Success in criminal enterprise largely depends on how offenders go about committing their crimes. An offender's search for increasing financial returns and decreasing costs is mediated by the structure of his pool of useful and trustworthy contacts. In Contacts, Opportunities, and Criminal Enterprise, Carlo Morselli examines how business-oriented criminals who have personal networks designed to promote high numbers of diverse contacts achieve and maintain competitive advantages in their earning activities and overall criminal careers.

Based on two case studies of criminal careers...

• This book is the first extensive study of criminal networks
  
• The case study designs and analytical paths are straightforward and can serve as a source for future research endeavours using a variety of data sources

• This book is the first extensive study of criminal networks
  
• The case study designs and analytical paths are straightforward and can serve as a source for future research endeavours using a variety of data sources

This innovative collection of original essays showcases the use of social networks in the analysis and understanding of various forms of crime. More than any other past research endeavor, the seventeen chapters in this book apply to criminology the many conceptual and methodological options from social network analysis.
"Crime and Networks" is the only book of its kind that looks at the use of networks in understanding crime, and can be used for advanced undergraduate and beginner s graduate level courses in criminal justice and criminology.