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Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate
The signs and signals of criminal communication
How do criminals communicate with each other? Unlike the rest of us, people planning crimes can't freely advertise their goods and services, nor can they rely on formal institutions to settle disputes and certify quality. They face uniquely intense dilemmas as they grapple with the basic problems of whom to trust, how to make themselves trusted, and how to handle information without being detected by rivals or police. In this book, one of the world's leading scholars of the mafia ranges from ancient Rome to the gangs of modern Japan, from the prisons of Western countries to terrorist and pedophile rings, to explain how despite these constraints, many criminals successfully stay in business.
Diego Gambetta shows that as villains balance the lure of criminal reward against the fear of dire punishment, they are inspired to unexpected feats of subtlety and ingenuity in communication. He uncovers the logic of the often bizarre ways in which inveterate and occasional criminals solve their dilemmas, such as why the tattoos and scars etched on a criminal's body function as lines on a professional résumé, why inmates resort to violence to establish their position in the prison pecking order, and why mobsters are partial to nicknames and imitate the behavior they see in mafia movies. Even deliberate self-harm and the disclosure of their crimes are strategically employed by criminals to convey important messages.
By deciphering how criminals signal to each other in a lawless universe, this gruesomely entertaining and incisive book provides a quantum leap in our ability to make sense of their actions.
How do criminals communicate with each other? Unlike the rest of us, people planning crimes can't freely advertise their goods and services, nor can they rely on formal institutions to settle disputes and certify quality. They face uniquely intense dilemmas as they grapple with the basic problems of whom to trust, how to make themselves trusted, and how to handle information without being detected by rivals or police. In this book, one of the world's leading scholars of the mafia ranges from ancient Rome to the gangs of modern Japan, from the prisons of Western countries to terrorist and pedophile rings, to explain how despite these constraints, many criminals successfully stay in business.
Diego Gambetta shows that as villains balance the lure of criminal reward against the fear of dire punishment, they are inspired to unexpected feats of subtlety and ingenuity in communication. He uncovers the logic of the often bizarre ways in which inveterate and occasional criminals solve their dilemmas, such as why the tattoos and scars etched on a criminal's body function as lines on a professional résumé, why inmates resort to violence to establish their position in the prison pecking order, and why mobsters are partial to nicknames and imitate the behavior they see in mafia movies. Even deliberate self-harm and the disclosure of their crimes are strategically employed by criminals to convey important messages.
By deciphering how criminals signal to each other in a lawless universe, this gruesomely entertaining and incisive book provides a quantum leap in our ability to make sense of their actions.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published July 27, 2009
38 people are currently reading
745 people want to read
About the author
Diego Gambetta
18 books20 followersDiego Gambetta is a Professor of Sociology at Nuffield College of the University of Oxford.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 27, 2024
I can’t say as I disagreed with anything in this book, but on the other hand I didn’t find much that was revelatory either. Whilst reading the book I had the feeling I instinctively knew much of the content, even if I couldn’t have put it together in a coherent argument as the author has done. The book might be described as a synthesis of various aspects of communication within the Underworld.
As the author highlights, the nature of criminal activity requires criminals to adopt particular techniques of communication, in order to keep their plans secret from law enforcement and indeed from other criminal gangs. Often this makes preparation cumbersome. Suppose a mobster in New York wants to make contact with a mobster in Chicago, he can’t just call up and say, “Hi, I’m X from the New York branch.” A meeting must be arranged via an intermediary who can vouch for both parties, and usually involves elaborate security precautions. Another major issue is trust, given both the essential untrustworthiness of the participants and the danger of encountering informers or undercover police officers. As the author says “criminals are constantly afraid of being duped, while at the same time they are busy duping others.” The book highlights the role that prisons play in extending criminal networks and in establishing a reputation as the genuine article. As one man was quoted, “After all, who is more trustworthy than a guy you have done time with?” On the question of prisons, one chapter covers prisoner hierarchies, and how these are established and signalled.
Minimal communication is the default position amongst criminals. Their aim is to make themselves understood without saying things that could incriminate them in a court. Asking questions is generally a very bad idea, and would raise suspicions that the person asking was an informer. A successful criminal therefore has to become adept at “reading between the lines”. Body language is another area. Bosses constantly monitor their subordinates for signs of disloyalty. The author has made a special study of the Sicilian mafia, whose members cultivate the “stony face” technique, partly for this reason.
There’s an interesting chapter at the end, about the relationship between TV and film and real-life criminals, and how they imitate each other. It’s not unusual, it seems, for mobsters to advise filmmakers on authenticity. The actor James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano, related how, “once when I wore shorts in a barbecue scene it was relayed to me that it was not something these gentlemen would do, even at a barbecue.” The message was subsequently relayed to Tony in the TV series.
The rating reflects my personal enjoyment in reading the book. Personally I think this book is more aimed at the author’s professional peers than at a general readership.
As the author highlights, the nature of criminal activity requires criminals to adopt particular techniques of communication, in order to keep their plans secret from law enforcement and indeed from other criminal gangs. Often this makes preparation cumbersome. Suppose a mobster in New York wants to make contact with a mobster in Chicago, he can’t just call up and say, “Hi, I’m X from the New York branch.” A meeting must be arranged via an intermediary who can vouch for both parties, and usually involves elaborate security precautions. Another major issue is trust, given both the essential untrustworthiness of the participants and the danger of encountering informers or undercover police officers. As the author says “criminals are constantly afraid of being duped, while at the same time they are busy duping others.” The book highlights the role that prisons play in extending criminal networks and in establishing a reputation as the genuine article. As one man was quoted, “After all, who is more trustworthy than a guy you have done time with?” On the question of prisons, one chapter covers prisoner hierarchies, and how these are established and signalled.
Minimal communication is the default position amongst criminals. Their aim is to make themselves understood without saying things that could incriminate them in a court. Asking questions is generally a very bad idea, and would raise suspicions that the person asking was an informer. A successful criminal therefore has to become adept at “reading between the lines”. Body language is another area. Bosses constantly monitor their subordinates for signs of disloyalty. The author has made a special study of the Sicilian mafia, whose members cultivate the “stony face” technique, partly for this reason.
There’s an interesting chapter at the end, about the relationship between TV and film and real-life criminals, and how they imitate each other. It’s not unusual, it seems, for mobsters to advise filmmakers on authenticity. The actor James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano, related how, “once when I wore shorts in a barbecue scene it was relayed to me that it was not something these gentlemen would do, even at a barbecue.” The message was subsequently relayed to Tony in the TV series.
The rating reflects my personal enjoyment in reading the book. Personally I think this book is more aimed at the author’s professional peers than at a general readership.
March 4, 2018
In all honesty, I felt like a lot of these signals and communication issues that Diego Gambetta raises are logical and anyone who thoroughly thinks about it will have arrived to the same logic. What I really appreciate about this book is how it puts a lot of these signals and icons into one academic book that applies a rather academic language to explain and understand them. Although a lot of the claims the author does is based on rather loose evidence and demands a lot more evidence than what was exposed. I mean, more often than not, fiction was used to show examples of one thing or another. I also thought that Donnie Brasco was mentionned A LOT thorough the book. I mean, it is totally understandable that evidence is hard to come by and that books about undercover cops are some of the best sources for this type of subject, but in the end, Codes of the Underworld explores communication so that other researchers will delve into this subject even further in the future.
This remains a very fun read in how ridiculous things can be in the criminal world. After all, these people have the additional issue of discretion and secrecy, on top of additional trust issues since they live in the underworld.
P.S. Full review to come
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: http://bookidote.wordpress.com
This remains a very fun read in how ridiculous things can be in the criminal world. After all, these people have the additional issue of discretion and secrecy, on top of additional trust issues since they live in the underworld.
P.S. Full review to come
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: http://bookidote.wordpress.com
June 2, 2010
The existence of heroin stamps poses two puzzles: first, competitors could adulterate or counterfeit a successful brand, and no court exists to enforce a drug dealer's trademark. Second, brands offer a clear chain of evidence that could lead law enforcement right back to the seller.
The first puzzle is more serious: how could heroin stamps survive the threat of mimicry? We know that "a few stamps acquired long-term reputations (like POISON, NO JOKE and 91/2 PLUS) and lasted for years" offering quality that was "consistently good," but very few stamps have been in circulation for more than two or three months, and "many stamps last only a few days before being replaced." So this question has two horns: first, why do some stamps manage to be stable and reliable over long periods of time despite the threat of counterfeiting, and why do dealers of all sorts continue to put stamps on bags even though the longevity of most of them is so short?
The answer to the first question seems to be that "a major deterrent to counterfeiting labels was that counterfeiters would be, and have been, threatened, assaulted or killed by the real dealers of that particular label."
...[W:]hat about the smaller dealers, however, the so-called freelancers, who continued putting stamps on their bags even though they expected their brands to be short-lived, and who kept changing them frequently? This defeats the purpose of branding, as the association between signs and quality is disrupted, making it impossible for a reputation to develop... To understand the possible logic of their choice, we have to consider the alternative they faced, namely selling *anonymous* heroin bags.
--from Chapter 8, "Criminal Trademarks"
The first puzzle is more serious: how could heroin stamps survive the threat of mimicry? We know that "a few stamps acquired long-term reputations (like POISON, NO JOKE and 91/2 PLUS) and lasted for years" offering quality that was "consistently good," but very few stamps have been in circulation for more than two or three months, and "many stamps last only a few days before being replaced." So this question has two horns: first, why do some stamps manage to be stable and reliable over long periods of time despite the threat of counterfeiting, and why do dealers of all sorts continue to put stamps on bags even though the longevity of most of them is so short?
The answer to the first question seems to be that "a major deterrent to counterfeiting labels was that counterfeiters would be, and have been, threatened, assaulted or killed by the real dealers of that particular label."
...[W:]hat about the smaller dealers, however, the so-called freelancers, who continued putting stamps on their bags even though they expected their brands to be short-lived, and who kept changing them frequently? This defeats the purpose of branding, as the association between signs and quality is disrupted, making it impossible for a reputation to develop... To understand the possible logic of their choice, we have to consider the alternative they faced, namely selling *anonymous* heroin bags.
--from Chapter 8, "Criminal Trademarks"
January 15, 2015
This is a quick and accessible survey of the various ways in which criminals use signalling to communicate. The central insight here is that criminals (like everyone, but exacerbated by the illicit nature of their profession) face significant challenges in developing trust and verifying credibility during exchanges, which forces a variety of signalling responses depending on the type of interaction. This can range from facial tattoos to forms of initiation that require prospective partners to engage in joint criminal acts to prove their loyalty and strengthen group solidarity. Two chapters study how prisoners engage in fighting or self-harm in order to signal their toughness relative to their peers. Other chapters look at brand names in the drug trade, the use of nicknames by mafia members as a means of obscuring identities, and how media portrayals of criminal groups affect their self-identities.
There is no strong analytical narrative tying all the chapters of the book together, and the analysis primarily takes place at the individual level. Jacob Shapiro's The Terrorist's Dilemma is better for exploring how the need to operate in secret imposes constraints on clandestine organizations' activities. Still, this was an easy and interesting read.
There is no strong analytical narrative tying all the chapters of the book together, and the analysis primarily takes place at the individual level. Jacob Shapiro's The Terrorist's Dilemma is better for exploring how the need to operate in secret imposes constraints on clandestine organizations' activities. Still, this was an easy and interesting read.
August 6, 2021
I want to write more about this later but for now suffice it to say this is a great book about how criminals communicate often using signs and codes rather than directly. The section on prison fights as communication is particularly terrifying. The information about the Yakuza and its likely murder of a famous Japanese film director, along with the section discussing the importance of The Godfather to the mafia, are also enlightening. There is a bit in here too about Italian academia where it is suggested that in order to rise one must also be corrupt, or at least incompetent, as in '[t]here is no greater sin than having a brilliant idea.' Aside from these specific examples, there is a world here to explore for any student of organized corruption or society.
August 28, 2010
The most interesting chapter was on the role of tattoos and fighting in prison communication, with comparison US prison culture to Polish. The chapter on nicknames wasn't that interesting, but the chapter on the feedback between movies and criminals was intriguing.
The sections on the values of incompetence, and corruption, were thought-provoking.
The sections on the values of incompetence, and corruption, were thought-provoking.
September 23, 2011
Some interesting stuff, but a lot of over-analyzed obvious things.
October 12, 2024
This book was disappointing. Most of its content is completely common sense, but it's made up to look like some scientific insight, with a sprinkle of armchair game theory, and it's very repetitive (100 pages would have been more than enough to cover all that's said in this book). The most interesting chapter was the one on prison fights, at least there were a few surprising insights there.
June 11, 2022
last couple of chapters were pretty meh. however, the first half of the book was fine.
Read
May 5, 2010Criminal barrister Alex McBride has chosen to discuss
Codes of the Underworld
by Diego Gambetta on FiveBooks as one of the top five on his subject - Trial By Jury, saying that:
“…Gambetta looks at the underworld from the criminals’ point of view and uses social anthropology to examine how criminals think and communicate with language and signs, how a pecking order is established….Gambetta says it doesn’t pay to go through associates like shit through a goose; you won’t be successful. For example, when Toto Riina ordered the death of Falcone in 1992 everyone in the room knew that if a flicker of doubt about the decision showed in their eyes they would be instantly killed. These barely perceptible signs become so important in this world. …”
The full interview is available here: http://fivebooks.com/interviews/alex-...
“…Gambetta looks at the underworld from the criminals’ point of view and uses social anthropology to examine how criminals think and communicate with language and signs, how a pecking order is established….Gambetta says it doesn’t pay to go through associates like shit through a goose; you won’t be successful. For example, when Toto Riina ordered the death of Falcone in 1992 everyone in the room knew that if a flicker of doubt about the decision showed in their eyes they would be instantly killed. These barely perceptible signs become so important in this world. …”
The full interview is available here: http://fivebooks.com/interviews/alex-...
Want to read
January 20, 2010Off this review by Graham Lawton,
More social science than hard science, but an absolutely fascinating look at the unique problems criminals face when trying to communicate with one another - how, for example, do you advertise for a partner in crime, or win trust in an inherently untrustworthy world? - and the ingenious ways they solve them. There's a great chapter on the interplay between mafia movies and the real criminal underworld, and loads of true-crime anecdotes (Gambetta once infiltrated the mafia to study their codes of communication). Much of it is startlingly counter-intuitive; for example, fighting in prisons is a subtle form of communication designed to minimise violence, and measures to prevent it usually backfire. Fans of crime fiction will love this.
More social science than hard science, but an absolutely fascinating look at the unique problems criminals face when trying to communicate with one another - how, for example, do you advertise for a partner in crime, or win trust in an inherently untrustworthy world? - and the ingenious ways they solve them. There's a great chapter on the interplay between mafia movies and the real criminal underworld, and loads of true-crime anecdotes (Gambetta once infiltrated the mafia to study their codes of communication). Much of it is startlingly counter-intuitive; for example, fighting in prisons is a subtle form of communication designed to minimise violence, and measures to prevent it usually backfire. Fans of crime fiction will love this.
July 14, 2013
Recommended by Cory Doctorow. I abandoned this for more exciting material: I was fascinated by the conundrum of signalling in the criminal world, but didn't have immediate use for it in the same way that a lot of the tedious business books were immediately useful. I will return.
Thus, by solving the problem discussed in chapter 1 and identifying each other as bona fide criminals, they also unavoidably let each other know that they have those constraints, opportunities, motivations, and dispositions, thereby landing themselves in what we may call the villain's paradox: a criminal needs partners who are also criminals, but these are typically untrustworthy people to deal with when their self-interest is at stake.
Thus, by solving the problem discussed in chapter 1 and identifying each other as bona fide criminals, they also unavoidably let each other know that they have those constraints, opportunities, motivations, and dispositions, thereby landing themselves in what we may call the villain's paradox: a criminal needs partners who are also criminals, but these are typically untrustworthy people to deal with when their self-interest is at stake.
May 23, 2012
Dry and academic in language, the subject matter of this book is anything but. Sometimes intensely graphic in the examples, it's a very thorough depiction of the ways criminals communicate through everything from how and whom they fight to the stamps on bags of drugs. I would highly recommend this as a research resource for anyone who has a character involved in mob, mafia, or organized crime, or just for anyone that wants to know more what signs might be right under their noses.
It really does help that the author is Italian, and that he has a few examples of how the Families tried to get him to shut up too.
It really does help that the author is Italian, and that he has a few examples of how the Families tried to get him to shut up too.
December 5, 2016
I'm not personally particularly interested in organized crime. The fact that it is not my cup of tea perhaps influenced my rating. I read it to participate in a discussion within my Anthropology department and would not have read it otherwise. Simply reading an article with the same discussion points would have sufficed. Gambetta includes some interesting studies but also makes more conclusions than he has enough evidence for.
August 21, 2021
An absolutely fascinating study into the culture of the underworld. Somehow it seems like the author was able to get more materials about subjects that were not the main focus of his study. So the beginning of the book is fascinating but when he reaches his main focus it becomes a bit less interesting. As a whole it is still excellent.
November 20, 2014
Interesting subject matter, but not well-written. Chapters tend to start interesting and then just slowly grind down until suddenly it's time to start the next chapter.
July 6, 2014
Possibly the best examination of how signaling works in practice, ever written. The possible implications for governance in kleptocratic states in some of the earlier chapters is fascinating.
January 5, 2016
It's a world more built on trust, actually. It's an interesting world, though I am not a gangster or criminal.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews