Homicide and Organised Crime

This book offers rich ethnographic and narrative accounts of men who have been engaged in serious violence and organised crime in the West Midlands of England, using several theoretical paradigms.  Through case study examples, it also considers contract killers and the nefarious position that ‘hitmen’ occupy in the criminal underworld.  By charting insider perspectives from retired law enforcement agents, informants, ex-military personnel and ex-offenders, this book speaks to those who have a vested interest in violence, organised crime and ethnography.

Mohammed Rahman is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Nottingham Trent University, UK.  Previously, he was Lecturer in Criminology at Birmingham City University.  Mohammed’s academic work concerns serious crimes — especially organised crime and gangs.  Regularly, he uses his teaching and research experiences to inform the public, media and international press about crime, harm and crime control.  In 2018, he was awarded his PhD.

“Mohammed Rahman’s book is one that is essentially about violent men, all of whom have been part of organised crime networks in and beyond the West Midlands area of England.  This is a stand-out text. Carefully researched, innovative in approach and accessibly written, it is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the structural backdrop of lethal violence within the West Midlands, and its ‘glocal’ influences.” (Professor Ross Deuchar, University of the West of Scotland, UK)

“In Homicide and Organised Crime, Mohammed Rahman offers readers a rare glimpse inside the hidden world of extra-legal violence. Biographical case studies and rich narratives from several underworld actors shed light on the complex mechanisms behind street justice and contract killings, whilst Rahman’s own ‘dash-cam ethnography’, a research innovation, helps contextualise and reconstruct the violence discussed. In a world obsessed with sensationalised true crime stories, Rahman lets violent offenders speak their truth, unscripted, which yields important new insights. Students and scholars of criminology will delight in this book.” (Professor James Densley, Metropolitan State University, USA)

“There is an audience for narratives of mayhem and murder. Mohammed Rahman’s book is distinctive, in that he goes beyond the spectacular and the popular to drill down into a patch of the West Midlands, England.  He also connects back those local particularities to global changes and wider constructions of masculinities. Furthermore, he mirrors some of the nefarious street-level activities of the men he investigates with his own ‘dash-cam ethnography’.  This allows him, and us, to ride along or just drive by” (Dr Nic Groombridge, University of South Wales, UK)