Organized crime and American power - Michael Woodiwiss

In "Organized Crime and American Power: A History", Michael Woodiwiss argues that organized criminal activity has never been a serious threat to established economic and political power structures in the United States but more often a fluid, variable, and open-ended phenomenon that has, in fact, complemented those structures. He surveys the organization of crime in the Southern states after the American Civil War; the organized crimes of American business interests; the causes and corrupt consequences of the US campaign to prohibit alcohol and other "vices"; the elaboration of the mafia conspiracy interpretation of organized crime and the consequent "dumbing of discourse" about the problem.;Emphasizing the importance of collaboration, as much as confrontation, between government and criminals, Woodiwiss illustrates how crime control policies based on the Mafia paradigm have not only failed to address much organized criminal behaviour, but have proved counterproductive and damaging to individual rights and social stability.