Books on Organized Crimereviewed by Klaus von Lampe
This section of the "organized crime research"-site comprises reviews of academic and journalistic books on organized crime and related topics that address different events, persons and structures in various countries. The books are reviewed from an organized crime researcher's perspective. The overriding question always is: What does the particular book contribute to a better understanding of organized crime?The reviewed books are either more or less recent publications or significant enough that I think they should not be forgotten.
Most reviews are available in English, some only in German.
I invite all authors and publishers to send me review copies of any new books on organized crime (see contact details). Comments on my reviews are also welcome.
Organised Crime Around the World
Helsinki: HEUNI, 1998
177 p.
Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and The Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club
London: Fourth Estate, 2000
259 p.
Capone: The Man and the Era
New York et al.: Simon and Schuster, 1994
701 p.
The Greatest Menace: Organized Crime in Cold War America
Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2002
237 p.
Illegal, legal - egal? Zu Entstehung, Struktur und Auswirkungen illegaler Märkte
(Illegal, legal - so what? On the emergence, structure and impacts of illegal markets)
Berne, Switzerland: Verlag Paul Haupt, 2001
218 p.
Reporting on Organised Crime
Antwerpen: Maklu, 2001
117 p.
Illegale Märkte für Heroin und Kokain
(Illegal markets for heroin and cocaine)
Berne, Switzerland: Verlag Paul Haupt, 2001
235 p.
Pablo Escobar: Leben und plötzlicher Tod des Kokainkönigs
(Pablo Escobar: Life and Sudden Death of the King of Cocaine; original title: Pablo The World Godfather of Cocaine)
Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, 1994
395 p.
Men of Respect: A Social History of the Sicilian Mafia
New York: The Free Press, 1992
246 p.
Drug Smugglers on Drugs Smuggling: Lessons from the Inside
Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2008
209 p.
The Crime That Pays: Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in Canada
Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press Inc., 2005
238 p.
Financial Investigation of Crime: A tool of the integral law enforcement approach
The Hague: Koninklijke Vermande, 2001
201 p.
Organized Crime: Uncertainties and Dilemmas
Chicago: Office of International Criminal Justice, 1999
550 p.
Muskel-Adolf & Co.: Die "Ringvereine" und das organisierte Verbrechen in Berlin
(Muscle Adolf & Partners: The "Ringvereine" and organized crime in Berlin)
Berlin: Argon, 1995
224 p.
The Threat of Russian Organized Crime
Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, 2001
33 p.
Russian Mafia in America
Boston: Northeastern University, 1998
303 p.
Grünkram: Die Kinder-Sex-Mafia in Deutschland
(Green Stuff: The Child-Sex-Mafia in Germany)
Hilden: Verlag Deutsche Polizeiliteratur, 1998
175 p.
Mob Nemesis: How the FBI Crippled Organized Crime
Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2002
336 p.
Philadelphia's 'Black Mafia': A Social and Political History
Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic, 2003
210 p.
Synthetic Drugs Trafficking in Three European Cities: Major Trends and the Involvement of Organised Crime
Turin, Italy: Gruppo Abele, 2003
232 p.
The Illegal Trafficking in Hazardous Waste in Italy and Spain: Final Report
Rome, Italy: 2003
96 p.
Deutschland im Visier: Organisiertes Verbrechen
(Germany in the sights of organized crime)
Leipzig, Germany: Militzke, 2000
221 p.
Der Flowtex-Skandal: Wie Politik und Fiskus jahrelang von einem gigantischen Wirtschaftsbetrug profitierten
(The Flowtex scandal: How politics and revenue service for many years profited from a gigantic case of business fraud)
Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 2006
204 p.
Kinderpornografie
(Child pornography)
Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft, 2004
104 p.
The Billionaire Boys Club
New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1990
354 p.
Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime
New York: New York University Press, 1999
329 p.
Die rechtliche Bewältigung von Erscheinungsformen organisierter Kriminalität
(The legal response to organized crime phenomena)
Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2004
849 p.
Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991
691 p.
Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob
New York: Perennial, 2001
389 p.
Global Underworld: Transnational Crime and the United States
Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004
159 p.
History of the Mafia
New York: Columbia University Press, 2009
328 p.
The Two Mafias
New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015
236 S.
Underboss: Sammy The Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia
New York: Harper Collins, 1997
308 p.
Beyond the Mafia: Organized Crime in the Americas
Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1998
257 p.
Mr. Nice
London: Vintage, 1998
466 p.
The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Central America
Chicago: Lawrence Hill, 2003
710 p.
Organizing Crime in Chinatown
Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004
250 p.
Schneekönig: Mein Leben als Drogenboss
(Snow king: my life as drug boss)
Reinbek, Germany: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 2004
157 p.
Cop Hunter
New York: Pocket Books, 1991
300 p.
Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti
Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002
378 p.
Murder Machine
New York: Dutton, 1992
418 p.
Wages of Crime: Black Markets, Illegal Finance, and the Underworld Economy
Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002
336 p.
Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style
New York: Oxford University Press, 2003
289 p.
Middle market drug distribution
London: Home Office, 2001
81 p.
Der OK-Komplex: Organisierte Kriminalität und ihre Folgen für die Polizei in Deutschland
(The OC complex: organized crime and its consequences for the police in Germany)
Münster: Verlag Westfälisches Dampfboot, 1998
450 p.
Mob Lawyer
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994
372 p.
Klaus Speer: Eine Legende?
(Klaus Speer: A legend?)
Berlin: Verlag Das Neue Berlin, 1995
256 p.
Das steinerne Gesicht: Der Pate von Danzig Nikodem Skotarczak
(The Stone Face: The Godfather of Gdansk Nikodem Skotarczak)
Berlin: Karin Kramer Verlag, 1993
167 p.
But - He Was Good To His Mother: The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters
Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 1993
264 p.
Der Oligarch: Vadim Rabinovich bricht das Schweigen
(The Oligarch: Vadim Rabinovich breaks the silence)
Hamburg/Wien: Europa Verlag, 2001
299 p.
Ermitteln verboten!
(Investigating prohibited!)
Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 2004
272 p.
Anklage unerwünscht! Korruption und Willkür in der deutschen Justiz
(Indictment not wanted! Corruption and arbitrariness in the German Justice System)
Frankfurt am Main: Eichborn, 2007
304 p.
Organized and Corporate Crime in Europe: Offers that Can't Be Refused
Aldershot et al.: Dartmouth, 1996
186 p.
Organised Crime and European Businesses
London: Routledge, 2016.
222 p.
Global Organized Crime: Trends and Developments
Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003
199 p.
Made Men: The True Rise-and-Fall-Story of a New Jersey Mob Family
New York: Berkeley Books, 2003
324 p.
The Mirage
New York: Random House, 1979
257 p.
Gangbusters: The Destruction of America's Last Great Mafia Dynasty
New York: Avon Books, 1999
332 p.
Organized Crime and American Power: A History
Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001
468 p.
Trafficking Cocaine: Colombian Drug Entrepreneurs in the Netherlands
The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2002
335 p.
Die Barbaren kommen: Kapitalismus und organisiertes Verbrechen
(The Barbarians are coming: capitalism and organized crime) München: C. Bertelsmann, 1998
282 p.
e-mail | home | Index | Organized Crime in the U.S. | Organized Crime in Germany | Links