{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02483660130718954, 'fraction_numerical': 0.00718954248366013, 'mean_word_length': 5.457805907172996, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Sokaiya: Extortion, Protection, and the Japanese Corporation

laundering has presumably reached such a scale as to endanger the economies and stabilities of some governments. Its corrupting influence in politics threatens the ongoing process of globalization. The authors note with approval that the governments of both the U.S. and Russia have emphasized the importance of "cooperation against transnational criminality" (p. 10). Inevitably, there are aspects ofcontemporary discussions about organized crime that receive too little attention in this volume. Although there is occasional mention ofthe trafficking in human beings (as illegal workers or as sexual slaves, etc.) and in human parts (for medical purposes) in several of the chapters, students are unlikely to get any sense of the magnitude of these problems from this reader. The same could be said for the allegations that organized criminal groups are active in the smuggling of various radioactive materials. Whatever the truth about the existence of "red mercury," the mere discussion of it in governmental and organized criminal circles tells us a great deal about the international underworld. Clearly, "red mercury" should spark lively discussions in any classroom in the country. Aside from Rekik Riadh's excellent chapter on Tunisia, however, there is almost no linkage between organized crime and terrorism in this volume. As Riadh points out, organized criminal groups can masquerade as terrorists. And, of course, terrorists could resort to more traditional organized criminal activities-kidnapping, drug dealing, etc.-to raise needed funds for their political causes. Finally, student readers of this book will need to look elsewhere for an understanding of the enormity of U.S. influence on the global campaign against organized crime. As Michael Woodiwiss demonstrates in his Organized Crime and American Power: A History (University of Toronto Press, 2001), U.S. conceptions oforganized crime and U.S. strategies against it have dominated discussions at any number oflaw enforcement and United Nations conferences since the mid-1980s, when the problem was first identified as an international menace. Several countries--especially those that have embraced the group definition of the problem-have inched their ways toward versions ofthe celebrated Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) of 1970 that prosecutors used so successfully against American gangsters in the 1980s and 1990s. An especially noteworthy aspect of RICO has been its asset forfeiture and extended sentences features, which have taken the profits out of much organized crime activity and encouraged a new generation of underworld informants. These points notwithstanding, Organized Crime: World Perspectives provides an excellent springboard for courses dealing with this complex subject. The volume's breadth ofgeographic coverage and the authors' suggestions for product flow analysis and comparative examinations should provide students a more sophisticated perspective on organized crime.