Overview

Organized crime has shaped politics, economies, and societies across centuries. This textbook traces organized criminal enterprises from their historical origins through the rise of the Mafia, Yakuza, Triads, cartels, and modern transnational criminal networks while examining the legal and institutional responses developed to combat them.

Table of Contents

  1. Chapter 1: What Is Organized Crime?
  2. Chapter 2: Crime, Markets, and the State
  3. Chapter 3: Criminal Networks in the Ancient World
  4. Chapter 4: Medieval Organized Crime
  5. Chapter 5: Early Modern Criminal Enterprises
  6. Chapter 6: Sicily and the Origins of the Mafia
  7. Chapter 7: The Camorra and Naples
  8. Chapter 8: The 'Ndrangheta of Calabria
  9. Chapter 9: Immigration and Urban Crime
  10. Chapter 10: The Rise of American Gangsters
  11. Chapter 11: Prohibition and the Criminal Revolution
  12. Chapter 12: The Age of Al Capone
  13. Chapter 13: Lucky Luciano and the New Mafia
  14. Chapter 14: The Five Families
  15. Chapter 15: The Mafia at Its Peak
  16. Chapter 16: Government Strikes Back
  17. Chapter 17: The Yakuza
  18. Chapter 18: Chinese Triads
  19. Chapter 19: Russian Organized Crime
  20. Chapter 20: Balkan Criminal Organizations
  21. Chapter 21: The Global Drug Trade
  22. Chapter 22: Colombian Cartels
  23. Chapter 23: Mexican Cartels
  24. Chapter 24: Narco-States and Corruption
  25. Chapter 25: Gambling Empires
  26. Chapter 26: Prostitution and Human Trafficking
  27. Chapter 27: Smuggling and Counterfeiting
  28. Chapter 28: Money Laundering
  29. Chapter 29: Cybercrime Organizations
  30. Chapter 30: Cryptocurrency and Digital Crime
  31. Chapter 31: Global Criminal Networks
  32. Chapter 32: Policing Organized Crime
  33. Chapter 33: Laws Against Organized Crime
  34. Chapter 34: Successes and Failures
  35. Chapter 35: Why Organized Crime Persists
  36. Chapter 36: Organized Crime in the Twenty-First Century
  37. Chapter 37: The Recurring Cycle
  38. Back Matter

Learning Outcomes