Empire of crime : organised crime in the British Empire
INITIAL_TITLE_SRCH:
Empire of crime : organised crime in the British Empire
AUTHOR:
Newark, Timothy
ISBN:
9781780575513
PUBLICATION_INFO:
Edinburgh : Mainstream, 2012
PHYSICAL_DESC:
268 p. : ill. ; 20 cm
GENERAL_NOTE:
Includes bibliographical references (p. 262-265) and index.
Originally published: 2011.
ABSTRACT:
Sometimes the best intentions can have the worst results. In 1905, British reformers banned the export of Indian opium to China. As a result, the world price of opium soared to a new high and a century of lucrative drug smuggling began. Criminal producers in other countries exploited the prohibition and gang wars broke out across South-East Asia. It was the greatest gift the British Empire gave to organised crime.Empire of Crime introduces the reader to a whole new collection of heroes and villains, including pioneering narcotics investigator Major-General Russell Pasha, commandant of the Cairo police force; master criminal Du Yue-Sheng, drug lord of the Shanghai underworld; and tough, Pashtofluent North-West Frontier police chief Lieutenant-Colonel Roos-Keppel, nemesis of Afghan criminal gangs.Author Tim Newark weaves hidden reports, secret government files and personal letters together with first-hand accounts to tell the epic story of a global fight against organised crime.
SUBJECT:
| Organized crime -- Great Britain -- Colonies -- History -- 20th century |
| Organized crime -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century |
BIBSUMMARY:
Sometimes the best intentions can have the worst results. In 1905, British reformers banned the export of Indian opium to China. As a result, the world price of opium soared to a new high and a century of lucrative drug smuggling began. Criminal producers in other countries exploited the prohibition and gang wars broke out across South-East Asia. It was the greatest gift the British Empire gave to organised crime.Empire of Crime introduces the reader to a whole new collection of heroes and villains, including pioneering narcotics investigator Major-General Russell Pasha, commandant of the Cairo police force; master criminal Du Yue-Sheng, drug lord of the Shanghai underworld; and tough, Pashtofluent North-West Frontier police chief Lieutenant-Colonel Roos-Keppel, nemesis of Afghan criminal gangs.Author Tim Newark weaves hidden reports, secret government files and personal letters together with first-hand accounts to tell the epic story of a global fight against organised crime.