Challenging the Mafia Mystique

Challenging the Mafia Mystique PDF Author: Rino Coluccello
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137280506
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
The Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, is one of the most intriguing criminal phenomena in the world. It is an unparalleled organised criminal grouping that over almost two centuries has been able not only to successfully permeate licit and illicit economy, politics and civil society, but also to influence and exercise authoritative power over both the underworld and the upper-world. This criminal phenomenon has been a captivating conundrum for scholars of different disciplines who have tried to explain with various paradigms the reasons behind the emergence and consolidation of the mafia. Challenging the Mafia Mystique provides an analysis of the changes the Sicilian mafia has undergone, from legitimisation to denunciation. Rino Coluccello highlights how, from the very emergence of the organised criminal groups in Sicily, a culture existed that was protective and tolerant of the mafia. He argues that the various conceptualisations of the mafia that dominated the public and scientific debate in the nineteenth and more than half of the twentieth century created a mystique, which legitimised the mafia and contributed to their success. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of organised crime, Italian politics and Italian literature.

Challenging the Mafia Mystique

Challenging the Mafia Mystique PDF Author: Rino Coluccello
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137280506
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, is one of the most intriguing criminal phenomena in the world. It is an unparalleled organised criminal grouping that over almost two centuries has been able not only to successfully permeate licit and illicit economy, politics and civil society, but also to influence and exercise authoritative power over both the underworld and the upper-world. This criminal phenomenon has been a captivating conundrum for scholars of different disciplines who have tried to explain with various paradigms the reasons behind the emergence and consolidation of the mafia. Challenging the Mafia Mystique provides an analysis of the changes the Sicilian mafia has undergone, from legitimisation to denunciation. Rino Coluccello highlights how, from the very emergence of the organised criminal groups in Sicily, a culture existed that was protective and tolerant of the mafia. He argues that the various conceptualisations of the mafia that dominated the public and scientific debate in the nineteenth and more than half of the twentieth century created a mystique, which legitimised the mafia and contributed to their success. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of organised crime, Italian politics and Italian literature.

The Murder Mystique

The Murder Mystique PDF Author: Laurie Nalepa
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
Although they account for only ten percent of all murders, those attributed to women seem especially likely to captivate the public. This absorbing book examines why that is true and how some women, literally, get away with murder. Combining compelling storytelling with insightful observations, the book invites readers to take a close look at ten high-profile killings committed by American women. The work exposes the forces that underlie the public's fascination with female killers and determine why these women so often become instant celebrities. Cases are paired by motive—love, money, revenge, self-defense, and psychopathology. Through them, the authors examine the appeal of women who commit murders and show how perceptions of their crimes are shaped. The book details both the crimes and the criminals as it explores how pop culture treats stereotypes of female murderers in film and print. True crime aficionados will be fascinated by the minute descriptions of what happened and why, while pop culture enthusiasts will appreciate the lens of societal norms through which these cases are examined.

The Sublime Crime

The Sublime Crime PDF Author: Stephanie Barbé Hammer
Publisher: SIU Press
ISBN: 9780809318315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
In this hermeneutic analysis of seven literary texts, Stephanie Barbé Hammer studies the roles of criminal protagonists in the dramas of George Lillo (The London Merchant) and Friedrich Schiller (The Robbers) and in the narratives of Abbé de Prévost (Manon Lescaut), Henry Fielding (Jonathan Wild), Marquis de Sade (Justine), William Godwin (Caleb Williams), and Heinrich von Kleist (Michael Kohlhaas). Hammer reflects the current interest in cultural critique by utilizing the social theories of Michel Foucault and the feminist approaches of Hélène Cixous and Eve Sedgwick to redefine the Enlightenment as a movement of thought rather than as a strictly defined period synonymous with the eighteenth century. In addition, through the examination of the works of three post–World War II authors (Jean Genet, Anthony Burgess, and Peter Handke), Hammer suggests that the Enlightenment’s artistic representations of criminality are unparalleled by subsequent modern literature. Hammer explains that the seven works she focuses on have been dismissed as failures by readers who have misunderstood the texts’ aesthetic elements. While claiming that the form of these works breaks down under the pressure of their criminal protagonists, she asserts that this formal failure actually contributes to the success of the works as art. The works "fail" because, like the criminal characters themselves, they break laws. The criminal protagonist effectively sabotages the official story that the text seeks to tell by deflecting the plot, style, and formal requirements in question, subverting its message—be it moral, sentimental, or libertine— through a kind of structural undermining, forcing the text beyond its own formal boundaries. For example, Hammer maintains that the presence of the criminal figure, Millwood, in Lillo’s bourgeois tragedy actually makes the play covertly antibourgeois. Hammer insists that the criminal’s subversive presence in these seven works inaugurates new insight, and her analysis thereby challenges late twentieth-century readers to continue the investigation that the works themselves have begun. This book will prove indispensable to scholars of comparative literature, especially eighteenth-century specialists, as well as to all individuals interested in cultural critique.

The Terrorist-Criminal Nexus

The Terrorist-Criminal Nexus PDF Author: Jennifer L. Hesterman
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1040083900
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
Postmodern global terrorist groups engage sovereign nations asymmetrically with prolonged, sustained campaigns driven by ideology. Increasingly, transnational criminal organizations operate with sophistication previously only found in multinational corporations. Unfortunately, both of these entities can now effectively hide and morph, keeping law e

The Mafia Mystique

The Mafia Mystique PDF Author: Dwight C. Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mafia
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
This text examines the imagery linked to the term "mafia". The author aims to break down the mystique surrounding the word, attributing its buildup to sensational reporting, hidden agendas and the public's fascination with the idea of a secret criminal society. In tracing this mystique through history, the author determines how much of that image comes from actual events.

Organized Crime

Organized Crime PDF Author: Antonio Nicaso
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000374408
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
This book aims to describe and demystify what makes criminal gangs so culturally powerful. It examines their codes of conduct, initiation rites, secret communications methods, origin myths, symbols, and the like that imbue the gangsters with the pride and nonchalance that goes hand in hand with their criminal activities. Mobsters are everywhere in the movies, on television, and on websites. Contemporary societies are clearly fascinated by them. Why is this so? What feature and constituents of organized criminal gangs make them so emotionally powerful—to themselves and others? These are the questions that have guided the writing of this textbook, which is intended as an introduction to organized crime from the angle of cultural analysis. Key topics include: • An historic overview of organized crime, including the social, economic, and cultural conditions that favour its development; • A review of the type of people who make up organized gangs and the activities in which they engage; • The symbols, rituals, codes and languages that characterize criminal institutions; • The relationship between organized crime and cybercrime; • The role of women in organized crime; • Drugs and narco-terrorism; • Media portrayals of organized crime. Organized Crime includes case studies and offers an accessible, interdisciplinary approach to the subject of organized crime. It is essential reading for students engaged with organized crime across criminology, sociology, anthropology and psychology.

The Immorality of Punishment

The Immorality of Punishment PDF Author: Michael J. Zimmerman
Publisher: Broadview Press
ISBN: 1460401093
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Book Description
In The Immorality of Punishment Michael Zimmerman argues forcefully that not only our current practice but indeed any practice of legal punishment is deeply morally repugnant, no matter how vile the behaviour that is its target. Despite the fact that it may be difficult to imagine a state functioning at all, let alone well, without having recourse to punishing those who break its laws, Zimmerman makes a timely and compelling case for the view that we must seek and put into practice alternative means of preventing crime and promoting social stability.

Organized Crime

Organized Crime PDF Author: Jay S. Albanese
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317522109
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
Organized Crime: From the Mob to Transnational Organized Crime, Seventh Edition, provides readers with a clear understanding of organized crime, including its definition and causes, how it is categorized under the law, models to explain its persistence, and the criminal justice response to organized crime, including investigation, prosecution, defense, and sentencing. This book offers a comprehensive survey, including an extensive history of the Mafia in the United States; a legal analysis of the offenses that underlie organized crimes; specific attention to modern manifestations of organized crime activity, such as human smuggling, Internet crimes, and other transnational criminal operations; and the application of ethics to the study of organized crime. A new section has been added on threat assessment in organized crime. Chapters are enhanced by updated photos, tables, charts, and critical thinking exercises that help students apply concepts to actual organized crime cases. Every chapter includes two student-friendly special features: Organized Crime Biography and Organized Crime at the Movies. A glossary gives students a quick reference for looking up important definitions of organized crime-related terms, and a Timeline of Organized Crime in the United States highlights important events in the history of organized crime.

Unimaginable Atrocities

Unimaginable Atrocities PDF Author: William Schabas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199653070
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
As international criminal justice has grown in prominence, so have the challenges facing it. This book discusses the unresolved questions and dilemmas confronted by international war crimes courts. These include the controversies surrounding prosecutorial policy, the tension between peace and justice, and accusations of victor's justice.

Homicide Law in Comparative Perspective

Homicide Law in Comparative Perspective PDF Author: Jeremy Horder
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 184731385X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
A number of jurisdictions world-wide have changed or are considering changing their homicide laws. Important changes have now been recommended for England and Wales, and these changes are an important focus in the book, which brings together leading experts from jurisdictions across the globe (England and Wales; France; Germany; Scotland; Australia; The United States of America; Canada; Singapore and Malaysia) to examine key aspects of the law of homicide. Key areas examined include the structure of the law of homicide and the meaning of fault elements. For example, the definition of murder, or its equivalent, is very different in France and Germany from the definition used in England and Wales. French law, like the law in a number of American states, ties the definition of murder to the presence or absence of premeditation, unlike the law in England and Wales. Unlike most other jurisdictions, German law makes the killer's motive, such as a sadistic sexual motive, relevant to whether or not he or she committed the worst kind of homicide. England and Wales is in a minority of English-speaking jurisdictions in that it does not employ the concept of 'wicked' recklessness, or of extreme indifference, as a fault element in homicide. Understanding these often subtle differences between the approaches of different jurisdictions to the definition of homicide is an essential aspect of the law reform process, and of legal study and scholarship in the criminal law. Every jurisdiction tries to learn from the experience of others, and this book seeks to make a contribution to that process, as well as providing a lively and informative resource for scholars and students.