Organized Crime

For courses in organized crime.

A student-friendly introduction to organized crime – what it is and what it’s not
Organized Crime provides an easy-to-read introduction to organized crime, including a historical basis for understanding its origins, evolution, and current status. The text dispels widespread myths about organized crime, revealing why ethnically driven pop-¿culture stereotypes are inadequate. It also deals with the role of drug trafficking in organized crime and comparative models of terrorism. The 7th edition has significant new material and updates, such as sections on definitions of organized crime, Mexican cartels, Somali pirates, RICO, Eastern African groups, Albanian drug-smuggling networks, Triborder Area OC activity, counterfeit consumer goods, and updated case studies, statistics, and graphics.

Michael D. Lyman is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Columbia College, located in Columbia, Missouri. In addition to being a teaching faculty member, he serves as the program coordinator for the Master of Science of Criminal Justice Program and the founder of the college’s Forensic Science Program. Before entering the field of college teaching, he was employed as a certified police trainer and also served as a sworn criminal investigator for state police organizations in Kansas and Oklahoma. He has taught literally thousands of law enforcement officers in the proper police techniques and methods of professional criminal investigation. Dr. Lyman has authored numerous textbooks in criminal justice dealing with the areas of criminal investigation, policing, organized crime, drug enforcement, and drug trafficking. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Wichita State University and his PhD from the University of Missouri–Columbia. He has served law enforcement and legal communities on over 375 occasions to review criminal investigations and render the results of his evaluations and his opinions in federal court proceedings nationwide.

Textbooks such as this are an ongoing work in progress, and the author welcomes communication and correspondence about his work. Dr. Lyman can be contacted at Columbia College, Rogers Street, Columbia, MO or at mlyman@cougars.ccis.edu.

1. Understanding Organized Crime
2. Theories of Organized Criminal Behavior
3. The Evolution of Organized Crime: Urban Beginnings
4. The Evolution of Organized Crime: Southern Beginnings
5. The Businesses of Organized Crime
6. The Illicit Drug Trade
7. Domestic Organized Crime Groups
8. A Comparative Perspective
9. Terrorism As Organized Crime
10. Organized Crime’s Political and Corporate Alliances
11. Controlling Organized Crime

Appendices
A. Selected Provisions from the 2001 USA Patriot Act
B. Chronology of White Supremacist Domestic Terrorist Incidents in the 1980s
C. Domestic Terrorism Groups and Events
D. Foreign Terrorist Organizations