Thanks to writers like Mario Puzo, filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, and actors like Al Pacino and James Gandolfini, Mafia characters are well-known figures in contemporary popular culture. But the Mafia is not the only criminal organization in existence today. In addition to the Sicilian and American Mafias, there are powerful organized crime groups like the Neapolitan Camorra and the Mexican drug cartels.

This book takes a close look at all these examples of organized crime by examining 1) the different ways these organizations and their members have been portrayed in many of our most popular novels, movies, and TV series, and 2) how the gangster figure has evolved from its earliest depictions in a trio of Hollywood films in the 1930s up to the present day. The picture isn't always a pretty one, but this thorough media analysis endeavors to examine why organized crime stories remain so fascinating and entertaining.