On the importance of being John Landesco

Abstract

In the field of organized crime, John Landesco is best known for his 1929 study titled “Organized Crime in Chicago,” published as part of the Illinois Crime Survey. It has since been republished in 1968 with an excellent introduction by historian Mark H. Haller. Perceptively, many experts now consider Landesco’s early work as a classic academic study, revealing the historic relationships between disorganized neighborhoods, illicit markets, and the political economy of urban America. Unbeknownst to many, Landesco wrote on other subjects while a graduate student at the University of Chicago under the tutelage of none other than Ernest W. Burgess. Within the special collections of the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago, the personal papers of both Landesco and Burgess reveal the origins of his work on organized crime, an unpublished book, and several lesser known articles that provide a broader picture of his research on organized crime. This article discusses the career of John Landesco as an early theorist on organized crime, underscoring yet again why his 1929 study remains a classic in the field.