A Tribute to Donald R. Cressey (1919-1987)Donald R. Cressey can be considered the founder of the modern study of organized crime. His book "Theft of the Nation: The Structure and Operations of Organized Crime in America", published in 1969, remains the most widely cited and perhaps also the most controversial scholarly book on organized crime.
Cressey taught sociology at the University of California in Santa Barbara. In 1966/7 he served as organized-crime consultant to the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice. Based on research conducted in this capacity he wrote "Theft of the Nation", a treatise on Cosa Nostra, and later a smaller volume entitled "Criminal Organization" in which he extended his conceptualization of organized crime to include criminal groups other than Cosa Nostra.
In the long run, Cressey did not pursue the issue further. But his work provoked a series of studies and countless essays on the structure of organized crime.
A selection of writings on organized crime by Donald R. Cressey:
Methodological Problems in the Study of Organized Crime as a Social Problem, in: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 374, 1967, pp. 101-112
Theft of the Nation: The Structure and Operations of Organized Crime in America, New York: Harper and Row 1969
Bet Taking, Cosa Nostra, and Negotiated Social Order, in: Journal of Public Law Vol. 19(1), 1970, 13-22
Organized crime and inner-city youth, in: Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 16(2), 1970, 129-138
Criminal Organization: Its Elementary Forms, New York: Harper and Row 1972
A selection of writings on Donald R. Cressey:
Albini, Joseph L., Donald Cressey's Contributions to the Study of Organized Crime: An Evaluation, in: Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 34(3), 1988, pp. 338-354
Rogovin, Charles H., and Frederick T. Martens, The Evil That Men Do, in: Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Vol. 8(1), 1992, pp. 62-79