McMafia: A Journey through the Global Underworld
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With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the deregulation of international financial markets in 1989, governments and entrepreneurs alike became intoxicated by forecasts of limitless expansion into newly open markets. No one would foresee that the greatest success story to arise from these events would be the globalization of organized crime. Current estimates suggest that illegal trade accounts for nearly one-fifth of global GDP.McMafia is a fearless, encompassing, wholly authoritative investigation of the now proven ability of organized crime worldwide to find and service markets driven by a seemingly insatiable demand for illegal wares. Whether discussing the Russian mafia, Colombian drug cartels, or Chinese labor smugglers, Misha Glenny makes clear how organized crime feeds off the poverty of the developing world, how it exploits new technology in the forms of cybercrime and identity theft, and how both global crime and terror are fueled by an identical source: the triumphant material affluence of the West.To trace the disparate strands of this hydra-like story, Glenny talked to police, victims, politicians, and members of the global underworld in eastern Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, China, Japan, and India. The story of organized crime’s phenomenal, often shocking growth is truly the central political story of our time. McMafia will change the way we look at the world. The Barnes & Noble Review Misha Glenny, the British journalist and historian who so memorably reported on the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s for the BBC, has written some disturbing books in his time. The Rebirth of History, The Fall of Yugoslavia, The Balkans 1804-1999 -- these superb histories of eastern Europe are inevitably, though not entirely, grim portraits of humanity. This book, however, may be his most chilling. McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld is a guided tour of organized crime worldwide, from Russia to South America, from China to the Middle East, from Africa to India. From the ends of the earth to where you live, to where we all live. "As consumers, we are all involved," Glenny observes toward the end of his journey. He is not preaching, merely inviting us to peel back the veneer of our everyday life and examine what lies beneath.
Introduction ixThe Fall of CommunismDeath of an American 3Bloody Lucre 21The Mafiya: Midwives of Capitalism 47Spreading the Word 71Gold, Money, Diamonds, and BanksAliyah 99Xanadu I 121Xanadu II 140The Theater of Crime 161Black and White 183Drugs and CybercrimeBuddies 211March of Fear 240Code Orange 264The Future of Organized CrimeThe Overunderworld 287The Future of Organized Crime 313Epilogue 343Acknowledgments 347A Note on Sources 351Index 355
