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McMafia: Crime Without Frontiers

Author: Misha Glenny
Publisher: The Bodley Head Ltd
Category: Book

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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

7 reviews
Sales Rank: 335

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.9

ISBN: 0224075039
EAN: 9780224075039
ASIN: 0224075039

Publication Date: April 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours

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Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Scary but true... June 11, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This a frightening but fascinating book, which brings together the keen-eyed journalism Glenny displayed in the 1990s, with a tale of the kind of organised crime that touches us all, whether we know it or not.

Glenny tours the world, and wisely does not try his hand at thriller-writing as he does so. The stories, and their contexts, are fascinating enough to be simply laid out before us. In each case, the most compelling parts are the history and analysis of how that kind of crime took off, in that place and that time. While there are undercurrents that are common throughout, what stands out starkly are the location and era-specific details of the conditions that allow major crime to flourish. I would have liked to have seen something more about how these national and international crime groups link together; however, given the amount of detail at his disposal, perhaps the author is saving this for his next book.

The level of detail is impressive, and the sources authoritative. Glenny has managed to bring in a tremendous amount of information, without leaving the reader feeling swamped and overwhelmed. The book should be compulsory reading for anyone aspiring to senior levels of government. Because what strikes this reader, is how in each case the myopia, stupidity, connivance and outright greed of governments have created the conditions for organised crime to grow and thrive.

4 out of 5 stars

Indepth Study May 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Misha Glenny delves deep into organised crime in this study of a post cold-war, globalised world. Indepth and at times utterly fascinating this book covers a wide blanket of criminals from the Balkans to India, from Colombia to Russia and beyond.
However the linkage between each criminal group is not evident and there is not a significant coherant argument concerning globalisation. On one hand he appears to advocate the legalisation of all drugs whilst on the other going into great detail concerning tobacco smuggling and counterfeiting and the negative effects this causes.
The pace is at times frantic and it is sometimes hard to keep up with the various names of individuals and groups which at times gives the book a disjointed feel.
However overall this is an incredibly well researched, valuable modern social history.

5 out of 5 stars

McMafia - powered by illegal drugs April 24, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

McMafia is an argument for the legalisation of drugs. Without explicitly demanding such a thing, it gives the best possible argument for legalising all narcotics; that drug money is the engine of the McMafia.
Misha Glenny covers many more McMafia activities; cigarette smuggling, investment scams, slavery, fake goods, intimidation etc, but behind them all lies drugs and the massive profits they engender.
He points out that we in the west are largely to blame. We buy the fake DVDs, hire the slaves and turn a blind eye to the sweatshops. Mainly, we buy the drugs.
The author's point is that so long as the drug barons grow fat on human misery, so will the McMafia thrive.
A riveting read.

5 out of 5 stars

A dazzling exposition of modern organised crime April 22, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

In McMafia, Misha Glenny meets some of the underworld's villains and scammers and puts a human face to the vast conspiracies which we hear so much about, but ultimately know so little. He is an entertaining, affable guide, a meticulous researcher and, it would appear, a brave journalist. He writes with candour, incisiveness and occasional humour. This is a very different work to his books on the Balkans, but the skills that made them such good books are much in the evidence here as well.

Glenny takes us on a world tour of global crime: from the insidious backstreets of the ex-Soviet bloc, where James Bond-esque baddies lurk in every corner, to Nigeria, Brazil, Japan and China. Although the chapter titles - such as `The Future of Organised Crime' - suggest a thematic approach, it is more geographic than that, which actually makes it all the more readable.

My only problems are with the title - which suggests that the global underworld somehow replicates himself everywhere and is anodyne for it, when Glenny shows that it is not - and the lack of over-arching hypothesis - this isn't a book about the globalisation of crime, we are told at the end, when the preceding 400 pages would suggest that it is.

But as part travelogue, part social history this is nevertheless an excellent read. It is an urgent, compelling book, which I read over only a couple of days and would recommend to anyone with the vaguest interest in organised crime.

5 out of 5 stars

If you loved Freakonomics or Fast Food Nation, read this book April 14, 2008
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

If you've ever bought knocked off cigarettes or DVDs, taken recreational drugs or paid for sex then you're part of the problem. So says Misha Glenny as he takes us on a spellbinding tour from leafy suburban England where a housewife is mistakenly assassinated instead of her sister, through Bulgaria with its muscle men who would be funny if they weren't so scary, to the black market free for all created by sanctions in the Balkans, to Russia, Africa, India, Israel, Europe, Brazil, Bolivia, Columbia, the US, Canada, Japan and China.
This is an amazing book that tells you how the fall of communism and the deregulation of the financial markets have coincided to create a crime bonanza; 20% of the world's GDP comes from illicit activity.
It's eye-poppingly good. Everyone should read it.