Codes of the underworld
how criminals communicate
by Diego Gambetta · first published 2009
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…almost makes me want to watch it, but not quite enough, because I feel like I’ve seen enough mob movies. After The Sopranos, Goodfellas, The Godfather, and probably some more, plus reading Diego Gambetta’s Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate, I think that universe is pretty played out. Killing people is also bad. Many of the things that thrive in the underworld should be legalized, like gambling has been and marijuana…
on “Stamping Out Online Sex Trafficking May Have Pushed It Underground” ↗You are much more familiar with the situation in Italy than I am. My comment was based on Codes of the Underworld (Diego Gambetta, 2009, Princeton University Press). On page 70, he says: "The wider the range of possible transgressions, the greater the amount of potential information available for mutual blackmailing...…
on “Too many laws, too many prisoners” ↗…put it, “It’s better to do one bad thing with your boss than a hundred good things for your boss. Over time, this can extend to an actual exchange of what criminologist Diego Gambetta in his pioneering Codes of the Underworld calls “hostage-information,” mutual knowledge of each party’s sins that acts as a powerful guarantee neither will break their agreements." And, "But vice serves as a kind of screen, weeding out the rare…
on “Booze, Sex, and the Dark Art of Dealmaking in China (2015)” ↗This is interesting to me because Diego Gambetta wrote a book called Codes of the Underworld about how mobsters and mafia members often depict themselves as utterly incompetent and incapable at doing anything other than being a mobster. Their purpose: to signal that they have no desire to take…
on “Parting ways with a founder” ↗