The insightful essays in this book shine a new light on the roles of women within criminal networks, roles that in reality are often less traditional than researchers used to think. The book seeks to answer questions from a wide range of academic disciplines and traces the portrait of women tied to organized crime in Italy and around the world. The book offers up accounts of mafia women, and also tales of severe abuse and violence against women.

A History of Women in the Mafia.- Doing It for Themselves or Standing in for Their Men? Women in the Neapolitan Camorra (1950¿2003).- Mafia Women: The Affirmation of a Female Pseudo-Subject. The Case of the `Ndrangheta.- Women in the `Ndrangheta: The Serraino-Di Giovine Case.- Women in the Sacra Corona Unita.- Symbolic Domination and Active Power: Female Roles in Criminal Organizations.- Women in Mafia Organizations.- Women and Other Mafia-Type Criminal Organizations.- Female Visibility in the Mafia World: Press Review 1980 to 2001.- An International Comparison.- Women in Organized Crime in Albania.- Women in Organized Crime in Argentina.- Women in Organized Crime in Brazil.- Women in Organized Crime in Japan.- Women in Organized Crime in Germany.- Women in Organized Crime in Russia.- Women in Organized Crime in the United States.- Conclusion.- The Reasoning behind this Research; an Evaluation of the Results.