With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the deregulation of international financial markets in 1989, governments and entrepreneurs alike became intoxicated by forecasts of limitless expansion into newly open markets. No one would foresee that the greatest success story to arise from these events would be the globalization of organized crime. Current estimates suggest that illegal trade accounts for nearly one-fifth of global GDP. McMafia is a fearless, encompassing, wholly authoritative investigation of the now proven ability of organized crime worldwide to find and service markets driven by a seemingly insatiable demand for illegal wares. Whether discussing the Russian mafia, Colombian drug cartels, or Chinese labor smugglers, Misha Glenny makes clear how organized crime feeds off the poverty of the developing world, how it exploits new technology in the forms of cybercrime and identity theft, and how both global crime and terror are fueled by an identical source: the triumphant material affluence of the West. To trace the disparate strands of this hydra-like story, Glenny talked to police, victims, politicians, and members of the global underworld in eastern Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, China, Japan, and India. The story of organized crime's phenomenal, often shocking growth is truly the central political story of our time. McMafia will change the way we look at the world.
Amazon Significant Seven, April 2008: In McMafia, Misha Glenny draws the dark map that lies on the other side of Tom Friedman's bright flat world. That connected globe not only brings software coders and supply-chain outsourcers closer together; it's also opened the gates to a criminal network of unsettling vastness, complexity, and efficiency that represents a fifth of the earth's economy, trading in everything from untaxed cigarettes and the usual narcotics to human lives and nuclear material. Glenny's a Balkans expert, and he begins his story there, with the illicit--but often state-sponsored--underworld that grew out of the post-Soviet chaos, but he soon follows the contraband everywhere from Mumbai and Johannesburg to rural Colombia and the U.S. suburbs. It's not just a hodgepodge of scare clips, though: Glenny reports from the ground but follows the leads as high as they go, showing how the dark and bright sides of the flat world are more connected than we imagine. --Tom Nissley
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
McDUMMIES Argh !!!, never mind, Best book I have read in a while, forget what the perfectionist say. I lived abroad and I AM NOT A RACIST, when I say 75% of the world is 150 years behind us. DO NOT PROJECT YOUR IMAGE ON THE REST OF THE WORLD, It does not work. Think before you write, naive ignorant people are not liberal or conservative, there are just plain dangerous.
Interesting then tedious He started off with exhilariting accounts of the criminal organizations which rose out of the chaos of the fall of the USSR and other sectarian wars in Eastern Europe but got bogged down in anecdote. Still, it was food for thought and spells trouble for the new world order.
Shocking... McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld (Borzoi Books) This is a well written, documented, expose' of the global criminal network and operations. The author's professional expertise and research combine to show clearly the extent of the 'darkside'. Criminal operations are far more extensive in global life and business than the great majority of people realize. Read this and remove the veil.
A Trip Around the World Its like a documentary in a book! It was the best trip around the world that I didn't need a passport or a bullet proof vest for. This book was so good I bought one to send to my best friend so we could talk about it.
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