ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on those lasting large-scale criminal organizations, such as the Italian Cosa Nostra and 'Ndrangheta, the American La Cos a N ostra, the Chinese Triads and the Japanese Yakuza, that are usually presented as the archetypes of organized crime. Indeed, though many scholars have long denied their existence,l most non-experts think of these organizations when they hear the term 'organized crime'.
