With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the deregulation of international financial markets in 1989, governments an...
read full description
reviews
Sep 19, 2011
Whitaker
rated it: 
Misha Glenny is a journalist. That tells you what you need to know about the approach that he takes to the topic of globalised organised crime in this book. It's large reportorial, with minimal analysis and no overriding thesis. Whether this is good or bad depends on your point of view. The advantage of this approach is that it delivers a punchy narrative; the disadvantage is that the subject remains an unwieldy morass. (♪ <spoiler>If you prefer not to read the book, but want to get a shor
More...
2 comments
like
(9 people liked it)
Sep 18, 2008
Ericka
rated it:
In my International Studies senior seminar we had to pick a book that dealt with globalization/globalism and present a project on it. Naturally, most people thought to pick the obvious such as The World is Flat. After a quick Amazon search this book popped up and I figured it had to be good because Glenny has always done an excellent job of writing about the Balkans (my love). He did not let me down!
McMafia reviews different aspects of organized crime and how it is spreading. He begi More...
McMafia reviews different aspects of organized crime and how it is spreading. He begi More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Sep 01, 2009
saw an interview with the author on Charlie Rose - looks facinating!
http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/06...
And I just watched American Gangster over the weekend!
*****
Well this one has finally arrived from the library and I'm not sure I'm going to make it through before it has to go back. Its interesting reading but very dense and a bit depressing - an unrelenting parade of human greed, cruelty and avarice.
However, it is really interesting More...
http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/06...
And I just watched American Gangster over the weekend!
*****
Well this one has finally arrived from the library and I'm not sure I'm going to make it through before it has to go back. Its interesting reading but very dense and a bit depressing - an unrelenting parade of human greed, cruelty and avarice.
However, it is really interesting More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jul 14, 2008
Edward
rated it:
Things I learned from reading this book:
Illegal trade accounts for 20% of global GDP.
If you want a hit done right and cheaply, hire the Serbs.
The fall of communism is the single most important event accounting for the rise of global criminal syndicates.
There are a lot of brothels in Tel Aviv.
Bollywood and the Indian mafia go hand in hand.
Park and wash your money in Dubai.
Nigerian email scams are the real deal (they actually do originate in Nigeria).
More...
Illegal trade accounts for 20% of global GDP.
If you want a hit done right and cheaply, hire the Serbs.
The fall of communism is the single most important event accounting for the rise of global criminal syndicates.
There are a lot of brothels in Tel Aviv.
Bollywood and the Indian mafia go hand in hand.
Park and wash your money in Dubai.
Nigerian email scams are the real deal (they actually do originate in Nigeria).
More...
Dec 25, 2008
.50spiderbite
rated it: 
Coupled with the collapse of the USSR, criminal enterprise has become a global issue. Criminal enterprise is what propped up the USSR at the tale end of communism. When the iron curtain fell, many enterprising people who had made tons of cash by using communism to buy raw materials cheaply and then selling them at market price (sometimes at a 500-1000% markup, no exaggeration) expanding their enterprises around the globe. And that's just the first two chapters.
The book touches on ma More...
The book touches on ma More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Nov 26, 2008
Garrett
rated it:
I don't know how he got access to all these thugs and mobsters, but Misha Glenny bravely gathered fascinating facts and stories on the world of organized crime and lived to write about it. McMafia looks primarily at the economics driving the black market. Glenny discusses protection rackets in Eastern Europe, prostitution and money laundering in Dubai, and marijuana trafficking in British Columbia. Glenny starts his examination with the power vacuum left by the collapse of the Soviet Union (a vo
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jul 16, 2008
Jamie
rated it: 
This book grabbed me from the beginning due to my obsession with all things Eastern European. I learned of a "country" that doesn't really exist (Transnistria, a breakaway of Moldova) Lots about how criminals that you think don't like each other actually use those "hatreds" as excuses to work together (Serbs and Croats and Bosnians, anyone?)
Also, how war on drugs actually keeps organized crime flowing. If it were legal, nearly 60% of organized crime's income would More...
Also, how war on drugs actually keeps organized crime flowing. If it were legal, nearly 60% of organized crime's income would More...
Dec 23, 2009
" http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1238916.html[return][return]The book is an excellent run through the pervasive infiltration of organised crime around the world, which Glenny attributes largely to the collapse of the Soviet Union (though with a nod also to the US War on Drugs). He takes us on a breathless tour of the underworld in the Balkans, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, India, Dubai, Nigeria, South Africa, North America, Colombia, Brazil, Japan and finally China - which will have a key role in
More...
Feb 05, 2009
According to Glenny, organized crime currently accounts for a shocking 15 to 20 percent of global GDP—a statistic that only emphasizes the urgency of his message. Critics generally praised this ambitious, eye-opening exploration of international organized crime. Though they still considered the book informative and compelling (even if no "McDonalds" of organized crime exists, as the title implies), a few found Glenny's narrative leaps and descriptions hard to follow. This is due, in p
More...
Dec 17, 2008
Matthew
rated it:
I'm generally sceptical of books that purport to change one's view of the world, but when one of them does come along, its a welcome surprise. McMafia ranks one of the two best books I've read so far this year -- the other being Alan Weisman's The World Without Us -- in the very personal terms of having expanded my understanding of how the world works and the consequences of actions and events.
Glenny was the Guardian's and BBC's Central Europe correspondent. Realising how intertwine More...
Glenny was the Guardian's and BBC's Central Europe correspondent. Realising how intertwine More...
Sep 04, 2011
Nigel
rated it:
This sobering and sometimes shocking survey of the new world disorder takes as its starting point the fall of the USSR and the subsequent orgiastic looting of Russia's money and resources, the rise of the mind-bogglingly wealthy oligarchs and the Russian mafia. Guns, drugs cars and human beings are all grist to the mill of these hyper-capitalists who cross international borders, subvent laws, rule by violence and yet, oddly enough, provide a modicum of order and stability in destabilised regions
More...
Aug 14, 2011
Kotinka
rated it: 
McMafia is certainly an apt title for this book; written in an easy-to-consume style, this book munches it's way through global organised crime networks at such a high pace you'll be suffering from indigestion before you've reached the fiftieth page.
Glenny does succeed, as I had hoped before opening the book, in illuminating some of the fascinating, charasmatic and plain scary people behind the world's extraordinary shadow economy. And yet, frustratingly, the book never quite manage More...
Glenny does succeed, as I had hoped before opening the book, in illuminating some of the fascinating, charasmatic and plain scary people behind the world's extraordinary shadow economy. And yet, frustratingly, the book never quite manage More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jul 30, 2011
Daniel
rated it:
I had read this book awhile ago and have started reading it again for research related to a new project.
This book is phenomenal, in my opinion. It traces organized crime operations around the world, starting with the Balkans and moving through Asia, Africa, North and South America. Although each chapter is another region, Misha Glenny does an excellent job of showing how each region is connected and interdependent. Not only that, he describes the 'grey areas' of organized crime, givin More...
This book is phenomenal, in my opinion. It traces organized crime operations around the world, starting with the Balkans and moving through Asia, Africa, North and South America. Although each chapter is another region, Misha Glenny does an excellent job of showing how each region is connected and interdependent. Not only that, he describes the 'grey areas' of organized crime, givin More...
Feb 09, 2011
Paul
rated it:
This book is about the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of Globalization, and how these two factors brought about a criminal underworld that puts the Mafia to shame.
I don't want to discourage anyone from reading this book, but I must say in all honesty, it is a very difficult book to read. The content is excellent, however, the author provides WTMI (way too much information). This is very evident in the first quarter of the book and once you get past that it becomes a lit More...
I don't want to discourage anyone from reading this book, but I must say in all honesty, it is a very difficult book to read. The content is excellent, however, the author provides WTMI (way too much information). This is very evident in the first quarter of the book and once you get past that it becomes a lit More...
Nov 21, 2010
Rexistopheles
rated it:
There are a mere handful of journalists out there whose voice and experience makes the phrase "1000 yard stare" sound like a euphemism. Mr. Glenny is one of those journalists. I took extra care picking this book apart because the points he made were subtle, powerful, and incredibly essential for understanding the world as it really exists.
His comprehensive study on all global instances of organized crime exposes that it is not so much "underground" or anomalous More...
His comprehensive study on all global instances of organized crime exposes that it is not so much "underground" or anomalous More...
Jun 02, 2010
Nicholas
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
May 10, 2011
Anandh
rated it:
I read this book twice-once before my foray into the world of finance and once after(recently). While the difference in the insights/perceptions I got from the book led me to conclude that the author is 'dumbing down' criminal finance,further reflection made me think that this is the greatness of the book-to reveal to both layperson and professionals the havoc that seemingly innocent financial decisions may create.
Specially for those in the finance world, work pressures/lack of profess More...
Specially for those in the finance world, work pressures/lack of profess More...
Jan 28, 2011
Amar
rated it:
Despite the stupid name, this is actually quite an exhaustive/meticulously reported account of transnational crime and the "Global Shadow Economy." The book is a bit overwhelming and feels somewhat unfocused, but there's a wealth of detail herein. Among other things, Glenny devotes chapters to:
South African "Numbers" gang
Brasilian prison gangs
Yakuza
Snakeheads & Triads
Colombian coke trafficking cartels of the 80's
Human trafficking out of th More...
South African "Numbers" gang
Brasilian prison gangs
Yakuza
Snakeheads & Triads
Colombian coke trafficking cartels of the 80's
Human trafficking out of th More...
May 28, 2008
Brian
rated it:
Kind of depressing look at the rise of the organized crime across the planet. Turns out "free trade" and "globalization" were the best things to happen to the world's mafias since the fall of Communism.
Also, did you know that Americans are bad? Well, they are. Just accept it. This author seems to think that no one else on the planet has to take responsibility for anything except Americans.
Sigh.
Also, did you know that Americans are bad? Well, they are. Just accept it. This author seems to think that no one else on the planet has to take responsibility for anything except Americans.
Sigh.
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Nov 20, 2010
Jim
rated it:
A romping good read that was an eye-opener in a host of ways. You think "organised crime" and immeadiately assosciate it with the US, not Dubai, Bosnia, Israel, Russia, Nigeria - but clearly you should. Combine the Mafia with state sanction, if not downright encouragement and sponsorship, and you have a recipe for chaos, violence and a literal license to print money. The author skips breathlessly from one emerging economy to another in a "You thought Israel was bad, let's visit Du
More...
Mar 11, 2009
Thomas
rated it:
If you want to know what a challenge policing the global economy is, look no further than McMafia. From traditional Mafia-style extortion rackets to networking hacker fraud, it's everywhere. When the Soviet Union collapsed organized crime was there to take advantage of the shifting economy. Under-regulation allows criminals to operate with impunity, while over-regulation encourages smuggling and corruption. It's as if crime is simply a fact of nature, created in part by economic imbalance in soc
More...
Feb 02, 2010
Mike
rated it:
This book is about criminal networks across the globe and how they have changed with globalization. There is an investigation into how the larger criminal networks do drugs, prostitution, financial fraud, black market cigarette, illegal weapons trading across the globe. It is hard as a journalist to get much information on these networks, so the story suffers from a scattered, gossip driven approach. The author makes claims like how the legalization of drugs in the USA would limit the crimina
More...
Aug 27, 2010
Gar
rated it:
A really interesting overview of how organised crime works, and how it has adapted to globalisation.
Misha Glenny obviously has an excellent understanding of how the underworld functions. His explanations of the emergence of the Russian Mafia, the plight of trafficked women and the relationships between muscle, oligarchs and corrupt officials were eye-opening for me. It was fascinating to realise how protectionism on the one hand and lack of global regulation on the other facilitates th More...
Misha Glenny obviously has an excellent understanding of how the underworld functions. His explanations of the emergence of the Russian Mafia, the plight of trafficked women and the relationships between muscle, oligarchs and corrupt officials were eye-opening for me. It was fascinating to realise how protectionism on the one hand and lack of global regulation on the other facilitates th More...
Jun 28, 2010
Lisa
rated it:
This was a gripping and excellent book. I really enjoy Glenny's work - I hope that he continues in this vein. Glenny writes about how institutions (and lack theoreof) foster transnational crime rings - mostly smuggling drugs, arms and women from disadvantaged countries to the US, EU and Japan. There are so many hilarious, disgusting and tear-wrenching anecdotes in this book, and Glenny writes as if we are travelling companions across the desolation of Eastern Europe, Africa and China. The chapte
More...
Sep 22, 2009
La Petite Américaine
rated it:
Long, boring book blow fuse in brain, make me stupid like cave-man. I write review anyway.
Organized crime, bad. Exist everywhere. Even on internet. Must stop organized crime in silly ways suggested by author, a BBC journalist.
Booga booga.
Anyway, back to my normal self.
The most interesting part of this book were the interviews and conversations with wild criminals and gansters in various corners of the world from Odessa to Dubai to Colombia -- al More...
Organized crime, bad. Exist everywhere. Even on internet. Must stop organized crime in silly ways suggested by author, a BBC journalist.
Booga booga.
Anyway, back to my normal self.
The most interesting part of this book were the interviews and conversations with wild criminals and gansters in various corners of the world from Odessa to Dubai to Colombia -- al More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Aug 01, 2011
Byron
rated it:
Interesting to read, but not an easy read. I'm stunned by how pervasive criminality is in the world. I'm not completely naive, but didn't realize how bad it was.
I think the big takeway from this book is how interconnected various crimes are and that what we often think of a victim less crimes like dope smoking support many activities that we would not want to be associated with. Also interesting to note that organized crime moves in and provides order when the state either cannot or does not. More...
I think the big takeway from this book is how interconnected various crimes are and that what we often think of a victim less crimes like dope smoking support many activities that we would not want to be associated with. Also interesting to note that organized crime moves in and provides order when the state either cannot or does not. More...
Oct 19, 2011
Chrissy
rated it:
An extremely fascinating read that suffers the tragic, ironic fate of containing too much information. The first third of the book, devoted to the Balkans (on which the author is an expert), is particularly dense with unfamiliar names, locations, and acronyms, though a general overestimation of the reader's prior knowledge infects the entire book and renders it less accessible than it could otherwise have been.
Perhaps as someone who has never studied history and who has limited knowledge of More...
Perhaps as someone who has never studied history and who has limited knowledge of More...
Nov 26, 2011
James
rated it:
An impressive tour-de-force through the major organised crime syndicates around the world. The "Mc" of the title has nothing to do with McDonald's, as you may think; it's a wry comment on how organised crime is so pervasive in the world today, it's almost like the world's biggest fast food franchise, reaching into almost every country and affecting everybody's lives. An eye-opener for me was how even ordinary people like you and me are touched by the lives of gangsters - for example, a
More...
Jan 29, 2012
Kai
rated it:
Un lottatore bulgaro con catene d’oro al collo taurino e occhiali da sole, dal passato remoto di agente dei servizi segreti, dal passato prossimo di imprenditore di successo e massone, e dal presente in una cassa da morto; un misterioso omicidio di una geofisica nella placida cittadina di Woking nel Surrey; una sequela di personaggi che si muovono tra India, Nigeria, Balcani, Stati Uniti, India, Giappone, Italia, Colombia, Canada e la “fantomatica” Transnistria cancellando la nitidezza dei confi
More...
Jan 29, 2012
J
rated it:
Un lottatore bulgaro con catene d’oro al collo taurino e occhiali da sole, dal passato remoto di agente dei servizi segreti, dal passato prossimo di imprenditore di successo e massone, e dal presente in una cassa da morto; un misterioso omicidio di una geofisica nella placida cittadina di Woking nel Surrey; una sequela di personaggi che si muovono tra India, Nigeria, Balcani, Stati Uniti, India, Giappone, Italia, Colombia, Canada e la “fantomatica” Transnistria cancellando la nitidezza dei confi
More...
