Organized Crime: A Very Short Introduction

Description

This book uncovers the reality of organised crime, considering what is meant by the term 'organised', and discussing the different forms of activities organised crime engages in, from human trafficking to extortion. Offering a global perspective, from the Mafia to the Yakuza, it considers efforts to combat organised crime today.

• Uncovers the reality of organized crime in the world today, while deconstructing media myths about the phenomenon
• Uses examples from around the globe to discuss the different forms organized crime can take
• Discusses key aspects of organized crime, such as human trafficking, extortion, and arms trafficking
• Explores the different established cultural traditions of organized crime, such as the Mafia, Triads, and the Yakuza
• Analyses the parallels that can be drawn between criminal organizations and legitimate business structures
• Explores ways of controlling and preventing organized crime
• Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over eight million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Georgios A Antonopoulos, Professor of Criminology, Teesside University, and Georgios Papanicolaou, Reader in Criminology, Teesside University

Georgios A. Antonopoulos is professor of criminology at Teesside University. He has been visiting scholar at a number of universities in the UK, Greece, Croatia and the Netherlands. He is an associate of the Cross-Border Crime Colloquium, editor-in-chief of the journal Trends in Organised Crime, and member of the editorial boards of the journals Global Crime, Journal of Financial Crime, Journal of Money Laundering Control, and the British Journal of Criminology. From 2010 to 2014 he was Chair of the North-east branch of the British Society of Criminology, and in 2014 he served as executive director of the International Association for the Study of Organised Crime (IASOC).

Georgios Papanicolaou is Reader in Criminology at Teesside University UK. He has studied Law and Penal Sciences at the University of Athens, and Criminology at the University of Edinburgh. His research and published work investigate the political economy of policing and the policing of illicit markets, particularly in a transnational context. Georgios is a member of the editorial board of the journal Trends in Organised Crime.

Table of Contents

1:Introduction: What is organised crime?
2:Organised crime around the globe
3:The business of organised crime
4:Controlling and preventing organised crime
5:Conclusion: Business as usual
References
Further Reading