The text explains the characteristics of organized crime; different structural models; and antecedents such as the robber barons, urban machine politics, and the Prohibition period. Additional chapters examine the history of organized crime in terms of Tammany Hall; Jewish and Italian organized crime in New York; organized crime in Chicago before, during, and after Al Capone; and organized crime in Philadelphia. Further chapters examine Italian, Russian, Biker, Irish, Latino, Asian, and black organized crime and explanations of organized crime in anomie and differential association theories. Other chapters focus on the business of organized crime and examine gambling, loan sharking, theft, fencing, the sex business, and drug trafficking, as well as business racketeering and organized crime in labor. The final chapters focus on statutes related to organized crime, the efforts of Federal law enforcement agencies and Interpol, investigative tools in organized crime law enforcement, committees and commissions dealing with organized crime, and drug policies. Case examples, chapter review questions, photographs, figures, author index, subject index, and approximately 1,000 references