Double crossed: the failure of organized crime control

305 Pages·2017·1.329 MB·English

by  Woodiwiss, Michael

Double Crossed

Double Crossed
The Failure of Organized
Crime Control
Michael Woodiwiss
First published 2017 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Michael Woodiwiss 2017
The right of Michael Woodiwiss to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3202 4 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 3201 7 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7868 0093 0 PDF eBook
ISBN 978 1 7868 0095 4 Kindle eBook
ISBN 978 1 7868 0094 7 EPUB eBook
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected
to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America
To Laurie and Sophia – always

Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Preface xiii
PART I
DUMBING DOWN: CONSTRUCTING AN ACCEPTABLE
UNDERSTANDING OF “ORGANIZED CRIME”
Introduction 3
1. The Rise and Fall of Muckraking Business Criminality 5
2. America’s Moral Crusade and the Making of Illegal
Markets 13
Inset 1: The Origins of Mafia Mythology in America 21
3. Charles G. Dawes and the Molding of Public Opinion
on Organized Crime 24
4. Al Capone as Public Enemy Number One 33
5. Al Capone and the Business of Crime 36
Inset 2: The Legends and Lives of Al Capone and Eliot Ness 38
6. Americanizing Mussolini’s Phony War against the Mafia 43
7. “Organized Crime” in a Fascist State 52
8. Gangbusting and Propaganda 59
9. Thomas E. Dewey and the “Greatest Gangster in America” 64
10. From Gangbusters to Murder Inc. 67
PART II
LIES ABOUT CRIMINALS: CONSTRUCTING AN
ACCEPTABLE “HISTORY” OF ORGANIZED CRIME
Introduction 73
1. The Genesis of the Atlantic City “Conference” Legend 74
2. Consolidating the “Conference” Legend 80
vii
double crossed
3. The Purge that Wasn’t 86
4. The US Government’s History of Organized Crime 89
Inset 3: “Lucky” Luciano and a Life in Exile 93
PART III
COVERING UP FAILURE: CONSTRUCTING AN
ACCEPTABLE RESPONSE TO “ORGANIZED CRIME”
Introduction 101
1. Mafia Mythology and the Federal Response 103
2. President Richard Nixon and Organized Crime Control 114
3. Challenging the Orthodoxy 118
4. Sustaining and Updating Mafia Mythology 124
5. From Super-Government to Super-Governments:
The Pluralist Revision of Organized Crime 131
6. The Origins of the Anti-Money Laundering Regime 135
Inset 4: Meyer Lansky and the Origins of Money Laundering
History 138
7. Informants, Liars and Paranoiacs 142
8. Seizing Assets to Fund the Crime War 146
9. Drug Prohibition and the Prison Gang Phenomenon 151
10. Organized Business Crime: The Elephant in the Room 160
11. Deregulation and the Rise of Corporate Fraud 171
12. Fraud and the Financial Meltdown 177
13. Hiding the Failure of Organized Crime Control 182
14. Repression as Organized Crime Control 187
PART IV
SELLING FAILURE: SETTING THE GLOBAL AGENDA ON
DRUGS, ORGANIZED CRIME AND MONEY LAUNDERING
Introduction 195
1. Losing Corporate Criminality from Transnational Crime 196
2. Building Capacity 200
viii
contents
3. Americanizing the British Drug Control System 212
4. Dumbing Down the International Response to Drugs and
“Organized Crime” 218
5. Repression, Profits and Slaughter: The United States in
Colombia and Mexico 230
6. The Atlantic Alliance as a Money Laundry 238
Epilogue 247
Notes 251
Index 276
ix