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Underworld as servant and smokescreen: Crimes of the Powerful and the evolution of organized crime control

Woodiwiss, Michael

Authors



Contributors

Steven Bittle
Editor

Laureen Snider
Editor

Steve Tombs
Editor

David Whyte
Editor

Abstract

Crimes of the Powerful (CotP), published in 1976, was the first book to make the case in any depth that the phenomena known as “corporate crime” and “organized crime” were not mutually exclusive. Frank Pearce argued that gangsters, far from being dictators in their various cities and fields of activity, were better described as servants to local, corporate and governmental elites. This contribution builds on Pearce’s analysis to make the case that the idea of supercriminal organizations, such as the one allegedly headed by Al Capone in Chicago, acted as a smokescreen to conceal anti-democratic, anti-radical tendencies within the American state.

Online Publication Date Jun 11, 2018
Publication Date Jun 14, 2018
Publisher Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Peer Reviewed Not Peer Reviewed
Series Title Crimes of the Powerful
Edition 1
Book Title Revisiting Crimes of the Powerful: Marxism, Crime and Deviance
Chapter Number 3
ISBN 9780415791427
DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315212333
Keywords underworld, smokescreen, crimes, powerful, evolution, organised crime control
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/904109
Publisher URL https://www.routledge.com/Revisiting-Crimes-of-the-Powerful-Marxism-Crime-and-Deviance/Bittle-Snider-Tombs-Whyte/p/book/9780415791427
Related Public URLs https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315212333