Book Info
Contemporary Issues in Organized Crime
Jay Albanese, ed.
(Paperback)
1995, 211 pages
ISBN: 1-881798-04-6
$25.00
An anthology includes 10 previously unpublished studies and reviews of contemporary organized crime, including: its connection to legitimate business; how groups become organized; the effectiveness of different law enforcement approaches; and new criminal opportunities. According to editor Jay Albanese's introduction, for many years organized crime has been characterized as an urban, monolithic conspiracy dominated by Italian-Americans. Investigations in recent years, however, have established that this portrayal of organized crime is both limited and inaccurate. In fact, organized crime has been found to be most often a local problem that operates in much the same way as legitimate business. Organized crime groups emerge and respond to supply and demand for products and services. They react to changes in regulatory measures and enforcement strategies. They seize upon opportunities for profit-making, in much the same way that legitimate business reacts to changes in the marketplace by developing new products and services. Chapter topics include: casino gambling and organized crime (by Albanese); organized crime’s gambling on college sports (by David C. Whelan); predicting the infiltration of legitimate businesses (by Albanese); an ethnographic look at rural crime networks (by Gary Potter and Larry Gaines); the neighborhood’s role in recruiting and perpetuating organized crime membership in Chicago street crews (by Robert M. Lombardo and Arthur J. Lurigio); Mafia women in non-fiction (by James D. Calder); use and avoidance of RICO laws by local prosecutors (by Donald J. Rebovich); money laundering as a preferred target of law enforcement agencies (by Margaret E. Beare); motor fuel tax fraud and organized crime (by Richter H. Moore, Jr.); and the potential for organized crime’s growth in Central and Eastern Europe (by Matti Joutsen).
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