The ways of the mob have been changed forever by new faces who make the traditional Mafiosi seem benign. Mobologist Jeffrey Robinson, whose specialty is chronicling money laundering, focuses here on Colombian narcotrafficantes, corrupt Mexican politicians, and Chinese people-smugglers. He shows how the world’s criminals have united to create supermobs. Describing the export of criminals from the ex-Soviet republics to North America and Europe, he is at his best, writing with the vividness of Mario Puzo and a touch of the humour. He writes with verve, a keen sense of anecdote, and an authoritative command of facts.

The Merger has abundant local colour. Robinson covers Mohawk uses of their treaty status to operate a pipeline for drugs, smokes, and guns at Akwesasne on the New York border. He describes traditional gangs in Montreal and Hamilton, Ontario and even tells where top Canadian hoods go to fish and ranch.

In the international arena, Robinson asserts that the Russian ruble crisis of 1997 was triggered by the mob, which was shorting the domestic currency. Once the West loaned money to Russia – money that was later stolen by government officials – the ruble recovered. “The profit [the Russian mafia] made buying back those same rubles refinanced criminal activities inside Russia and earned them more,” he writes.

What to do? Robinson advocates diplomacy to create transnational definitions of crime, urges that money laundering be made subject to extradition, and insists that nations pass laws to identify the beneficial owners of money handled by lawyers, accountants, and bankers. End tax haven banking and the nexus of dope dealers and bankers will be broken, he says.