McMafia
A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld
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Narrated by:
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John Lee
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By:
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Misha Glenny
About this listen
Misha Glenny's groundbreaking study of global organized crime is now the inspiration for an eight-part AMC crime drama starring James Norton (War and Peace), Juliet Rylance, and David Strathairn.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the deregulation of international financial markets in 1989, governments and entrepreneurs alike became intoxicated by dreams of newly opened markets. But no one could have foreseen that the greatest success story to arise from these events would be the worldwide rise of organized crime. Today, it is estimated that illegal trade accounts for one-fifth of the global GDP.
In this fearless and wholly authoritative investigation of the seemingly insatiable demand for illegal wares, veteran reporter Misha Glenny travels across five continents to speak with participants from every level of the global underworld - police, victims, politicians, and even the criminals themselves. What follows is a groundbreaking, propulsive look at an unprecedented phenomenon from a savvy, street-wise guide.
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From the poisoned rivers, barren wells, and clear-cut forests, to the hundreds of thousands of farmers who have committed suicide to escape punishing debt, to the hundreds of millions of people who live on less than two dollars a day, there are ghosts nearly everywhere you look in India. India is a nation of 1.2 billion, but the country's 100 richest people own assets equivalent to one-fourth of India’s gross domestic product.
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Courageous Reporting
- By Doug - Audible on 03-31-15
By: Arundhati Roy
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The Mob and the City
- The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York
- By: C. Alexander Hortis
- Narrated by: LJ Ganser
- Length: 9 hrs
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Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After reading this book, even life-long mob aficionados will have a new perspective on organized crime. Informative, authoritative, and eye-opening, this is the first full-length book devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s.
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Hard one to rate....
- By Jeffery D. Giuliani on 09-24-20
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A Savage Order
- How the World's Deadliest Countries Can Forge a Path to Security
- By: Rachel Kleinfeld
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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From Georgia to Colombia to Ghana and Italy - crime exists in every democratic nation on earth, but in some places, it runs rampant, shaping all aspects of civic life. A Savage Order investigates why and how some places, riddled by inept government and states, are able to recover. Drawing on fifteen years of both academic and firsthand field research, Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld documents the unambiguous measures that societies have taken to empower the strong civic movements, governments, and institutions that protect countries and mitigate atrocities that damage people's lives.
By: Rachel Kleinfeld
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Gangster Warlords
- By: Ioan Grillo
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In a ranch south of Texas, the man known as The Executioner dumps 500 body parts in metal barrels. In Brazil's biggest city, a mysterious prisoner orders hit men to gun down 41 police officers and prison guards in two days. In Southern Mexico a meth maker is venerated as a saint while enforcing Old Testament justice on his enemies. A new kind of criminal kingpin has arisen: part CEO, part terrorist, and part rock star, unleashing guerrilla attacks, strong-arming governments, and taking over much of the world's trade in narcotics, guns, and humans.
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Good analysis and interpretation, but...
- By James H. McDonald on 10-30-19
By: Ioan Grillo
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State of War
- MS-13 and El Salvador's World of Violence
- By: William Wheeler
- Narrated by: William Wheeler
- Length: 3 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in Los Angeles, the gang MS-13 was founded in the 1980s by Salvadoran refugees who had been hardened in a civil war stoked by American foreign policy. Foreign correspondent William Wheeler tracks MS-13 from LA, where he meets the founders of the gang, to El Salvador, where three generations of Salvadorans have been drawn into an escalating cycle of conflict. State of War tells the tragic story of a brutal civil war that has never ended.
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Great insight!
- By jose flores on 05-19-23
By: William Wheeler
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Harpoon
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A revelatory account of the cloak-and-dagger Israeli campaign to target the finances fueling terror organizations - an effort that became the blueprint for US efforts to combat threats like ISIS and drug cartels. ISIS boasted $2.4 billion of revenue in 2015, yet for too long the global war on terror overlooked financial warfare as an offensive strategy. "Harpoon", the creation of Mossad legend Meir Dagan, directed spies, soldiers, and attorneys to disrupt and destroy money pipelines and financial institutions that paid for the bloodshed.
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Riveting!!!
- By Treavor on 12-11-17
By: Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, and others
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Reefer Madness
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In Reefer Madness, the best-selling author of Fast Food Nation investigates America's black market and its far-reaching influence on our society through three of its mainstays - pot, porn, and illegal immigrants.
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Great Investigative Journalism
- By Boulderite on 06-25-03
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Putin Country
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In Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia, Garrels crafts an intimate portrait of the nation's heartland. We meet ostentatious mafiosos, upwardly mobile professionals, impassioned activists, scheming taxi drivers with dark secrets, and beleaguered steel workers. We discover surprising subcultures, like the LGBT residents of Chelyablinsk who bravely endure an upsurge in homophobia fueled by Putin's rhetoric of Russian "moral superiority" yet still nurture a vibrant if clandestine community of their own.
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Interesting dive into Russia today
- By Keith on 03-25-16
By: Anne Garrels
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The Shock Doctrine
- The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
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In her groundbreaking reporting, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers. The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution.
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If It's Bad for Humanity, It's Good for Business
- By Nelson Alexander on 09-29-07
By: Naomi Klein
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Sleeping with the Devil
- How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude
- By: Robert Baer
- Narrated by: Robert O'Keefe
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
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Former CIA operative Robert Baer examines the dangers behind America's collaboration with Saudi Arabia. Nominally based on a "harmony of interests" - the Saudis sold their oil to the American government very inexpensively - what we offered in exchange has damaged our position in the Middle East and left our country vulnerable to economic and terrorist threats. Baer goes behind the scenes to show how the US willingly overlooked the corruption of the Saudi royal family, its financing of violent Islamic fundamentalist groups, and its bribery of American officials.
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Ouch. The truth hurts.
- By Kevin Christy on 07-28-03
By: Robert Baer
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The Wonga Coup
- Guns, Thugs, and the Steely Determination to Create Mayhem
- By: Adam Roberts
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
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With so little to recommend it, why in March 2004 was Equatorial Guinea the target of a group of salty British, South African, and Zimbabwean mercenaries, traveling on an American-registered ex-National Guard plane specially adapted for military purposes that was originally flown to Africa by American pilots?
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Dictators and dogs of war, beware
- By PearlGirl on 11-05-06
By: Adam Roberts
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The Billionaire Raj
- A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age
- By: James Crabtree
- Narrated by: Shridhar Solanki
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
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In megacities like Mumbai, where half the population live in slums, the extraordinary riches of India’s new dynasties echo the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers of yesterday. James Crabtree’s The Billionaire Raj takes listeners on a personal journey to meet these reclusive billionaires, fugitive tycoons, and shadowy political power brokers. Crabtree dramatizes the battle between crony capitalists and economic reformers, revealing a tense struggle between equality and privilege playing out against a combustible backdrop of aspiration, class, and caste.
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Engaging, authors politics could be reduced
- By Chris on 06-17-23
By: James Crabtree
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What listeners say about McMafia
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Aaron
- 04-14-15
Great
Any additional comments?
So much crime, so much corruption. Author puts all this mayhem into context -- globalization, international and domestic politics. Not sure if Misha Glenny writes for The Economist but it's that style.
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- Amazon Customer TY
- 07-07-21
Deep Insight
This was a great book and EXTREMELY insightful into a world that only gets a iceberg tip worth of coverage as most shows and news tends to cover. I honestly hope for a second book.
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- Tom Fairlie
- 04-10-16
The best audiobook I have ever heard!
If you could sum up McMafia in three words, what would they be?
Depressing, well told.
What other book might you compare McMafia to and why?
This book vaguely reminded me of Dope, Inc. in terms of the strong focus on telling a story rather than a litany of facts.
Have you listened to any of John Lee’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I have not, but he is perhaps the best I've heard so will be sure to look for other works by him.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Organized crime, coming soon to a town near you.
Any additional comments?
Misha Glenny is an effortlessly brilliant author. Her spectacular phrasing and word choice keep the narrative both beautiful and tight, but she never lets her prose get in the way of the people, places, and events she's describing. She structured this book well, and John Lee's narration is world class.
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- Doksooli
- 09-28-19
Excellent book - good for repeated listening
You might not want to listen to this if you're involved with marketing illegal drugs to teenagers, but there are only one or two chapters which discuss the complete and utter failure of our government organizations to protect us from illegal drugs. This is hardly a radical notion and if you don't know someone whose life has been ruined by illegal drugs despite the fact that they're not supposed to be available for purchase, you've been very fortunate. The reviewer who stopped listening halfway through missed some excellent chapters on organized crime in Asia, btw. Those who prefer to live in denial should give this one the swerve. However, if you're interested in the topic and you're already somewhat familiar with the fact that corruption might exist in your home country too, then this is probably the book for you. I'm glad I didn't listen to some of the more negative reviews.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Yachtmaster
- 07-24-12
A Must Read
Would you listen to McMafia again? Why?
Yes.
Any additional comments?
A brilliant book by a brilliant writer. He tackles an extremely important subject and brings to light how the globalization of criminal enterprise may affect the rule of law everywhere. Very well written and is a must read.
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- Andy
- 04-26-13
Excellent overview of global organized crime
This is a well-written, exhaustively-reported book that takes you in-depth to all parts of global organized crime. I found the section on the Balkans and Russia to be particularly enlightening, not just about the mafia but also in how Glenny explains the overall history of these regions through the lens of lawlessness. I feel like I finally understand what a Russian oligarch actually is.
If anything, the book gets a bit dull towards the end due to the repetiveness of each national history. The same story seems to unfold everywhere, but I only really got bored in the book's final sections.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Alessandro Pesa
- 03-21-21
Brilliant
Simply brilliant..a must read. You will see every business from a different perspective after reading this book.
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-06-24
Overall pretty good
Great book. Narrator switching accents when speaking the American quotes was odd. Sounded like Ewan McGregor in The Men Who Stare at Goats.
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- Joshua Kim
- 06-10-12
McDisturbing
Did you know that organized crime is responsible for an estimated 15 to 20% of the world GDP (counting tax evasion)? Or that narcotics accounts for about 70% of criminal profits, with energy, guns, prostitution, and gambling making up the bulk of the rest? I didn't know any of this - and I'm not sure I'll be able to think about "the economy" ever again in the same way. Written by a journalist, but with an insiders perspective and a novelists sense of character and pacing, McMafia is one of the best books I read in 2008.
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5 people found this helpful
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- john
- 05-09-23
Great book
Those who criticized the book for criticizing US policy under Bush 2 clearly weren’t listening or understanding how short sighted his policies were.
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