The book is divided into four parts, each featuring an illustrative case study. Part I, by tracing the Burmese heroin trade and particularly the activities of one drug lord, introduces the basic structures of globalization that have allowed street and corporate crime to thrive. Part II, returning to American cities, uses an apparently senseless killing on the Brooklyn Bridge to demonstrate the vicious cycle of economic decay, social dislocation and rising violence in urban centers. Part III takes up the trillion-dollar business of corporate crime, beginning with the example of forests in the Pacific Northwest. It shows how the growing power of major corporations over society has subjected millions of Americans to dangerous work, inadequate health care, environmental damage and poor government services. The concluding section addresses the problem of reforming the current system. The difficulties of addressing the economics of crime and the scope of the subject matter have precluded any attempt to explore specific policies that might reverse the destructive course being taken by the police, courts and prisons. In summarizing the book's central arguments, the last chapter highlights key issues that must be understood before the real roots of crime can be confronted. Notes, index