Organized Crime

Organized Crime

by Antonio Nicaso and Marcel Danesi
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date: 14/08/2025

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This book aims to describe and demystify what makes organized criminal groups so culturally powerful. It examines their codes of conduct, initiation rites, secret communication methods, origin myths, symbols, and lifestyles that imbue them with the pride and nonchalance that go hand in hand with their criminal activities. Mobsters are everywhere, in the movies, on television, on websites, and now in the Metaverse. Contemporary societies across the globe are fascinated by them. Why is this so? What features and constituents of organized criminal gangs make them so emotionally powerful—to themselves and others? These are the questions that have guided the writing of the second edition of this textbook, which is intended as an introduction to organized crime from the angle of cultural analysis. Key topics included in this new edition:



  • An historic overview of organized crime, including the social, economic, and cultural conditions that favor its development

  • A description and character analysis of the type of people who make up organized criminal groups and the activities in which they engage

  • The symbols, rituals, codes, and languages that characterize criminal institutions

  • The relationship between traditional organized crime, cybercrime, and evolving forms of crime on the Dark Web and in the Metaverse

  • The traditional and changing roles of women in organized crime

  • The transnational operations of criminal groups

  • Media portrayals of organized crime

  • Policing responses to organized crime

  • The use of technologies by the organized criminal groups


This new editionincludes case studies and offers an accessible, interdisciplinary approach to the subject of organized crime. It is essential reading for students engaged with organized crime across criminology, sociology, anthropology, and psychology.

ISBN:
9781040384879
9781040384879
Category:
Social & cultural anthropology
Format:
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date:
14-08-2025
Language:
English
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis
Marcel Danesi

Marcel Danesi is a professor at the University of Toronto. He has written extensively about puzzles, including this trilogy published by Harlequin Books: Total Brain Workout, Extreme Brain Workout, and Complete Brain Workout. He also creates puzzles for the Toronto Star's "That's Puzzling" weekend supplement and he composes brainteasers for the Canadian edition of Reader's Digest.

In addition, he writes a puzzle blog for Psychology Today. He has also published academic books on puzzles: The Puzzle Instinct: The Meaning of Puzzles in Human Life and The Liar Paradox and the Towers of Hanoi: The Ten Greatest Math Puzzles of All Time. He appears frequently on major media, such as CBC and NPR, to discuss puzzles and their meaning for brain health. He has founded a research center at the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences to explore the use of puzzles in education.

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