Product Description

In this powerful and groundbreaking book, Misha Glenny takes us on a journey through the new world of international organised crime. For three years, he has been recording the stories of gun runners in Ukraine, money launderers in Dubai, drug syndicates in Canada, cyber criminals in Brazil, racketeers in Japan and many more. During his investigation of the dark side, he has spoken to countless gangsters, policemen and victims of organised crime while also exploring the ferocious consumer demand for drugs, trafficked women, illegal labour and arms across five continents. The journey begins with an appalling and inexplicable murder in England's stockbroker belt and continues with stories that are often horrifying, sometimes inspiring, usually bizarre and occasionally funny. But together they build a breathtaking picture of the shadow economy that has grown so fast that it may now account for about 20% of the world's GDP.Usually the preserve of sensationalist reporting in the tabloid press, organised crime has seeped into our lives in so many ways and often without our knowledge. This consistently riveting account unveils the nature of crime in today's world but it also offers profound insights into the pitfalls of a globalisation where the rules dividing the legal from the illegal are often far from clear. "McMafia" unpicks the nexus of crime, politics and money worldwide which have become entangled and interdependent in entirely novel forms since the 1980s. It argues that conventional policing methods are no longer appropriate to deal with a problem whose roots lie in global poverty and the ever widening divisions between rich and poor.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10447 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
`A journey across five continents... attempt(ing) to get to grips with the astonishing growth of the shadow economy '.
--The Guardian

Review
'a chilling world tour of organised crime.'

Review
Five-star review. "A very compelling and disturbing book."

Customer Reviews

Excellent Book - Truly awful cover!
I can't think what the publishers were thinking by putting such a garish, tasteless cover on this book. Are they trying to fool those who buy trashy crime novels? Anyone caught out in this way will possibly find the going a bit tough, even though this is an exteremely accessible book to those with half a brain (I modestly include myself in this category!)

The problem though is that possibly like me, anyone with said half a brain will be instantly put off by the cover and not give it a go.

Well let me assure you; This book is a must read if you have any interest at all in current world events, real crime or just great journalism.

This is scary stuff and serves to make the point that just about everything you touch nowadays is tainted somewhere along the line by death and corruption.

Although written before the current credit crunch, mauch of the content here is uncannily prescient about where the world was going and may yet go.

And there are some great stories in here for those "watercooler moments". Outdo those going on about "The Wire" with some real life horror stories out of this book.

I am giving this book 6 stars but it has to lose one for THAT cover so see how I get to give this a 5 star review?

Interesting though lacking structure
This provides a good geography lesson of global organised crime and deals with about 40 countries, though many peripherally. The book intersperses detail with policy and it mostly works, though oddly the author demurs from providing a description of how triads dealt with Brazilian informers and other deliberate narratives are also short on detail. There were some oddities such as the omission of maps and the photograph of Mia Mista is not specifically referred to in the book itself. The book feels like it lacks structure as it sashays across the globe and the section on the future of organised crime is tiny. The staged cover photographs grated after a while but all in all it is a good engrossing book.

Worth a look
A good read - slightly too much of the author placing themselves at the centre of action, but if you can ignore this fault, it will open your eyes