The Economic Geographies of Organized Crime

Illicit and illegal markets play a substantial role in the global economy, yet have received little attention from economic geographers. This incisive, innovative book examines the spatial dimensions of hidden economic practices and asks how organized crime can be understood empirically and conceptually through a geographical lens. Going beyond stereotypes about gangsters, the book explores the role of spatially distant corporate, state, and criminal actors in such activities as trafficking and smuggling of drugs, people, and goods; counterfeiting; cybercrime; corruption; money laundering; financing of terrorist groups; and environmental crime. It suggests ways that a geographical analysis can contribute to improving policies and practices to curb organized crime at the regional, national, and global levels.