Handbook of Organized Crime in the United States

(Hardback)

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Description

This text is an assessment of organised crime in America and of the law enforcement strategies and activities to control it since the Prohibition era. This survey addresses the key questions and analyses the issues that make up the debate historically about the nature of organised crime, its roots, causes, forms, growth, and control, and, above all, its pernicious effect upon the economic, social, political and moral life of the nation. This one-volume reference defines key problems and recent trends, reviews the basic research about organised crime, describes organised crime groups and their operations through the years, and surveys the broad range of government policies and operations to control crime during the 20th century. Interdisciplinary audiences, specialists in criminal justice and deviant behaviour, and general readers should consider it useful reading given the major new challenges that crime poses for Americans in the 1990s. Lengthy bibliographical data and a full index enrich this study for the use of college, university, organisational, and public libraries.

Reviews

This handbook discusses the definitions and historical background of organized crime, theories and research, specific crime groups and their operations, and law enforcement strategies to counter organized crime. Both the excellent introduction and 21 chapters provide background and analysis for each subject. Particularly interesting are looks at crime among various U.S. ethnic groups (Russian, African American, Italian, Chinese) and discussion of law enforcement strategies. Included is an excellent bibliographical essay on the literature of this topic. This work is distinguished from the numerous other recent books on organized crime by its reexamination of the issues and assumptions in research on this topic and by the uniformly fine quality of all the pieces. While primarily a book for students and scholars, it will be of interest to the educated public as well.-Library Journal
"This handbook discusses the definitions and historical background of organized crime, theories and research, specific crime groups and their operations, and law enforcement strategies to counter organized crime. Both the excellent introduction and 21 chapters provide background and analysis for each subject. Particularly interesting are looks at crime among various U.S. ethnic groups (Russian, African American, Italian, Chinese) and discussion of law enforcement strategies. Included is an excellent bibliographical essay on the literature of this topic. This work is distinguished from the numerous other recent books on organized crime by its reexamination of the issues and assumptions in research on this topic and by the uniformly fine quality of all the pieces. While primarily a book for students and scholars, it will be of interest to the educated public as well."-Library Journal

Author Bio

ROBERT J. KELLY is Broeklundian Professor of Social Science at Brooklyn College and Professor of Criminal Justice at the Graduate School of the City University of New York. He has served as a consultant to federal, state, and municipal agencies. His previous works include Hate Crimes: American Law Enforcement and Legal Responses (1991), Organized Crime: A Global Perspective (1986), and numerous articles on organized crime, as well as research on Asian alien smuggling in Chinese communities. KO-LIN CHIN, Professor at Rutgers University at Newark, New Jersey, was formerly with the New York City Criminal Justice Agency and is well known for his knowledge about Chinese organized crime./e He is the author of Chinese Subculture and Criminality: Non-Traditional Crime Groups in America (Greenwood Press, 1990). RUFUS SCHATZBERG, a retired police officer, is an authority on African-American crime in New York City particularly. He is the author of Black Organized Crime in Harlem: 1920-1930 (1993). Mr. Schatzberg is past Vice-President of The International Association for the Study of Organized Crime.