The Global Underworld: Transnational Crime and the United States

(Hardback)

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Description

Transnational crime is an increasing national security threat to the United States and to individual citizens around the world. Criminal groups both in the United Staes and abroad operate crime cartels that span national boundaries, but in ways that affect all Americans, and wreak havoc on law enforcement organizations as well as businesses and other entities, such as the stock market. More often than not, transnational crime takes the form of organized crime, and in its many forms is responsible for over-priced goods, unsafe products, environmental hazards, corruption of public officials, the exploitation of women and children, tax evasion, theft and piracy, identity theft, organ smuggling, stock market fraud, drug trafficking, and black market trading in armaments and weapons of mass destruction, among other scandals and forms of misconduct. Because perpetrators often act in collusion with legitimate organizations and other powerful elites, who either cooperate knowingly or unknowingly or are coerced through violence, dealing with the problem is especially difficult. Here, Liddick describes the many groups responsible for transnational crimes, and the nature and scale of their various enterprises. The result is a powerful testament to the globalization of criminal organizations and their danger to American society. From the Russian mafiya to Chinese Triads, from outlaw motorcycle gangs to Latin American drug cartels, the nature and incidence of transnational crime is a serious threat to American security, both at the national and the individual level. Because of America's porous borders, it is relatively easy for criminal foreigners to set up their organizations within the United States Moreover, there are well-established groups already present in the United States that are now capable of operating on a multinational level. While response to the problem has been overdue, recent efforts to address transnational crime include technological innovations and controversial legislation such as the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act. But how well will these measures protect Americans from the increasing prevalence of criminal organizations that are capable of carrying out crimes that span the globe This important book provides an engaging glimpse into the world of transnational crime through an introduction to the various groups involved, true stories of criminal misconduct, and a careful review and evaluation of efforts to address the problem.

Reviews

"Liddick gives a well-informed, and refreshingly 'cool' overview of the transnational crime and terrorist threats facing the USA and of the domestic counter measures taken by the American government so far. One cannot but wholeheartedly agree with the author that national responses, however bold, need to be supplemented by more international cooperation in law enforcement and criminal justice. A most welcome introduction into the new debate on global security."-Jan Van Dijk, Chief Crime Reduction and Analysis Branch, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna
"This excellent introduction to transnational crime and its impact on the United States will stimulate and inform both general readers who are coming to the subject for the first time and those who have focused on organized crime largely as a domestic issue. Donald Liddick analyzes concepts clearly and crisply, uses a wonderful range of examples, and provides an excellent analysis of current trends in transnational crime. It is hard to ask for more in a book [that] is likely to become the standard introduction to the topic. A must read for all."-Professor Phil Williams, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh
[C]overs everything from Chinese Triads to Russian crime syndicates, to terrorism, to Nigerian con artists.-Tribune-Review
Liddick's intent is to provide not a theoretical analysis of transnational crime but a concise introduction to its scope, magnitude, and impact....The future is grim, as the only solutions offered as viable include widening surveillance and crime control measures, which inevitably endanger civil liberties. Recommended. All levels/libraries.-Choice
"Covers everything from Chinese Triads to Russian crime syndicates, to terrorism, to Nigerian con artists."-Tribune-Review
"[C]overs everything from Chinese Triads to Russian crime syndicates, to terrorism, to Nigerian con artists."-Tribune-Review
"Liddick's intent is to provide not a theoretical analysis of transnational crime but a concise introduction to its scope, magnitude, and impact....The future is grim, as the only solutions offered as viable include widening surveillance and crime control measures, which inevitably endanger civil liberties. Recommended. All levels/libraries."-Choice

Author Bio

DONALD R. LIDDICK JR. is Associate Professor of Administration of Justice at the University of Pittsburgh, Greensburg. He has published three books and several articles that have appeared in various journals.