Organized Crime in the United States : 1929 - 51

Here you will find a selection of links on Organized Crime in the USA.

Journalist turned academic, John Capeci has a web-site on which you will find, among other things, potted histories of 'New York's Five Families'. For Chicago, go to the Chicago History site, where, along with background information on the city, you will find a potted biography of Al Capone.

Ma Barker's legend is dissected here. It is mostly interesting for the role played by the FBI in turning a woman who, according to those who knew her, 'couldn't plan breakfast' into a criminal mastermind. At the same site you will also find an article on those even more hyped up heroes, Bonnie and Clyde.

Mike Davis looks back to organized crime in the inter-war years to get a better handle on what is happening in today's Los Angeles in his essay entitled 'Beyond Blade-Runner'.

For a fairly succinct but informative look at the Chicago school's theories of urban crime, you can look at J. Scott Richeson's lecture on Social Disorganization. Fuller consideration, placing the Chicago work within a wider set of approaches, will be found at R.J. Morris's 'Urban Theory' page