettable cast of characters
and peppered with dry humour, A Good Die To Die marks the arrival
of a fresh and exciting new voice in thriller writing.
This book critically examines the security-development nexus
through an analysis of organised crime responses in post-conflict
states. As the trend has evolved, the security-development nexus
has received significant attention from policymakers as a new means
to address security threats. Integrating the traditionally separate
areas of security and development, the nexus has been promoted as a
new strategy to achieve a comprehensive, people-centred approach.
Despite the enthusiasm behind the security-development nexus, it
has received significant criticism. This book investigates four
tensions that influence the integration of security and development
to understand why it has failed to live up to expectations. The
book compares two case studies of internationally driven
initiatives to address organised crime as part of post-conflict
reconstruction in Sierra Leone and Bosnia. Examination of the
tensions reveals that actors addressing organised crime have
attempted to move away from a security approach, resulting in
incipient integration between security and development, but
barriers remain. Rather than discarding the nexus, this book
explores its unfulfilled potential. This book will be of much
interest to students of war and conflict studies, development
studies, criminology, security studies and IR in general.
The first close-up look at the hidden world of Somali pirates by
a young journalist who dared to make his way into their remote
havens and spent a year infiltrating their lives.
For centuries, stories of pirates have captured imaginations around
the world. The recent ragtag bands of pirates off the coast of
Somalia, hijacking multimillion-dollar tankers owned by
international shipping conglomerates, have brought the scourge of
piracy into the modern era. Jay Bahadur's riveting narrative
expose--the first of its kind--looks at who these men are, how they
live, the forces that created piracy in Somalia, how the pirates
spend the ransom money, how they deal with their hostages, among
much, much more. It is a revelation of a dangerous world at the
epicenter of political and natural disaster.
Sin City Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Las Vegas is
a fast-paced account of how the mob created and controlled Las
Vegas. It contains accounts of how the most powerful mobsters in
the country built, bought, and controlled not only gambling casinos
in Vegas, but also many important politicians, who did the mob's
bidding. Some of the more notorious mobsters were Bugsy Siegel,
Meyer Lansky, Moe Dalitz, Sam Giancana, Tony Accardo, and Nick
Civella, as well as the men they chose to carry out their plans,
such as Tony Spilotro, Lefty Rosenthal, and Donald Angelini. Sin
City Gangsters devotes a chapter to Jimmy Hoffa, and how the
Teamsters Pension Fund financed the mob's casinos. The book also
offers fascinating accounts of the roles of Frank Sinatra and Elvis
Presley in Vegas. Another chapter is devoted to Howard Hughes, who
arrived in the dead of night in a sealed, germ-free railroad car
and did not leave his suite at the Desert Inn for years. During
that time he bought one casino after another as if playing
Monopoly. Following his exit and that of the mob, Vegas became the
domain of Jay Sarno, Kirk Kerkorian, Steve Wynn, and Sheldon
Adelson. They were visionaries who transformed Vegas into the
entertainment capital of the world by building billion-dollars-plus
resorts and hiring the most popular contemporary entertainers. Sin
City Gangsters is the only book that charts Vegas from the first
modest mob-owned casinos to the present billion-dollar-resorts; its
cast of characters is an assembly of exceedingly ambitious risk
takers who let nothing stand in their way of turning their dreams
into stunning realities.
'What a fantastic read, but not for the faint-hearted!' MARTINA
COLE 'True crime has never been more female - or more deadly.'
KIMBERLEY CHAMBERS 'Admired and respected by the men who worked
with her, she is the real deal.' FREDDIE FOREMAN If you think you
know everything about the East End's toughest gangsters, think
again. Meet Linda Calvey, aka the Black Widow. Growing up after the
war in the East End of London, Linda falls in with local gangsters
including the Krays, Freddie Foreman and Ronnie Cook. When the love
of her life, Mickey Calvey, is gunned down on a job gone wrong,
Linda resolves to carry on his work. But in 1990, after years of
living in fear of her lover Ronnie Cook, Linda finds herself
accused of his murder alongside Danny Reece, in a trial that shocks
the nation. Still, Linda sticks to her code of honour, refusing to
confess. Until now... After 18 years behind bars alongside
notorious names including Rose West and Myra Hindley, she is
released. This is the final truth about her life and what happened
the day Ronnie Cook was murdered.
____________________ THE EXPLOSIVE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'A
bombshell.' Daily Mail 'Damning, terrifying and enraging.' The
Spectator ____________________ House of Trump, House of Putin
offers the first comprehensive investigation into the decades-long
relationship among Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the Russian
Mafia that ultimately helped win Trump the White House. It is a
chilling story that begins in the 1970s, when Trump made his first
splash in the booming, money-drenched world of New York real
estate, and ends with Trump's inauguration as president of the
United States. That moment was the culmination of Vladimir Putin's
long mission to undermine Western democracy, a mission that he and
his hand-selected group of oligarchs and associates had ensnared
Trump in over more than two decades of shady business associations.
As Unger traces Donald Trump's sordid ascent from foundering real
estate tycoon to leader of the free world, House of Trump, House of
Putin, reveals the deep-rooted alliance between the highest
echelons of American political operatives and the biggest players
in the frightening underworld of the Russian Mafia. Examining
Russia's phoenixlike rise from the ashes of the post-Cold War
Soviet Union, Unger reveals its ceaseless covert efforts to
retaliate against the West and reclaim its status as a global
superpower, and how such ambitions came to compromise the
president. Without Trump, Russia would have lacked a key component
in its attempts to return to imperial greatness. Without Russia,
Trump would not be in the White House. This essential book is
crucial to understanding the real powers at play in the shadows of
today's world.
2016 Outstanding Publication Award (The International Association
for the Study of Organized Crime) Organized Crime: Analyzing
Illegal Activities, Criminal Structures, and Extra-legal Governance
provides a systematic overview of the processes and structures
commonly labeled "organized crime," drawing on the pertinent
empirical and theoretical literature primarily from North America,
Europe, and Australia. The main emphasis is placed on a
comprehensive classificatory scheme that highlights underlying
patterns and dynamics, rather than particular historical
manifestations of organized crime. Esteemed author Klaus von Lampe
strategically breaks the book down into three key dimensions: (1)
illegal activities, (2) patterns of interpersonal relations that
are directly or indirectly supporting these illegal activities, and
(3) overarching illegal power structures that regulate and control
these illegal activities and also extend their influence into the
legal spheres of society. Within this framework, numerous case
studies and topical issues from a variety of countries illustrate
meaningful application of the conceptual and theoretical
discussion.
Human trafficking is consistently featured on the global political
agenda. This book examines the trafficking of adult female victims
for sexual exploitation, and specifically the understanding of
consent and its influence in the identification and treatment of
trafficking victims. Jessica Elliott argues that when applied to
situations of human trafficking, migration and sexual exploitation,
the notion of consent presents problems which current international
laws are unable to address. Establishing the presence of 'coercion'
and a lack of consent can be highly problematic, particularly in
situations of human trafficking and exploitative prostitution;
activities which may be deemed inherently coercive and
problematically clandestine. By examining legal definitions of
human trafficking in international instruments and their domestic
implementation in different countries, the book explores victimhood
in the context of exploitative migration, and argues that no clear
line can be drawn between those who have been smuggled, trafficked,
or 'consensually trafficked' into a situation of exploitation. The
book will be great use and interest to students and researchers of
migration law, transnational criminal law, and gender studies.
In 1978, the US government waged a war against organised crime. One
man was left behind the lines. From 1976 until 1981, Special Agent
Pistone lived undercover with the Mafia. Only able to visit his
young family once every few months, Pistone - under the alias
Donnie Brasco - ate, drank, partied, worked and sometimes killed
with the wiseguys. He got so close that his Mafia partner, Lefty
Ruggiero, asked him to officiate as best man at his wedding.
Pistone's eventual testimony, in such spectacular prosecutions as
'the Pizza Connection' and 'the Mafia Commission' resulted in more
than 200 indictments and 100 convictions of members of organised
crime.
In March 1972, four young black men were arrested by a specialist
pickpocket squad at Oval Underground Station and charged with theft
and assault of police officers. Sentenced to two years in prison,
the case seemed straightforward and credible to the judge and jury
who convicted them - but these young men were completely innocent,
victims of endemic police corruption. The real criminal in this
case was the notorious DS Derek Ridgewell, later proven to be
heavily involved in organised crime. Graham Satchwell, at one time
Britain's most senior railway detective, has worked with Oval Four
victim Winston Trew to reveal the rotten culture that not only
enabled Ridgewell to operate as he did, but also to subsequently
organise major thefts of property worth in excess of GBP1 million.
Winston Trew's case was finally overturned in December 2019, but
the far-reaching ramifications of Ridgewell's shocking activities
has irreparably damaged many lives and must never be forgotten.
Trying to Make It is R. V. Gundur's journey from the US-Mexico
border to America's heartland, from America's prisons to its
streets, in search of the true story of the drug trade and the
people who participate in it. The book begins in the Paso del Norte
area, encompassing the sister cities of Ciudad Juarez and El Paso,
which has been in the public eye as calls for securing the border
persist. From there, it moves on to Phoenix, which was infamously
associated with the drug trade through a series of kidnappings.
Finally, the book goes on to Chicago, which has been a lightning
rod of criticism for its gangs and violence. Gundur highlights the
similarities and differences that exist in the American drug trade
within the three sites and how they relate to current drug trade
narratives in the US. At each stop, the reader is transported to
the city's historical and contemporary contexts of the drug trade
and introduced to the individuals who have lived them. Drug
retailers, street and prison gang members, wholesalers, and the law
enforcement personnel who try to stop them offer readers a
comprehensive look at how various illicit enterprises work together
to supply the drugs that American users demand. Most importantly,
through a combination of macro- and microlevel vantage points, and
comparative analysis of three key sites in illicit drug operations,
the stories in Trying to Make It remind us that the people involved
in the drug trade, for the most part, do not deserve vilification.
Far from being a seemingly uniform, widespread threat or an
unlimited array of bogeymen and women, they are ordinary people,
living ordinary lives, just trying to make it.
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.
Gangsters dealt with in this book include Louis Lepke Buchalter,
Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, Arthur Dutch Schultz Flegenheimer, Meyer The
Little Man Lansky, Chalie King Solomon, Max Boo Boo Hoff and Abner
Longy Zwillman.
In the mid-1970s, there were a series of gangland murders,
committed by unknown killers, often wielding .22-caliber revolvers.
At first these murders seemed unconnected, but law enforcement
started noticing links to organized crime and by 1978, federal
authorities were involved in the investigations. The FBI compiled a
list of 25 gangland figures killed, from potential witnesses and
low-level associates, to made men. All shot with a .22 between 1975
and 1978, all from the same batch of guns purchased in Florida,
some even the same weapon. The main suspects were members of the
East Harlem Purple Gang. Starting on the fringes they quickly
became a violent offshoot syndicate of the Mafia, some even became
high-ranking members of the Genovese, Bonanno, and Lucchese
families. Often serving as freelance hitmen, kidnappers, and drug
traffickers, their exploits quickly crossed into mythology. The
Purple Gang became an almost obsession with the media. Accounts of
the Gang's activities popped up in the newspapers across the
country in the late 1970s. They were the shadow army of the
underworld and every law enforcement agency's favorite suspect.
They were accused of being behind all the major mob hits through
the early 1980s and became the ultimate boogeyman in the era of mob
upheaval and a flailing New York City mired in crime and financial
woes. Digging through the mystery and mythos, Scott Deitche brings
the gritty City of the late 1970s and early 1980s back to life in
this in-depth account of the Purple Gang, the real members, their
operations, and where some of the major players are today.
Presenting sociological as well as historical perspectives, this
book supplies readers with a fascinating, unprecedented look at the
most successful organized-crime family they've probably never heard
of. From the 1920s until the early 21st century, one Sicilian mob
family defied everyone from the California attorney general to J.
Edgar Hoover to chart their own American Dream. Unlike their
flashier rivals in New York and Chicago who met their end by the
knife, the bullet, or a judge's gavel, this crime family prospered
and grew alongside their adopted home of San Francisco. This book
tells how they did it. Readers will learn how the Lanzas managed to
retain control of their patch from the end of Prohibition through
the Summer of Love and into the beginnings of the dot-com era,
gaining insight into not only what the west-coast branch of the Mob
did, but also why they did it. The documentation of how this mostly
unknown crime syndicate formed, evolved, and eventually folded is
set against the backdrop of the city of San Francisco transforming
itself from a gritty port and manufacturing hub dominated by
Italian- and Irish-Americans into the multicultural intellectual
and services capital it is today. Sets forth the history of the San
Francisco branch of the Italian Mafia for the first time in print
Explains the specific societal and historical factors that gave
rise to Italian organized crime Provides a unique window into the
crime family's history via a compendium of primary document
resources that include newspapers such as the San Francisco
Chronicle and The San Francisco Examiner as well as the Italian
Central Archives
The cover illustration of Mafia: Penge & politik pa Sicilien
1950-1994 represents a picture of Antonio Salvo. Salvo was a
Mafioso, but he did not traffic in narcotics, he did not run
weapons, he did not kill anyone, and he did not take part in the
'ordinary' Mafia activities. Antonio Salvo was a business man, one
of the wealthiest business men in Sicily. He took an interest in
all important lines of business and had close political connections
at the highest levels in Rome. Antonio Salvo represented another,
but not less important side of the Mafia. He was a central part of
the far-reaching network of economic and political interests that
dominated Sicily through decades. All the threads of the network
came together in one place: the Mafia.
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Murder, Inc
(Hardcover)
Burton B. Turkus, Sid Feder; Foreword by Peter Lance
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R1,006
Discovery Miles 10 060
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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