ABSTRACT

This innovative book investigates the paradoxical situation whereby organized crime groups, authoritarian in nature and anti-democratic in practice, perform at their best in democratic countries. It uses examples from the United States, Japan, Russia, South America, France, Italy and the European Union.

part |21 pages

Organized crime

part |40 pages

Definitions and diatribes

chapter |14 pages

Mafia and anti-Mafia

The implications for everyday life

chapter |13 pages

Transnational organized crime between myth and reality

The social construction of a threat

part |43 pages

Civil society held to ransom

chapter |16 pages

‘Once upon a time in America'

Organized crime and civil society

chapter |13 pages

Civil resistance

Society fights back…

chapter |13 pages

For Christ's sake

Organized crime and religion

part |48 pages

Organized crime and politics

chapter |10 pages

Democracy and the gangs

The case of Marseilles

chapter |15 pages

Mediated democracy

Yakuza and Japanese political leadership

chapter |9 pages

Conclusion: organized crime and democracy

‘Uncivil' or ‘civil’ society?