Social Dimensions of Organised Crime

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This book offers a multi-disciplinary exploration of extortion rackets, examining the structures of criminal organizations, their failures, and the societal processes that influence their operations. It integrates various disciplines and methods to provide a comprehensive case study rooted in empirical computational social science. Drawing on extensive qualitative data from multiple extortion rackets, including the Sicilian Mafia, an international money laundering network, and a predatory extortion case in Germany, it employs computational methods for data analysis. These methods facilitate the operationalization of data for agent-based models and allow for the simulation of extortion racketeering dynamics. The research incorporates narratives from stakeholders and experts, enhancing the qualitative validation of the models. The book systematically applies computational social science methods to the study of extortion rackets, offering insights into their societal entrenchment and the processes that support or undermine them. Additionally, it covers computational social science techniques, such as computationally assisted text analysis and agent-based modeling, while integrating empirical, theoretical, and computational approaches to the subject matter.