1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455802303321

Autore

Morselli Carlo <1969->

Titolo

Contacts, opportunities, and criminal enterprise / / Carlo Morselli

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Ontario] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 2005

©2005

ISBN

0-8020-3811-5

1-282-02894-4

9786612028946

1-4426-7330-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (168 p.)

Collana

Lorenzo da Ponte Italian Library Civilization and democracy

Disciplina

364.3

Soggetti

Criminal behavior

Criminals - Social networks

Criminal psychology

Organized crime

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Conceptual Discrepancies -- 2. A Personal Network Framework for Criminal Enterprise -- 3. Sources and Method -- 4. Structuring Mr. Nice -- 5. Career Opportunities in the Cosa Nostra -- 6. Privileged Positioning and Access to Lethal Violence -- 7. Summary and Extensions -- Appendix A: Contact Matrices for Marks' Importation Consignments -- Appendix B: Contact Matrices for Gravano's Promotional Phases -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Success in criminal enterprise largely depends on how offenders go about committing their crimes. An offender?s search for increasing financial returns and decreasing costs is mediated by the structure of his pool of useful and trustworthy contacts. In Contacts, Opportunities, and Criminal Enterprise, Carlo Morselli examines how business-oriented criminals who have personal networks designed to promote



high numbers of diverse contacts achieve and maintain competitive advantages in their earning activities and overall criminal careers.Based on two case studies of criminal careers in international cannabis smuggling and Cosa Nosta racketeering, the book proposes a social network framework to study the underlying social relationships influencing achievement in crime. Morselli further utilizes this relational approach to illustrate how survival and long-term endurance in criminal enterprise is achieved, and how criminals? networks of contacts and opportunities can insulate them from potentially career-damaging forces ? law enforcement, fellow criminals, etc. Contacts, Opportunities, and Criminal Enterprise is a much-needed assessment of criminal activity.