Illegal Enterprise - by Mark H Haller (Paperback)

About the Book

Representing over four decades of work, this monograph by historian Mark H. Haller includes his work on organized crime in Chicago. This book incorporates Haller's critique of the Mafia model of organized crime and his elaboration of the illegal enterprise model of gangsters a...

Book Synopsis

Representing over four decades of work, this monograph by historian Mark H. Haller includes his work on organized crime in Chicago, particularly the origins of John Landesco's now classic work titled Organized Crime in Chicago (1929), written for the Illinois Crime Survey. Essays on organized crime in both Philadelphia and Chicago, as well as vignettes on Al "Scarface" Capone, Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, and Max "Boo Boo" Hoff, provide readers with a lively selection of Haller's commentary. Finally, this book incorporates Haller's critique of the Mafia model of organized crime and his elaboration of the illegal enterprise model of gangsters and their role in the American subeconomy, including the historical importance of prohibition and 19th century gambling syndicates in urban America.

Review Quotes

"This book is well suited for undergraduate classes within criminology or criminal justice programs that focus on policy. The language in the book is written in a manner that citizens outside of criminology will benefit as well. . . .For those in the criminology field, most well-trained criminologists will be familiar with several of the examples of well-documented programs and studies provided in the book, such as problem-oriented policing and drug treatment courts. . . .Mathew Yeager has given us a worthy compendium of Haller's major work and contributions on the subject of how organized crime is actually organized, including some of Haller's publications which are now difficult to find." --Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books

"It is organized to showcase three of Haller's unique contributions to the field: rediscovery and highlighting of the circumstances and content of John Landesco's 1929 study of organized crime in Chicago; a description and commentary on the activities of the Angelo Bruno family in Philadelphia; and an analysis...of Illegal Enterprise accompanied by studies of three particular businesses, gambling, loan sharking and bootlegging. They are tied together through Haller's self-perception "as a social scientist, using the tools of a trained historian".... [I]f I were designing an introductory course in Organized Crime, Illegal Enterprisewould be one of the books on my recommended reading list." --Trends In Organized Crime

"This monograph brings together the major works and unpublished papers of Mark Haller, whose scholarship spans more than forty years. . . . His pioneering work on organized crime in the United States influenced the move away from organized crime as a bureaucracy of evil to a modern view that recognizes the phenomenon as an enterprise of interconnected partnerships devoid of an overarching leadership. . . . This book is a valuable addition to the literature on organized crime, providing a one-volume source for the essential work of Mark Haller." --Howard Abadinsky, St. John's University, New York

It is organized to showcase three of Haller's unique contributions to the field: rediscovery and highlighting of the circumstances and content of John Landesco's 1929 study of organized crime in Chicago; a description and commentary on the activities of the Angelo Bruno family in Philadelphia; and an analysis...of Illegal Enterprise accompanied by studies of three particular businesses, gambling, loan sharking and bootlegging. They are tied together through Haller's self-perception "as a social scientist, using the tools of a trained historian".... [I]f I were designing an introductory course in Organized Crime, Illegal Enterprisewould be one of the books on my recommended reading list.

This book is well suited for undergraduate classes within criminology or criminal justice programs that focus on policy. The language in the book is written in a manner that citizens outside of criminology will benefit as well. . . .For those in the criminology field, most well-trained criminologists will be familiar with several of the examples of well-documented programs and studies provided in the book, such as problem-oriented policing and drug treatment courts. . . .Mathew Yeager has given us a worthy compendium of Haller's major work and contributions on the subject of how organized crime is actually organized, including some of Haller's publications which are now difficult to find.


This monograph brings together the major works and unpublished papers of Mark Haller, whose scholarship spans more than forty years. . . . His pioneering work on organized crime in the United States influenced the move away from organized crime as a bureaucracy of evil to a modern view that recognizes the phenomenon as an enterprise of interconnected partnerships devoid of an overarching leadership. . . . This book is a valuable addition to the literature on organized crime, providing a one-volume source for the essential work of Mark Haller.

About the Author

For almost fifty years, Mark H. Haller had been a historian of illegal enterprise--more commonly known as organized crime--in urban America. He is the author of an introduction to the now classic work by John Landesco in Organized Crime in Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 1968). Haller passed away in 2012.

Matthew G. Yeager obtained his bachelor's degree in criminology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1972. He was introduced to the work of Mark H. Haller and John Landesco during this time. His master's degree is from the State University of New York at Albany (1975), and his doctorate in sociology is from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada (2006). He has published over thirty articles and studies in theoretical and applied criminology and is a practicing clinical criminologist in sentencing alternatives. He is currently associate professor in the Department of Sociology at King's University College, part of Western University-Canada. He lives in London, Ontario.