Abstract
Jana Arsovska’s book Decoding Albanian Organized Crime is an insightful study that uses both historic and anthropological lenses to comment on complex and diverse local and international Albanian criminal networks that are used to commit illegal acts, such as human trafficking. Despite her youth, Arsovska, assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, with over 15 years of personal and professional experience studying Albanian crime networks, writes smoothly with much detail on the criminal underworld and, of course, the criminal codes. It is important to note that, beyond writing a case study on criminal networks in Macedonia, Kosovo, and the United States, the author paints an in-depth description of actors, illegal activities, criminal, corrupt business and governmental structures, and even the local context, all of which stimulate the consolidation of ethnic transnational organized crime.
The book makes two particularly important contributions. First, there is the personal experience of the author, who lived in the regional catastrophe produced by the Kosovo War (1998–1999). The war was not linked directly to Macedonia, Jana’s country of birth, but the crisis gradually spread throughout the region, directly affecting her country and her family. Many war consequences appeared in time, not only for Kosovo but for its neighbors as well. These included the devastation of cities, poverty, broken economic activities, and the strengthening of transnational criminal ties in both Macedonia and Kosovo.
The first section is a kind of a modern version of The Diary of Anne Frank. Jana describes her parents’ efforts to keep her away from the warlike atmosphere, for example sending her away to the United States for a short academic stay when she was a teen. Most importantly, the text describes her daily activities after her return to Macedonia during and after the war, when she met Besmir, her first criminal interviewee and who introduced her to the criminal underworld. Of course, Jana writes about other contexts of the war, historical moments, and actors, and it is because of this important life experience that Jana is able to provide details on the culture, structures, and actors of Albanian organized crime.
The second important contribution of the text is its theoretical classification and methodological identification of Albanian crime families, using models constructed by Arsovska, who was able to ask criminal suspects ‘how they viewed themselves’ and ‘how they think their organization was composed.’ One interviewee said that he did not consider the Italian term ‘mafia’ as appropriate, because Albanian organized crime was formed on another basis, such as brotherhood and clan cells. Most members are related through kinship. Jana had extraordinary access to interviewees, with whom she was able to have meaningful conversations, which enabled her to contribute to the international debate on this matter, sharing valuable information that in many cases only Interpol held.
Using an anthropological focus, the author follows and describes a number of criminals from Macedonia–Kosovo. Asking, where are they from? How did they become a part of the criminal world? What kind of illegal act(s) have they performed most often? How do their transnational criminal links function? She is not interested in naming criminals she knows or presenting a simple analysis of a criminal network: Jana presents a deep analysis of Albanian organized crime and creates models of Albanian organized crime, which she concludes is rigidly hierarchical, ethnic, and above all, is constructed via kinship ties, that allows trust between the Albanian ‘criminal community.’ This is an impressive exercise, aided hugely by Jana’s ability to move in and out of the criminal atmosphere and to speak the access of Albanian’s top criminal minds.
Also, the author’s description of the local political and economic scene after the Kosovo War is interesting. She focuses on how Kosovo’s organized crime moved along with the refugees into Macedonia, where there was no sophisticated criminal structure. In addition to poverty and lack of opportunity, along with other war consequences, Macedonia discovered criminal activities within its borders. After the war, Albanian criminal networks in Macedonia were nurtured by both businessmen and corrupt government officials. The Albanian crime expansion, has reached the United States and Eastern Europe. Jana performs a historical analysis showing how Albanian criminals arrived in New York, and moved from illegal activities like robbing banks and safe deposit boxes to drug trafficking. Albanians did not work alone in New York, they began to work in partnership with other criminal organizations, such as the Italian mafia.
To conclude, this is an interesting and important book that provides names, details, ways of working, methodology, history, and interviews with some of Albania’s top criminals. In addition, the author, a young professional woman, with academic degrees, evidently has nerves of steel and the impressive capacity to go back and forth like a sophisticated British or Russian spy, knowing which mask to put on depending on the situation.
This unique book, which starts with what I call ‘The diary of Jana Arsovska,’ which narrates her experience during the Kosovo War, has a strong theoretical and methodological input, set alongside accurate information on Albanian organized crime. The book will definitely become a classic for specialists on crime and violence. It is a ‘good read’ and gives the nonspecialist reader much information on the values and codes of Albanian organized crime.