Module Directory

This module covers the construction of organised crime as a concept and the utility of the concept as a tool of governance. In doing so, the module will look at both landmark studies and the emerging horizons within the field of organised crime studies through close readings of recent cutting-edge work by leading authors in the field.

This module examines the phenomena of organised crime from critical and theoretical perspectives. By starting from the paradigms of mafias, especially Italian mafias, and the definitions of organised crime, through a multi-disciplinary approach, this module will engage with key definitional debates relating to social, political, media, cultural, and ideological dimensions of this field of study.

The aims of this module are:

• To examine the phenomena of organised crime from critical and theoretical perspectives. Implicit in this study is a multi-disciplinary approach, albeit one which emphasises criminological analysis.


• To examine key definitional debates relating to social, political, media, cultural and ideological understandings of the phenomena. Additionally, theoretical debates are outlined and applied to different modes of organised criminal activity. In addition to its international and interdisciplinary focus, the module emphasises the importance of the relationship between the local and the global.

By the end of this module, student will be expected to be able to:

1. Show an understanding of the forms, patterns and trends characterising of organised crime.


2. Have developed a critical awareness of the broad social, cultural, economic, and political aspects organised crime.


3. Assess the impacts and consequences of organised crime activities.


4. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the key functions that national and international enforcement agencies, laws, treaties and criminal courts may play in responding to transnational organised crime.

Theoretical debates are outlined and applied to countermeasures, in criminal law and criminal procedures against organised crime across states. In addition to its international and interdisciplinary focus on different organised criminal activities, the module will look at different countries, groups' movements, and migration of criminal activities. The module emphasises the local sphere of criminal networks and their links with societies and communities as a lens through which many of these themes are filtered.

This module will be delivered via:

• One 2-hour seminar each week.

Attendance in person is expected.

• Campana, Paolo; Varese, Federico. (2018-10-05) 'Organized Crime in the United Kingdom: Illegal Governance of Markets and Communities', in The British Journal of Criminology. vol. 58 (6) , pp.1381-1400
• (2014) The Oxford handbook of organized crime, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Catino, Maurizio. (2020-07) 'Italian Organized Crime since 1950', in Crime and Justice. vol. 49, pp.69-140
• Lauchs, Mark; Staines, Zoe. (2019-04-03) 'An analysis of outlaw motorcycle gang crime: are bikers organised criminals?', in Global Crime. vol. 20 (2) , pp.69-89
• Sergi, Anna. (2018-06-13) 'Polycephalous 'ndrangheta: Crimes, behaviours and organisation of the Calabrian mafia in Australia', in Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology., pp.000486581878257-
• Arsovska, Jana. (2016) 'Strategic Mobsters or Deprived Migrants? Testing the Transplantation and Deprivation Models of Organized Crime in an Effort to Understand Criminal Mobility and Diversity in the United States', in International Migration. vol. 54 (2) , pp.160-175
• European Union Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment | Europol, https://www.europol.europa.eu/activities-services/main-reports/european-union-serious-and-organised-crime-threat-assessment-2017
• Paoli, Letizia. (2014) 'How to Tackle (Organized) Crime in Europe: The EU Policy Cycle on Serious and Organized Crime and the New Emphasis on Harm', in Eur. J. Crime Crim. L. & Crim.. vol. 22 (2014) , pp.1-122014
• Sergi, Anna. (2020-04-20) 'Playing Pac-Man in Portville: Policing the dilution and fragmentation of drug importations through major seaports', in European Journal of Criminology., pp.147737082091346-
• Meliáá, Manuel Cancio. (2008-11-01) 'The Wrongfulness of Crimes of Unlawful Association', in New Criminal Law Review. vol. 11 (4) , pp.563-589
• Sergi, Anna. (2017) From Mafia to organised crime: a comparative analysis of policing models, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Zaitch, Damián. (2002) 'From Cali to Rotterdam: Perceptions of Colombian cocaine traffickers on the Dutch port', in Crime, Law and Social Change. vol. 38 (3) , pp.239-266
• Carrapico, Helena. (2014-10-02) 'Analysing the European Union's responses to organized crime through different securitization lenses', in European Security. vol. 23 (4) , pp.601-617
• Sergi, Anna. (2015-05-05) 'Organised crime in English criminal law', in Journal of Money Laundering Control. vol. 18 (2) , pp.182-201
• Professor Alberto Vannucci, Professor Donatella della Porta. (no date) The Hidden Order of Corruption: An Institutional Approach.
• Gootenberg, Paul. (2012) 'Cocaine's Long March North, 1900–2010', in Latin American Politics and Society. vol. 54 (1) , pp.159-180
• Varese, Federico. (2020-07) 'How Mafias Migrate: Transplantation, Functional Diversification, and Separation', in Crime and Justice. vol. 49, pp.289-337
• Bergman, Marcelo. (2018) More money, more crime: prosperity and rising crime in Latin America, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Van Duyne, Petrus C. (1996-9) 'Organized crime, corruption and power', in Crime, Law and Social Change. vol. 26 (3) , pp.201-238