The Oxford Handbook of Organized Crime

The Oxford Handbook of Organized Crime provides an informed, authoritative, and comprehensive overview of current knowledge about the nature and effects of the principal forms of organized crime, as well as the type and effectiveness of efforts to prevent and control them. Reflecting the transnational dimensions of criminal organizations and their activities, and the growing role of international organizations reacting to organized crime, The Handbook takes a global perspective with first-rate contributions from around the world covering the main regions and countries in which organized crime activity is at its greatest. It is divided into four sections: concepts and research methods, actors and interactions, markets and activities, and, finally, national and international policies to fight criminal organizations. While there are a number of organized crime texts available, none delivers a systematic, high-quality and truly global approach to the topic as is available in The Oxford Handbook of Organized Crime. Its insights illuminate both traditional areas of study in the field and pathways for developing cutting-edge research questions.List of Contributors ; Introduction ; Letizia Paoli ; Part I. Concept, Theories, History and Research Methods ; 1. Organized Crime: A Contested Concept ; Letizia Paoli and Tom Van der Beken ; 2. Theoretical Perspectives on Organized Crime ; Edward R. Kleemans ; 3. Searching for Organized Crime in History ; Cyrille Fijnaut ; 4. How to Research Organized Crime ; Dick Hobbs and Georgios A. Antonopoulos ; Part II. Actors and Interactions ; 5. The Italian Mafia ; Letizia Paoli ; 6. The Italian-American Mafia ; Jay Albanese ; 7. Russian Mafia: Rise and Extincion ; Vadim Volkov ; 8. Organized Crime in Colombia: The Actors Running the Illegal Drug Industry ; Francisco E. Thoumi ; 9. Mexican Drug Cartels ; Monica Medel and Francisco E. Thoumi ; 10. Chinese Organized Crime ; Ko Lin-Chin and Min Liu ; 11. The Japanese Yakuza ; Peter Hill ; 12. West African Organized Crime ; Phil Willliams ; 13. Gangs: Another Form of Organized Crime? ; Scott H. Decker and David C. Pyrooz ; 14. Opportunistic Structures of Organized Crime ; Martin Bouchard and Carlo Morselli ; 15. Organizing Crime: The State as Agent ; Susanne Karstedt ; 16. The Social Embeddedness of Organized Crime ; Henk van de Bunt, Dina Siegel, and Damian Zaitch ; Part III. Markets and Activities ; 17. Protection and Extortion ; Federico Varese ; 18. Drug Markets and Organized Crime ; Peter Reuter ; 19. Human Smuggling, Human Trafficking, and Exploitation in the Sex Industry ; Edward R. Kleemans and Monika Smit ; 20. Illegal Gambling ; Toine Spapens ; 21. Money Laundering ; Michael Levi ; 22. Arms Trafficking ; Andrew Feinstein and Paul Holden ; 23. Organized Fraud ; Michael Levi ; 24. Cyber Crime ; Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo and Peter Grabosky ; 25. The Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources ; Tim Boekhout van Solinge ; Part IV. Policies to Control Organized Crime ; 26. Organized Crime Control in the United States of America ; James B. Jacobs and Elizabeth A. Dondlinger ; 27. U.S. Organized Crime Control Policies Exported Abroad ; Margaret Beare and Michael Woodiwiss ; 28. European Union Organized Crime Control Policies ; Cyrille Fijnaut ; 29. The Fight against the Mafia in Italy ; Antonio La Spina ; 30. Organized Crime Control in Australia and New Zealand ; Julie Ayling and Rod Broadhurst ; 31. Organized Crime Control in Asia: Examples from India, China and the Golden Triangle ; Rod Broadhurst and Nicholas Farrelly ; 32. Finance-Oriented Strategies of Organized Crime Control ; Michael Kilchling ; Index