000 04362nam a2200493Ia 4500
001 212089
003 IT-RoAPU
005 20231211163714.0
006 m|||||o||d||||||||
007 cr || ||||||||
008 231101t20032001onc fo d z eng d
020 _a9781442678125
_qPDF
024 7 _a10.3138/9781442678125
_2doi
035 _a(DE-B1597)9781442678125
035 _a(DE-B1597)626587
035 _a(OCoLC)1334344617
040 _aDE-B1597
_beng
_cDE-B1597
_erda
050 4 _aHV6446
_b.W66 2001eb
072 7 _aSOC004000
_2bisacsh
082 0 4 _a364.1/06/0973
084 _aonline - DeGruyter
100 1 _aWoodiwiss, Michael
_eautore
245 1 0 _aOrganized Crime and American Power :
_bA History /
_cMichael Woodiwiss.
264 1 _aToronto :
_bUniversity of Toronto Press,
_c[2003]
264 4 _c©2001
300 _a1 online resource (432 p.)
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
347 _atext file
_bPDF
_2rda
506 0 _arestricted access
_uhttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec
_fonline access with authorization
_2star
520 _aOrganized crime, understood in a literal sense as systematic illegal activity for money or power, is as old as the first systems of law and government and as international as trade. Piracy, banditry, kidnapping, extortion, forgery, fraud, and trading in stolen or illegal goods and services are all ancient occupations that have often involved the active participation of landowners, merchants, and government officials. Many people today, however, follow the lead of the US government and American commentators and understand organized crime as being virtually synonymous with super-criminal 'Mafia-type' organizations. These are usually seen as separate entities, distinct from legitimate society but possessing almost unlimited regional, national, and even international power. As background to this understanding of organized crime there exists a consensus among most commentators that suggests that the United States has had the most experience and success in dealing with the problem. In Organized Crime and American Power: A History, Michael Woodiwiss argues that organized criminal activity has never been a serious threat to established economic and political power structures in the United States but more often a fluid, variable, and open-ended phenomenon that has, in fact, complemented those structures.Conventional histories of the problem tend to focus on outlaws in peripheral feudal societies, most commonly Sicily, for their antecedents. Woodiwiss by contrast finds his antecedents in the systematic criminal activity of the powerful and respectable in those ancient and early modern societies that we usually understand to be at the centre of 'civilized' development and continues to emphasize the crimes of the powerful throughout his wide ranging overview. He surveys the organization of crime in the Southern states after the American Civil War; the organized crimes of American business interests; the causes and corrupt consequences of the US campaign to prohibit alcohol and other 'vices'; the elaboration of the Mafia conspiracy interpretation of organized crime and the consequent 'dumbing of discourse' about the problem, not just nationally but internationally. Emphasizing the importance of collaboration, as much as confrontation, between government and criminals, Woodiwiss illustrates how crime control policies based on the Mafia paradigm have not only failed to address much organized criminal behaviour, but have, in many ways, proved counterproductive and damaging to individual rights and social stability.
538 _aMode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
546 _aIn English.
588 0 _aDescription based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Nov 2023)
650 0 _aElectronic books. -- local.
650 0 _aOrganized crime -- United States -- History -- 20th century.
650 0 _aOrganized crime -- United States -- Prevention -- History.
650 7 _aSOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology.
_2bisacsh
850 _aIT-RoAPU
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781442678125
856 4 2 _3Cover
_uhttps://www.degruyter.com/document/cover/isbn/9781442678125/original
942 _cEB
999 _c212089
_d212089