Organized Crime

by Siegel, Dina; Nelen, Hans

• ISBN13: 9780387747323
• ISBN10: 038774732X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-11-16
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

The term a??global organized crimea?? is often used to refer to worldwide illegitimate activities of criminal groups and networks and is associated with the so-called a??globalization processa??. Although it can not be denied that due to economic, technological, political and cultural developments, borders have disappeared or changed, markets have extended, mobility and communication facilities have improved, it would be a major fallacy to study organized crime and its containment solely from a global perspective. The central premise of this book is that we need more in-depth, empirically funded, knowledge on organized crime in specific situational contexts, rather than trying to predict how organized crime might develop throughout the world. The fifteen contributions in the book deal with various aspects of organized crime (drugs, diamonds, human trafficking, eco-crime, conflict resolution, underground banking, crime facilitators) in various parts of the world (Sicily, Sinai, the US, Quebec, Amsterdam, Antwerp, tropical rain forests in Africa and Asia and so on). Distinguished scholars pay attention to historical and contemporary manifestations of organized crime, the symbiotic relationship between legitimate and illegitimate activities, and innovative, dual strategies that have been developed to contain and prevent these serious forms of crime. They explore different theoretical arguments from the perspective of their own disciplines, which include sociology, criminology, political science and anthropology.

Author Biography

Dina Siegel is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Criminology and Criminal Law, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She studied sociology and social anthropology at Tel Aviv University in Israel and obtained her PhD in cultural anthropology at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She has studied and published several articles on post-Soviet organized crime, terrorism, human trafficking, criminal activities in diamond sector, and on drug policies in the Netherlands. In 2003 she edited (together with Van de Bunt and Zaitch) Global Organized Crime. Trends and Developments (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004). She conducted ethnographic research on Russian-speaking criminals in the Netherlands, Russian biznes in the Netherlands (2005, Meulenhoff).Hans Nelen is a criminologist and has a law degree. Between 1986 and the beginning of 2001 he was employed as a senior researcher and research supervisor at the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice in the Netherlands (WODC), mainly investigating drug crime, fraud and corporate crim. Between 2001 and 2006 he was a senior lecturer and senior researcher at the Institute of Criminology of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Since January 1 2007 Nelen has been working as a Professor of Criminology at Maastricht University (UM). During the last decade Nelen published several books and articles on a variety of criminological subjects, i.e. corruption and fraud, dilemmas facing lawyers and notaries, the administrative approach to organized crime, the proceeds-of-crime approach, evaluation of legislation, and evaluation of law enforcement activities. 

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Criminal Groups and Activities
Historical Transformations
Reflections on the Sicilian Mafia: Peripheries and Their Impact on Centres	p. 7
The Decline of the Italian Mafia	p. 15
Hashish Smuggling by Bedouin in South Sinai	p. 29
Transnational Flows
Corruption as a Causal Factor in Human Trafficking	p. 41
New Players in an Old Game: the Sex Market in Italy	p. 57
The vehicle Theft Market in Bulgaria	p. 71
The Intertwinement of Illegitimate and Legitimate Activities
Diamonds and Organized Crime: The Case of Antwerp	p. 85
Eco-Crime: The Tropical Timber Trade	p. 97
The Role of Hawala Bankers in the Transfer of Proceeds from Organized Crime	p. 113
Facilitating Organized Crime: The Role of Lawyers and Notaries	p. 127
Law Enforcement
Containment and Prevention
Criminal Conflicts and Collective Violence: Biker-Related Account Settlements in Quebec, 1994-2001	p. 145
Controlling Human Smuggling in the Netherlands: How the Smuggling of Human Beings Was Transformed into a Serious Criminal Offence	p. 165
Dual Strategies
The Civil RICO Law as the Decisive Weapon in Combating Labour Racketeering	p. 185
Recent Anti-Mafia Strategies: The Italian Experience	p. 195
Breaking the Power of Organized Crime? The Administrative Approach in Amsterdam	p. 207
About the Authors	p. 219
Appendix: Scientific Board	p. 225
Index	p. 227
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