Theft of the Nation: The Structure and Operations of Organized Crime in America

Copyright 1969 by Donald R. Cressey; code "C-T" at copyright without other indications. Second or early trade issue without isbn number and matching first printing in design, quality, etc. Black full cloth boards, horizontal silver metallic spine titles with red accent, Harper torch emblem at front board, light shelf wear. Pages near fine, clean; no writing. Light fox to exterior text block. Classic deep red endpapers design at front and back with New York Police Department chart of crime families, the jobs within these families, etc. Bind fine, square; hinges intact. Rare sharp pictorial wrapper with red and blue titles, light edge wear, spine toning; clipped, protected in new clear sleeve. Spine titles in red remain unfaded. Cover illustration by Janet Halverson depicts federal Capitol Building smudged with fingerprints and half lit up as if a mug shot flash. Back panel features portrait of Professor Donald Cressey with bio over white b.g. Date code 0269 to front flap. Scrace near very good early printing of this classic examination and unveiling. Contents include: "Preface; I. Trouble; II. From Mafia to Cosa Nostra; III. War, Peace, and Peaceful Coexistence; IV. Educating the Public; V. Demand, Supply, and Pofit; VI. The Structural Skeleton; VII. Origins of the Authority Structure; VIII. The Code; IX. Some Functions of the Code; X. Shifting Patterns of Authority and Recruitment; XI. Corruption of the Law Enforcement and Political Systems; XII. Search, Destroy, and Appease; Notes, Glossary, and Index." Donald Cressey explains that the real danger of ogranized crime in American does not come from the tough hoodlums, but from a more sophisticated lot. Many of them are college graduates, gifted with organizational genius, and all belong to 24 tightly knit 'families.' who have corrupted legitimate business and the highest levels of government. Their power reaches into Congress, the executive and judicial branches, police agencies, and labor unions. It also infiltrates business enterprises as real estate, retail, restaurants, hotels, clothing houses, and garbage collection. This organized crime exists to provide illiciit goods and services to "legitmate society". Cressey's account reveals the growth of spcialization - the enforcer plans murders, the exiecutionar carries them out, and the buffer acts as go between. The corruptor hanldes the bribery. The outfit has shifted to skilled labor with the boss accompanied by lawyers and accountants. 'Big-business' practices exist with pooling of capital and reinvestment of profits with fringe benefits like funds for bail. Negotiation practices now exist suchs as settlements and peace treaties with defined terrritories and fair-trade aggreements. Organized crime even copies the status symbols and prejudices of the larger society - it has its upper class, to which nouveaux ciminals may not be admitted. Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Cressey presents a new and powerful indictment with case histories, transcripts of conversations, and concret documentation, in this book of high import and impact. Features a detaled eleven-page index and note about author. 368 pages. Insured post. Size: 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.…