Mafia and Organised Crime

Beginner's Guide (Oneworld Publications)

by James O. Finckenauer

Inhumanely cruel and irresistibly cool, the Mafia has always captured the darker side of the imagination. But just what is the Mafia, how does it operate, and what can be done to combat it? In this dramatic and informative audiobook, James Finckenauer rejects the Mafia mystique and explores the sinister reality lurking beneath the romanticised surface. Demonstrating that the Mafia is a multi-faceted and complex phenomenon, he argues that it destabilises society on a global scale through its control of criminal markets, violence and corruption. Mafia and Organised Crime is indispensable for anyone intrigued by, or concerned about, this widely misunderstood phenomenon.

Genres: Crime, Nonfiction

Audio CD

First published July 25, 2007

Reviews

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent basic handbook of tools for examining organised crime. 3.5.
Almost the first half of the book is concerned with definitions of, popular conceptions of and who is involved with organised crime.
Then there is a whistle-stop tour of types, locations and handling of organised crime as of time of writing, 2012. He focuses in a bit on human trafficking.
A little further reading guide is given at the end.

[Chris Jacko · Rating 2 out of 5]

While informative, this read like a textbook.

[Ethan Everson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, one of my favourite of the beginners guides. You can learn a lot of what is not shown in media and what is transformed from life to media in this book alone.

[Zala · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and solid beginners' guide, as it says in the title. It's informative and doesn't go into too much detail that could confuse a non-expert. It has much more information on the cosa nostra than any other crime syndicate but that is to be expected. I definitely recommend it for any crime enthusiast.