The history of native Americans and the misdirected study of organised crime

Abstract

Conventional chronologies of the history of organised crime in America tend to focus on the arrival of large numbers of Italian immigrants in the 1890s as the catalyst for organised crime. However, analysis of the history of interactions between colonists and aboriginal peoples in North America suggests a much earlier incipience of organised criminal activity marked by the arrival of different groups of immigrants, namely, Dutch, French and British colonists to the American north-east. Drawing upon primary documents describing the practices of early trading companies and their representatives, as well as of later land transactions, the authors will present evidence and argument asserting not only a longer history of organised crime in North America but also an explanation for the inadequacy of the paradigm that governs much current organised crime and transnational organised crime research.