Canadian Organized Crime

The second edition of Stephen Schneider’s highly regarded Canadian Organized Crime provides an introduction to criminal syndicates, organized crimes, and enforcement principles and practices in Canada. This widely informative and accessible new edition continues its comprehensive historical, empirical, and theoretical overview of organized crime in Canada with numerous case studies that make the material vivid and understandable for students.

Incorporating new research, recent Canadian cases, and current enforcement structures and laws in Canada, this text will give readers a broad understanding of the social, political, and economic forces that contribute to the continued existence of organized crime in Canada. The text examines new trends and developments that have affected organized crime since the first edition, including the ongoing revolution in digital communications (the internet dark web), the proliferation of cryptocurrency, the opioid epidemic, organized criminality in the time of COVID, the growing power of the ‘Ndrangheta in Ontario, the fallout from the implosion of Quebec’s Rizzuto mafia family, and the new business model employed by the Hells Angels throughout Canada.

This textbook will appeal to students in criminology, sociology, political science, and law and justice programs, criminal justice professionals working in the field of organized crime enforcement, and readers interested in true crime literature.

Canadian Organized Crime provides a thorough and engaging introduction to organized crime in Canada. Readers are guided through the history of organized crime in Canada, an examination of dominant criminal organizations and prevalent organized crimes, the various theories that help explain the causes and structure of organized crime, as well as law enforcement and other control measures in place to combat this serious problem. The textbook also endeavours to answer whether there is a distinctively Canadian version of organized crime. In writing this text, Professor Schneider draws on more than 25 years of research and knowledge; contacts in the criminal justice system; and a range of other sources including scholarly literature, government reports, criminal intelligence, archival material, news articles, and true crime non-fiction.

The second edition documents the latest research, books, reports, and case studies. Students will learn about the role of organized crime in the recent opioid epidemic, organized fraud in the time of COVID, and how the ongoing revolution in digital communication has given rise to organized cyber-crime in Canada and beyond. Students will also stay abreast of new enforcement policies, legislation, strategies, mandates, and agencies. This comprehensive and up-to-date text serves as a vital resource for students in criminology, sociology, political science, and law and justice programs, as well as for criminal justice professionals and true crime readers.