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Product Description

Despite its impact on international security and the world economy, organized crime is an unusual topic for a reference book. Difficult to research, the high-profit, high-risk subculture of drug lords, diamond smugglers, and sex slavers is rarely investigated by scholars. Organized Crime: An International Encyclopedia ventures behind the scenes into this hazardous territory.

In the first volume, expert contributors offer a global perspective on issues such as weapons and arms trafficking, high-tech and cyber crimes, the future of organized crime, and the connection between organized crime and armed conflicts. The second volume consists entirely of primary documents, national and international laws, and treaties that reflect the international community's many attempts—largely ineffective—to combat organized crime. Together the two volumes provide students and general readers with a road map to a shadow world with far-reaching impact on the world we know.

Customer Reviews (1)

a milestone of research on organized crime
These two volumes provide the most detailed and comprehensive information on typologies of organized crime groups and the "businesses" engaged in by such groups. ... Read more

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Traditionally, law enforcement agencies react to isolated crimes in insulated jurisdictions. With the rise of terrorism, law enforcement agencies can no longer afford to operate blindly. The only way to maintain an edge on this nebulous and insidious enemy is through proactive intervention. Law enforcement must gather good raw data, transform it through trained analysis, and communicate high quality intelligence to every relevant agency.
Extensively updated and expanded, Terrorism and Organized Hate Crime, Second Edition prepares law enforcement analysts and administrators in the fight against terrorism. The author draws from his substantial experience in analytical intelligence, both in the field and as a nationally recognized instructor. Packed with new case studies and detailed scenarios, the book illustrates the best ways to learn from previous attacks. It stresses the importance of producing high quality, usable intelligence from raw data, and teaches proven methods of interpreting that intelligence to anticipate terrorist behavior.
New in the Second Edition:

Terrorism and Organized Hate Crime, Second Edition provides the necessary framework for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to make fact-based assessments and implement dynamic and flexible strategies to combat the multifaceted nature of local, regional, national, and international terrorism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great topic, but...2.5 stars
I'd rather give this book 2.5 stars, but I don't have that option.I started off with three, but as I started to write out my criticism, I realized that three stars would be too generous.

While I appreciate what the author is trying to do with this book, this may be a case of trying to cover too much ground in a condensed work.The author provides an introduction to terrorist groups, various analytic methods, and touches on gangs and religiously-motivated extremism.Unfortunately, the broad brush approach isn't properly focuses. The author makes generalizations that can be misleading while skipping over more important information.

I've been searching for other honest reviews of this book and find it hard to believe that everyone truly rates this as five stars.Perhaps I'm not reading this book correctly, but there were many times where it seems the author contradicts himself within the same paragraph.I noticed that there is not an editor listed for this book and I believe that this may in fact be the main issue I have with the book...someone should be pushing to reorganize all of the information laid out and ask the author to clarify his points.

What an awesome book !!!
Terrorism and Organized Hate Crime: Intelligence Gathering, Analysis and Investigations, Second Edition This book is awesome!!!Mike Ronczkowski knows his stuff. A great read for all.

CJ Student's Perception of Book
Captain Ronczkowski brings new meaning to reading with this book.I am a student in his Terrorism class and this book has depicted and described what Terrorism really is.Before taking his class and reading his book my views and understanding of Terrorism was limited.Thanks to his dedication as a Law Enforcement Officer, Teacher and Author this book will open the eyes of those who read it.Thanks Captain!!

Former Director
"I have witnessed an emphasis on agencies hiring, training, and even certifying analytical personnel to address homeland security, terrorism, and organized hate crime.The problem has been the lack of materials applicable to law enforcement.That was until Mr. Ronczkowski penned this book. I congratulate him."

Eduardo Gonzalez (Commission Secretary for CALEA and Director United States Marshal's Service 1993-1999)

Intelligence Specialist & Certified Crime Analyst
"I think its a great piece of work, very timely, relevant, and, at least in my opinion, touches on everything that matters to both the analyst and law enforcement officer, particularly those in the "intel" business." ... Read more

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Product Description
ORGANIZED CRIME, 5/e gives students a clear understanding of organized crime from social, political and economic perspectives: what it is, how it has evolved, where it stands, where it is headed, and how societies can respond to it. The authors dispel long-standing myths surrounding organized crime, and consider the phenomenon in all its forms. This logically-organized, highly-readable book promotes learning with extensive pedagogical features, including chapter objectives, critical thinking projects, summaries, key terms, discussion points, and suggested readings. This edition’s extensive new coverage includes updated discussions of drug trafficking and terrorism, as well as organized crime groups from China, Nigeria, Albania, Central America, Japan, and the Tri-Border area. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Is this really new?
The book arrived in a very fast manner, however there was some mild water damage on the top of the book and a nice size rip on the binding. Now what I expect from a "new" book.

organized crime
the book was delivered to my house very quickly from the day I purchased it. The book is also in decent shape. Thank you.

Excellent
Outstanding product, just as the seller described with fast delivery.Would recommend to anyone.

Good Book
I had Dr. Lyman in a class and I think he wrote a good book. He is detailed and provided me with alot of information.If you are into organized crime, not just mafia, get this book - it is a good resource.

Good Introduction
This book is a good introduction to a difficult topic.The authors don't focus on just the traditional "Costra Nostra" topics that many authors fall prey too.The authors carefully blend National andInternational Organized Crime (OC)Groups, Theories of OC and methods forcontroling the spread and growth of the groups.

The book is written in atextbook fashion and the authors provide keywords at the end of eachchapter to assit the student in learning the main points of eachchapter.

Both the authors appear very knowledgable in this subject andthey continue to add current information into their newer additions. ... Read more

Product Description
Typically, other reference works on organized crime in the United States focus primarily on the Mafia and La Cosa Nostra, and neglect the many new ethnic and racial criminal organizations that permeate American society today. This reference fills those gaps while providing systematic detailed coverage of traditional crime families, individuals, significant events, and terms. More than 250 entries provide in-depth information on major underworld figures, from Al Capone to John Gotti and Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, and key criminal events and milestones. In addition, Kelly, an expert on organized crime, provides in-depth coverage of African American organized crime, Chinese Triads and Tongs, the Colombian drug cartels' infiltration of the U.S., Dominican drug trafficking, ecocrime, Russian organized crime, Latin gangs and criminal groups, and Vietnamese American organized crime. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not Really An Encycolopedia
I went and picked up this book from the local library thinking I would browse through it and then decide whether or not to buy.Glad I did this as anybody would be foolish to shell out $75 dollars for this book.

It does have its bright spots.A lot of good reference material, outlines of the familes and groups and short bios of different criminals over the years.It was a usualful took in remembering where different people fit and allowed for easily and quick access to a variety of topics.

However, the material is than less than exciting in reference to other crome books.While it covers a ton of mobsters I was suprised that it didn't include one my favorite characters, Roy Demeo.There were limited pictures in the book espically for what you expected for one as highly priced.

Poor value for the cost and the limited information.
First, this book is not "encyclopedia" in size in terms of either pages or dimensions. After the introduction, acronyms and time line the reader will find 328 pages of information, followed by a limited bibliography and a detailed index. The body of the book largely consists of biographies of deceased mob bosses and henchmen, which are available in more detail in Robert Jay Nash's less expensive reference books on organized crime. The limited unique information available here, and not found elsewhere, would not justify the cost of $75 to most true crime buffs. ... Read more

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Product Description
Written by a top investigative reporter who covered Luciano's trial from beginning to end, Lucky Luciano is a detailed account of Luciano's intriguing life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

LET DOWN
Initially, I thought this book would be interesting regarding a biographical over-view of the old Mafioso.The book might have been rated as a "5-star" when it was originally published,but not now! The entire format and story line dates to the same time of the original prostitution indictment.I thought from the narrative that I was reading some "Boston Blackie" novel.

The front cover leads one to believe that the biography was written rather recently, but ... thats not true .

The book was a literary "cement shoe" that dragged the reader down into the depths of boredom. I would recommend that the reader search for something else, "anything else!"

A Wonderful Piece of History
OK, some of you may be misled by the title, expecting an in-depth "biog" as one self-styled "Prince" put it, but what we have here is a wonderful contemporary view of Luciano's trial and his history and the 20s and 30s racket scene as it was viewed by his contemporary New Yorkers. Of course there's nothing on Lansky and Siegel--they were unknowns at the time, just as Luciano was until the time of his trial. Of course there's nothing on Luciano's wartime collaboration with the military, or his subsequent deportation--because these things hadn't happened yet! Of course Dewey used Luciano to further his own political ambitions--so what? As for his children, which one reviewer inquires about, Lucky never married and is never known to have produced any. If you're interested in Thirties crime though, here is a Thirties view of it that is about as fresh as you're likely to find anywhere. At least it'll do until Ellen's book comes out and it still beats the fiction of Gosch's "Last Testament".

A Noted Secondary Source
Powell's documentation is basically correct based on the bare facts of the story found in New York City tabloid newspapers and in archived files.As such, it is a rare secondary source into the lives and legends of the prostitutes, bookers and madams who formed the web of prostitution used at Prosecutor Thomas Dewey's behest to convict the elusive Charlie Lucky. Originally written in the 1930s, Powell's prose reveals the language of old-style morality which was required in the days of censorship.As such, it is a time-capsule of the social mores governing prostitution.While crime historians focus on Lucky's later years, this jewel preserves the trial data that forced Luciano from the shadows.

Bad book by a biased sycophant of the author
This has to be the worst 'Biog' ever.I defy anyone to find enough mentions of Luciano's name to warrant the Title of this book.The maincharactor is DEWEY who was so ambitious to become Govenor that he used any means to nail Luciano ,later he tried and failed for President.Even at the time ,the trial was regarded as a farce.being trial by association.Luciano was a bad man whodeserved putting away -this was a shabby way to do it.
As a book There are no details of his early life ,his bonding with the none Sicilian gangsters which at the time was considered to be a very daring thing to do.especialy Lansky and Seigal for which he was much critised by the other mobsters I agree with your previous critic there is nothing to learn from this nook ,which frankly I expectedwas would be a recent study.itis just a publicity spin for Dewey with whole chapters appearing to say nothing about the Title name
A complete waste of money and the time of anybody reading it
PRINCE RAFAEL
(London )

Caution! Public Domain Reprint!
I had hoped to find new, up to date information of Salvadore Lucania (a.k.a. "Lucky Charle", Lucky Luciano, etc.).Sadly, what I got was a reprint of a somewhat lurid "crime reporter's" account of Lucania's trial for prostitution in the 1930s.If that is what you are looking for, this is a good read.However, the only new information herein is a brief introduction and a more brief afterword.The more interesting stories of his role in the WWII invasion of Sicily and his return to Cuba in the 1950s are sadly not given the coverage they deserve.AUTHORS TIP: here is a story worthy of coverage: what happened after he was deported and perhaps what happened to his children. ... Read more

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For undergraduate or graduate courses in Organized Crime in the departments of criminal justice or police studies.This text demystifies the world of organized crime by analyzing it closely and critically from a social perspective. Groups such as Afro-American, Mexican, Asian, Colombian, African, and Jamaican criminal groups are discussed as well as their Italian criminal counterparts who are typically thought of when the term "organized crime" is used. The text gives students the history, current role, and future of players in the world of organized crime, along with insight on what the criminal justice system is doing to suppress organized criminals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Best Book on the Topic
As with most books on organized crime, this is a textbook. It is, in my opinion, the best textbook on this topic available. I have taught organized crime at the university level for a number of years now and have looked at a wide variety of textbooks. This book is superior to the others in a number of ways. First, it is comprehensive. There is a tendency of some authors to become infatuated with the Italian Mafia to the exclusion of all else. That does not happen with Lyman and Potter. Second, it is balanced-the authors differentiate between myths and facts concerning organized crime, something often missing in other books. Finally, the authors include both theoretical explanations of organized crime and linkages between OC, government, and honest citizens. The fact that organized crime cannot exist without the connivance of government and the public is critical to understanding the existence and success of criminal enterprises and is often ignored by authors. This relationship is a major theme of this text; one that sets it above other books. ... Read more

Product Description
Situational crime prevention is the art and science of reducing opportunities for crime. Despite accumulating evidence of its value in reducing many different kinds of crime - such as burglary, fraud, robbery, car theft, child sexual abuse and even terrorism - little has previously been published about its role in reducing organized crimes. This collection of case studies, by a distinguished international group of researchers, fills this gap by documenting the application of a situational prevention approach to a variety of organized crimes. These include sex trafficking, cigarette and drug smuggling, timber theft, mortgage fraud, corruption of private professionals and public officials, and subversion of tendering procedures for construction projects. By moving the focus away from the nature of criminal organizations to the analysis of the crimes committed by these organizations, the book opens up a fresh agenda for policy and research.The book will be of interest to those tasked with tackling organized crime problems as well as those interested in the understanding the ways that organized crime problems have manifested themselves globally and how law enforcement and other agencies might seek to tackle them in the future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good reviews by highly competent folks!
A series of interesting studies by experienced folks---applying situational crime prevention to organized crimes (the situational perspective has been heretofore reserved largely for traditional street crimes). A great book for students, researchers, and interested policy makers. ... Read more

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Organized crime, understood in a literal sense as systematic illegal activity for money or power, is as old as the first systems of law and government and as international as trade. Piracy, banditry, kidnapping, extortion, forgery, fraud, and trading in stolen or illegal goods and services are all ancient occupations that have often involved the active participation of landowners, merchants, and government officials. Many people today, however, follow the lead of the US government and American commentators and understand organized crime as being virtually synonymous with super-criminal 'Mafia-type' organizations. These are usually seen as separate entities, distinct from legitimate society but possessing almost unlimited regional, national, and even international power. As background to this understanding of organized crime there exists a consensus among most commentators that suggests that the United States has had the most experience and success in dealing with the problem. In Organized Crime and American Power: A History, Michael Woodiwiss argues that organized criminal activity has never been a serious threat to established economic and political power structures in the United States but more often a fluid, variable, and open-ended phenomenon that has, in fact, complemented those structures.

Conventional histories of the problem tend to focus on outlaws in peripheral feudal societies, most commonly Sicily, for their antecedents. Woodiwiss by contrast finds his antecedents in the systematic criminal activity of the powerful and respectable in those ancient and early modern societies that we usually understand to be at the centre of 'civilized' development and continues to emphasize the crimes of the powerful throughout his wide ranging overview. He surveys the organization of crime in the Southern states after the American Civil War; the organized crimes of American business interests; the causes and corrupt consequences of the US campaign to prohibit alcohol and other 'vices'; the elaboration of the Mafia conspiracy interpretation of organized crime and the consequent 'dumbing of discourse' about the problem, not just nationally but internationally.

Emphasizing the importance of collaboration, as much as confrontation, between government and criminals, Woodiwiss illustrates how crime control policies based on the Mafia paradigm have not only failed to address much organized criminal behaviour, but have, in many ways, proved counterproductive and damaging to individual rights and social stability. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Gangs of America
This is a very insightful book that presents the historical and social factors that have contributed to the rise of organized crime in the United States. It is unfortunate that the book was published in Canada and written by a British author; however, it shows the extent of the controversy surrounding this subject. This book reveals that more than ethnic based 'imported'' criminal organizations, what has passed off for organized crime or 'mafia' in The United States is a phenomenon, which was related to and often encouraged, directly and indirectly, by the very government form exploitation of natives, Africans and working peoples in general. More significantly, the prohibitions that pandered to the 'puritanical' element in society such as the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920's and the current 'war on drugs' have actually encouraged criminal behavior. The criminal element is then succeded by a network of official corruption and so called regulation, which leads to the creation of so called legitimate businesses. Woodiwiss also shows that the very criminal justice system was set up to punish certain criomes more vehemently than others. There are interesting examples, which he brings up from the New York Triangle fire that then led to the honoring of Woman's Day to the Sacco and Vanzetti case. It is not an easy book to read, in that the style is academic and at times very detailed. This is not meant to be an entertaining account; however, it gives an unprecedented analysis of organized crime starting form the pre-Civil War period and covers all kinds of corruption. I would not be surprised if Martin Scorsese read this book while making his film "Gangs of New York", as when I saw that film this acadmic and dry but valuable book came to life. I would also reccomend reading Eric Schlosser's "fast Food Nation" and "Reefer Madness" as they are excellent complementary - and more entertaining - volumes to this text. ... Read more

Product Description
Everyone knows what organized crime is. Each year dozens of feature films, hundreds of books, and thousands of news stories explain to an eager public that organized crime is what gangsters do. Closely knit, ethnically distinct, and ruthlessly efficient, these mafias control the drugs trade, people trafficking and other serious crimes. If only states would take the threat seriously and recognize the global nature of modern organized crime, the FBI's success against the Italian mafia could be replicated throughout the world. The wicked trade in addictive drugs could be brought to a halt.

The trouble is, as Woodiwiss demonstrates in shocking and surprising detail, what everyone knows about organized crime is pretty much completely wrong. In reality the most important figures in organized crime are employees of multinational companies, politicians and bureaucrats. Gangsters are certainly a problem, but much of their strength comes from attempts to prohibit the market for certain drugs. Even here they are minor players when compared with the intelligence and law enforcement agencies that selectively enforce prohibition and profit from it. Woodiwiss shows how respectable businessmen and revered statesmen have seized these opportunities in an orgy of fraud and illegal violence ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A very timely book
What makes "Gangster Capitalism" so worthwhile is that it helps in understanding what has led us to the 2007-8 financial meltdown. As the book shows, like during the 1920's, deregulation led the way for powerful companies to allow the very wealthy to get wealthier at the expense of average people by using poor working conditions, low wages, etc, plus at the same time supporting supposedly moral movements (against gambling, alcohol, drugs, etc) which mainly served the purpose of making these trades more profitable to crooks and therefore created rampant gangsterism there. The result was such a society wracked with gangsterism at all levels, but because most people felt they were prospering, few complained. But, then it all collapsed with the 1929 crash and resulting Depression, which led the way for FDR and the New Deal programs which increased regulation of corporations, repeal of Prohibition, etc. Though the Depression lingered until WWII, the New Deal was successful in restructuring our laws and public infrastructure to create a better footing for the prosperity which would follow. The book effectively traces how much of this regulation was reduced piece by piece, beginning in earnest with Nixon, using Cold War fears to tilt the nation toward more corporate power and away from reform, support of right-wing dictators around the world, re-energizing a 'moral crusade' especially by beginning the War on Drugs, thereby making the illegal drug trade super profitable, etc. The nation had shifted Right and even Democratic presidents like Carter who was instrumental in deregulating industry and Clinton who signed into law the repeal of Glass--Steagle weren't able to stop the shift. Then, the 'Gangster Capitalism" went on steroids with G. W. Bush. By 2003, corporate taxes only amounted to 7% of revenues, while payroll taxes amounted to 40%.

Of note, the book makes clear it is opportunity which leads to much crime, so the approach of massive deregulation of corporations, plus focusing on arrests and imprisonment for victimless crimes ends up with the wrong results, more entrenched crime, even allowing corporations to capitalize on a prison industry. The book is also good at highlighting how corporations and outright gangsters were able to corrupt legal drugs (price-fixing), tobacco, asbestos, body parts, autos (Pintos), etc. Some other things in the book, of note: Hamid Karzai included drug traffickers in his Afghan administration. And, our support of Suharto (Indonesia), Mobuto (the Congo), and Marcos (the Philippines) allowed 'looting' of these countries. A corrupt financial infrastructure included the BCCI bank and offshore banking to evade taxes also developed. Plus, laundering money from illegal arms sales, drugs, and so many other illegal activities passed through our financial system.

The book is definitely tilted toward a liberal way of looking at things, therefore it doesn't go into the good things about capitalism, but there are disturbing patterns which are important to understand, and this book does that very well.

Wasted opportunity
Despite the fact that I was predisposed to agree with many of the author's views, this book wass a huge disappointment. First, the basic premises:

1. American business enterprise is singularly corrupt;
2. Most of the crime that Americans suffer from is corporate crime;
3. American methods of fighting crime focus on lurid fantasies of underworld conspiracy;
4. The USA exports criminality through its foreign & trade policies.

________________________
Each of these premises could have been, and in other venues have been, well-argued. The first three suffer from a lack of generally accepted, objective measures, but experts on criminology have overcome worse obstacles. What we get instead is an unfocused, rambling listing of claims (plausible, but very poorly documented) about the criminal underworld, anecdotes about corporate crime, and extreme statements. No doubt "legitimate" business enterprise does rip off more money from customers each year than do gangsters or mafiosi; but the latter also account for a tiny fraction of the total US labor force. And comparing deaths from industrial accidents to mob hits is just over the top.


Woodiwiss says that the book "had its inception during a seminar series on transnational organized crime run by Adam Edwards and Peter Gill... Adam and Peter put together several of the best academic researchers from Europe and North America...." Yet the book is exasperatingly badly substantiated. I noticed almost no original research. Woodiwiss's footnotes, which--like cops--are never around when you need them (viz., when he is actually saying something that requires documentation), are almost exclusively from articles in the *Guardian* or from other sensational exposes. Radical literature has its place, of course, but saying, "US capitalism is just like organized crime... see, it says so in 'The New Left Review'" is just a harangue, not evidence.


The back cover declaims: "..[T]he position of large multinational corporations...actually provide the most enticing opportunities for illegal profit...Gangster Capitalism shows how respectable businessmen and revered statesmen have seized these opportunities in an orgy of fraud and illegal violence that would leave the most hardened mafiosi speechless." In fact, it's a disappointing pile of clippings. With the exception of his claims--again, plausible but unsubstantiated--you are not going to find any surprises here.


As I mentioned, he attacks conventional wisdom regarding the mafia and J. Edgar Hoover (who comes off surprisingly well); unfortunately, Woodiwiss offers almost no support for those contentions that are likely to be controversial. For example, on p.78 he mentions President [Nixon]'s Advisory Council on Executive Organization, "Organized Crime Strike Force Report" [1969], which included a vaguely worded remark that the reliance on legal sanctions to fight drug abuse was actually causing organized crime to flourish." This is footnoted. Then he says that Nixon was so horrified by this that he ruthlessly suppressed the report. This is not footnoted. The next paragraph (p.49) includes a quote from a law enforcement officer claiming that gambling arrests were made just to pad the arrest numbers; this is footnoted. The next paragraph declares that gambling is no more corrupt than the rest of the economy. A surprising observation, it is predictably not footnoted.


The result: lots of footnotes documenting that water is a bit on the damp side, but nothing to support the controversial stuff. Only a small part is devoted to crime; the rest is a paste-up job from two dozen radical critiques of the USA. Anything from the 1971 ditching of the gold exchange standard to the various covert activities of the CIA are brought up, with no more compelling a connection to Woodiwiss' original point than being bad things that Americans did.


The conclusions are so insipid (it calls for "fair trade" with no further specification of how that would be any different... capital punishment for corporations--evidently Mr. Woodiwiss has never heard of 'money laundering,' in which a vehicle corporation commits suicide), that it is pointless to spend any time on them. Woodiwiss needs to actually learn something about economics; ironically enough, for someone who claims business is closely tied to crime, he knows almost nothing about it. He needs to know, and say what he knows, about law enforcement and business practices abroad, so he can make a comparison. And finally, he needs to actually learn how to write.

Ganster Review
Great read, thoughtful, informative well written and a must read for any one intrested in making the earth a better and less corrupt place to live in. ... Read more

Product Description
"Never in history has there been a black market tamed from the supply side. From Prohibition to prostitution, from gambling to recreational drugs, the story is the same. Supply-side controls act to encourage production and increase profits. At best a few intermediaries get knocked out of business. But as long as demand persists, the market is served more or less as before. In the meantime, failure to ‘win the war’ [against crime] becomes a pretext for increasing police budgets, expanding law enforcement powers, and pouring more money into the voracious maw of the prison-industrial complex."—from the Introduction

R. T. Naylor specializes in the study of smuggling, black markets, and international financial crime. Wages of Crime takes the reader into the shadowy underworld of modern criminal business—arms trafficking, gold smuggling, money laundering, and terrorist financing. Naylor dissects the schemes by which illegal entrepreneurs disguise their acts, manage their take, and eventually enjoy the loot. The author asserts that much of what police, press, politicians, and the public understand about international crime is based on myth and misrepresentation.

Wages of Crime also outlines Naylor’s claim that some of the most popular modern law-enforcement fads are inefficient or useless and can do massive damage in eroding civil liberties. In the wake of recent tragedies, Naylor’s criticisms of contemporary anticrime policies and the confounding of criminal and national security issues have a sharper resonance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Too much politics with the economics
This book was a bit disappointing.One issue was a deficit in theoretical foundation and analysis.Some sections did include a theoretical framework: for example, the chapter on insurgency finance divides insurgencies into several stages, with different funding methods available at different stages.But large sections of the book consist of interesting anecdotes, culled mostly from newspaper stories, and tied together by Naylor's opinions, assertions, and explanations.Where he does present any theoretical framework, he generally credits it to someone else.

As others here have mentioned, Naylor's political views are on full display, to the extent of inserting gratuitous jabs that have nothing to do with illicit finance, or in some cases even with economics.The breeziness with which he makes bold un-cited statements calls into question the overall quality of his scholarship.He takes others to task for putting too much confidence in facts and statistics about criminal markets, since the true extent of those markets and the secretive organizations that service them are inherently unknowable.This is a perfectly good point.Yet Naylor makes bald assertions about the role of intelligence agencies in the worldwide underworld, with no hint of how he gained such understanding of these equally secretive organizations.

Overall there must be better books on this subject, but while reading this one wasn't especially pleasant, it wasn't a waste of my time either.The anecdotes are interesting, there is a fair amount of general explanation, and I'm now confident that I'll never need to look up money laundering in a dictionary.

cornell press


Multi faceted and objective look at the underworld economy.
Many statitistics and and overwhelming amount of detailed historical
information. Some sources not sited in what could appear to be
biased editorializations, but these observations are few and far in
between.All in all a great overview.

Political diatribe masquerading as scholarly work
When I picked up Wages of Crime, I was hoping to find an objective presentation and debate on the the value of anti-money laundering policies and law enforcement trends. Instead, Naylor, without providing any evidence, reaches conclusions that suit only his own political agenda, which he pretty much makes clear throughout the book. His tone is wholly one sided and dismissive. It's perhaps a good thing that the author reverts to childlike plays on names and other amateurish techniques to support his arguments, for by doing so, he allows the reader to easily dismiss most of what he has to say. Examples of name calling include this sentence: "Hence, advised by neo-con artists crafting its foreign policy...". Neo-con artists. How clever. Or in this passage where he describes the many wonderful things he thinks Hizbullah has done, he includes: "rebuilding houses gratuitously destroyed by Israeli bombs and shells". This book is anything but a serious, unbiased study of the issues.

If you do a Google on Naylor, the first link brings you to an interview where Naylor gets right down to business in the very first question. His answer tells you all you need to know about what you might read from Wages of Crime: "Al Queda itself does not exist, except in the fevered imaginations of neo-cons and Likudniks, some of whom, I suspect, also know it is a myth, but find it extremely useful as a bogeyman to spook the public and the politicians to acquiesce in otherwise unacceptable policy initiatives at home and abroad."

A Marxist perspective on Black Market issues
This book on the black market makes a case for going back to views popular in the 1960s.In the 1960s, the black market was populated with cold-war spies and gun running free-booters.Since then, the popular press has painted the black market as a drug running paradise.Naylor tries to convince us this image is a lie.The real black market criminals are capitalist executives in the military-industrial complex.Defined in this manner, 'Wages of Crime' becomes a traditional left wing vehicle for brow beating those unwilling to genuflect before Marxist-Leninist dogma. This critique is not limited to attacks on the US political establishment.At one point Naylor laments that Gorbachev's generation 'forgot its ideological roots'.On another page, Naylor describes the proletarian interests in South East Asia.

The reader won't find the standard pulp crime stories here, which is a blessing.Unfortunately, the book relies on rhetorical flourish rather than statistics. Thus, it simply substitutes one stereotype with a second.

The text was pulled from independent articles, so the flow is sometimes uneven.For example, a chapter seeking to debunk the political might of heroin/cocaine dealers tries to convince the reader that drugs are of marginal economic importance.He complains that the published estimates of drug dealer wealth are too high by perhaps a factor of 100.In another chapter, rich drug dealers engage in crimes with military-industrial complex.

recomended
I really think this book gives a great inside in to the economics of ilegal activities. ... Read more

Product Description
Motor City Mafia: A Century of Organized Crime in Detroit chronicles the storied and hallowed gangland history of the notorious Detroit underworld. Scott M. Burnstein takes the reader inside the belly of the beast, tracking the bloodshed, exploits, and leadership of the southeast Michigan crime syndicate as never before seen in print. Through a stunning array of rare archival photographs and images, Motor City Mafia captures Detroit's most infamous past, from its inception in the early part of the 20th century, through the years when the iconic Purple Gang ruled the city's streets during Prohibition, through the 1930s and the formation of the local Italian mafia, and the Detroit crime family's glory days in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, all the way to the downfall of the area's mob reign in the 1980s and 1990s. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

wonderful, i need more
this was an absolutely wonderful book.the pictures and information contained was great.so much has been written on the New York and Chicago mobs and so little on the pivotal and still to this day, very real power that is the Motor City Mafia.I thirst for more.I am ordering Mr. Burnstein's DVD on the Detroit Mob as well.Not to tell Scott Burnstein or Paul Kavieff, who have been the only 2 authors writing exclusively about the Detroit Mob, or for that matter anyone else out there what to do, but more is needed on this subject.Alot more.A full length book about the Detroit Mob from the early days of the 20th century, the Adamo, Giannola, Vitale, La Mare days through the reign of Joe Zerelli and the Tocco family, through the 50's, the 60's, the Hoffa story up to the present day. This story needs to be told in full in a full length book.I thirst for more on this subject.Perhaps Mr. Burnstein is interested in writing such an expose.If he or someone else is I'd love to hear about it.Anyone reading this can let me know.Otherwise, this is a great book and filled with great pics and info.I imagine the DVD will be great too.But i need more!!!If full length books have been written on the much inferior Denver and Atlanta mobs, and they have, then please give Detroit it's due.A full length book dedicated to Detroit is very overdue.Still this is a great start

interesting
an interesting book on the history of detroit organized crime.it has a lot of nice photos but not a whole lot in the way of information.it is also very brief so if you're looking for a comprehnsive history of this topic it's probably not the source.

Cheers to Scott!
I've known Scott since we were 6 years old, and it is great to see this book out.While the book could have used substanintally more copy-editing, the photos and text were quite informative.I have never seen much of this information before, or a book of this type.It was neat to learn more about the area in which I grew up.

Excellent book for the Motor City
Excellent book.especially since not much has been written about the Motor City mafia.even recognized a house I used to fertiize when I worked in that field.very informative and interesting.a must buy for the mob freak.

Motor City Mafia
This book consisted of a lot of pictures. It was interesting to me because I have grown up in Detroit.It had very recent photos, including ones of the Summer 2006 wild goose chase in which a farm in Milford, Michigan was investigated in the search for Hoffa.It could have been a little more in depth, but I enjoyed the information none the less! ... Read more

Product Description
"You're lucky he didn't have an ice pick in his hands. I know how this guy performs."

                -Mobster Paul Volpe speaking about a Buffalo-mafia enforcer named "Cicci"

Canada is lauded the world over as a law abiding, peaceful country - a shining example to all nations. Such a view, also shared by most Canadians, is typically naïve and misinformed. Throughout its history, to present day and beyond, Canada has been and will continue to be home to criminals and crime organizations that are brilliant at finding ways to make money - a lot of money - illegally.

Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada is a remarkable parallel history to the one generally accepted and taught in our schools. Organized crime has had a significant impact on the shaping of this country and the lives of its people. The most violent and thuggish - outlaw motorcycle gangs like Hells Angels - have been raised to mythic proportions. The families who owned distilleries during Prohibition, such as the Bronfmans, built vast fortunes that today are vested in corporate holdings. The mafia in Montreal created and controlled the largest heroin and cocaine smuggling empire in the world, feeding the insatiable appetite of our American neighbours. Today, gangs are laying waste the streets of Vancouver, and "BC bud" flows into the U.S. as the marijuana of choice.

Organized crime is as old as this nation's founding, with pirates ravaging the east coast, even as hired guns by colonial governments. Since our nation's earliest times, government and crime groups have found that collusion can have its mutual benefits.

Comprehensive, informative and entertaining - as you will discover in the remarkable period pieces devised by the author and the illustrations commissioned specially for this book - Iced is a romp across the nation and across the centuries. In these pages you will meet crime groups that are at once sordid and inept, yet resourceful entrepreneurs and self-proclaimed champions of the underdog, who operate in full sight of their communities and the law. This is the definitive book on organized crime in Canada, and a unique contribution to our understanding of Canadian history.

Product Description

Product Description

Product Description
Readers not only gain knowledge concerning the development of organized groups in the United States, but within international boundaries as well. Each group is viewed historically, territorially, economically, and politically in an effort to provide a complete package of all international groups. Each chapter also explores law enforcement inititatives, including history, legislation, and success rate, as well as a discussion of the corruption of authority where applicable.  In depth analysis of La Cosa Nostras./Total anaylsis of street organized crime gangs and lack of police response./View of terrorist groups as organized crime narco/terrorists gangs, IRA, Arab groups, etc./Complete anaylsis and review of all ethnic and racial organized crime groups./All chapters include historical backgrounds on all groups.  This book would be helpful in the training of members of the law enforcement and/or military community who deal with organized crime groups. It would give the average law enforcement/military officer a more than sufficient amount of information regarding the ongoing, past and present, operations of all organized crime worldwide. Helping them identify gang members in and out of the officer's work environment, making the officers aware of the criminal activities of these groups and how to identify a crime these groups might have committed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Most comprehensive book available
I am an organized crime buff and have read virtually every book on the subject that i can find.This book is one stop shopping!It providesa comprehensive history of all organized crime groups currently operating in the United States.I would recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the subject.

Great for class
My Organized Crimes class in college used this book and I found it very helpful. It is not the kind of book you just sit down and read for fun, but one that you can gain a vast amount of knowledge from.It is very detailed and well researched. I was also lucky enough to have Dr. Britz teaching my class. The combination of her lectures and the information in the textbook was outstanding.

Awful read
Although this book may give insight to every single gang and organized crime unit in the world, it is the most boring read ever. It is so detailed that if you're trying to get an overall view of organized crime, then you'll just be left frustrated. After reading this book I am overwhelmed and all the information is running together. ... Read more

Product Description
The Gambinos--they arrived in America from Sicily when the `20's roared with bootleg liquor.For thirty years they fought a bloody battle for control of New York's underworld to emerge as the nation's richest and most powerful crime family.Now Mafia expert John H. Davis tells their compelling inside story.

Here are the chilling details and deceptions that created a vast criminal empire.Here are six decades of the uncontrolled greed and lust for power of such men as Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Carlo Gambino, Paul Castellano, and John Gotti--men for whom murder and betrayal were business as usual.From the Gambinos' powerful stranglehold on New York's construction, garment, and waterfront industries to the government's onslaught against them in the `80s and `90s, Mafia Dynasty takes you into the mysterious world of blood oaths, shifting alliances, and deadly feuds that will hold you riveted from the first page to the last.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

The greatest Mobsters of all time
Bada-Bing!!

I've read this book at least a half of dozen time.It is fascinating and fun along the ride.
The information contains real life case scenarios, that brings out the true meaning of the real mafia.

John H. Davis truly delivered his best and his knowledge to the real birth and criminal ambitious of The New York Crime Families, The Crime Commission and it competitors.

A solid mob history
MAFIA DYNASTY gives the history of New York's Gambino crime family, focusing on bosses Carlo Gambino (perhaps the smartest of the American dons), his cousin Paul Castellano, and the usurper John Gotti.Author Davis covers a lot of ground and provides a great source for Mafia aficionados.While the writing lacks the pizzazz of other books in this genre, it's worth having on your bookshelf for reference.

Not even close
All right. Now I have seen John Davis on a few documentarys giving his two cents about Luciano, Costello ECT. But this book is no good. It recaps (in a boring manner)information(largely false/uninteresting) that you could read in ny other mafia book. I highly recommend Five Families by Selwyn Raab or anyhting by Jerry Capeci. But not this sorry excuse for a mafia book.

A work Italian -Americans can be proud of.
This is a well researched,highly readable book.It was interesting to see the mobsters own confessions via wiretaps by the FBI.The FBI was also able to uncover a mole working for the mob on the NYPD payroll.The language of these mobsters behind closed doors was appalling,not the 4 letter word cursing, but the sociopathic ramblings about murder and extortion.Those wiretaps definitely denied the mob their layer of deniability. the author gives a good account of mob extortion in the building trade,a 1% mark-up which seems scarcely noticeable turns into multi-millions on large scale building contracts.As Mr. Davis points out very coherently,the mob's main method of winning these contracts is violence or even more fearful the "threat of violence " as an option.
It was a real eye opener about "mob charites" or the mob paying a mortgage for an elderly widow.The odds are about the same as winning in agambling casino.For every widow who had her mortgage paid by a mobster dozens more lost their mortgages due to mob crimes.It was inspiring to see how many Italian-Americans worked overtime to help bring down the Gambino crime family.If nothing else this book gives a real respectful view of hard working honest Americans and I gave kudos to the priest who refused to do a mobster's funeral.I realize however that some of the priests do the masses out of respect for the mobster's families who are often mob victims also.Really this book does not glorify the Gambino's and there is nothing good said about any of their members.Gotti is portrayed as the final deevolution of the Gambino's "family" and ironically it took the US government to straighten out some of the mess which still isn't entirely cleaned up yet.
One thing in this book really impressed me. The mob itself is nothing but a glorified pyramid scheme and actually exploits the underpriveliged instead of helping them.Short term the "worker" may get a new car but long term he gets a "long term" that is if he's lucky.The Gambino's retirement program seemed to be a mob "bodybag" or one other way. That is,having the government pick up the tab by sponsoring a criminal in the "Witness Protection Program" at 5 grand a month(at least in 1990).Gotti spent most of his time as Gambino manager trying to figure out who was going to turn up next as a government witness.That in itself would definitely be a full time job.The book makes me wonder what would have been revealed about Al Capone had the government had wiretaps in the 1930's.

John Gotti
Here is a very insitefull book on a "Man's Man".not saying that being a violation of any crime is I supported by me.But the Man of John Gotti as descibed in this book I can respect. ... Read more