The book defines organized crime as a "nonideological enterprise involving a number of persons in close social interaction, organized on a hierarchical basis with at least three levels/ranks, for the purpose of securing profit and power by engaging in illegal and legal activities." This fourth edition of "Organized Crime" notes that since the third edition (1991), a number of crime families have recruited new members and continue to be viable and dangerous entities. Meanwhile, emerging groups of criminals have become more sophisticated and more threatening, and additional crime groups have been added to the list of organized crime groups. Following a chapter on the definition and structure of organized crime, a chapter discusses the causal theories and historical antecedents of organized crime. The latter include the "robber barons," urban machine politics, and "Prohibition." Two chapters address the history of organized crime in America, followed by a chapter that presents profiles of nontraditional organized crime groups. Three chapters cover the activities of organized crime, including gambling, loansharking, theft, sex, drugs, and the infiltration of labor and business. The final two chapters focus on the laws, law enforcement, committees, commissions, and policies that have sought to counter organized crime. Review questions accompany each chapter. Approximately 1,050 references and author and subject indexes