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The Market as Criminal and Criminals in the Market: Reducing Opportunities for Organised Crime in the International Antiquities Market

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Crime in the Art and Antiquities World

Abstract

What is the relationship between organised crime and the antiquities market? There are two senses in which we can use the term “organised crime” here. In the first sense, we can see the international market in illicit antiquities as a criminal market (Polk 2000), organised into a structure of relations between thieves, smugglers, facilitators, sellers, and buyers of illicit commodities. We might therefore suggest that this illicit part of the trade is an example of “organised” crime. That argument could proceed without reference to the presence of conventionally stereotyped organised criminals in the market, in the sense of groups or networks of professional criminals who use violence and corruption in the pursuit of illegal financial gain.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    There are of course some dealers who are more pure in their legitimate intent than others, but our interviews found that even these apparently well-intentioned dealers could not always be sure they were not dealing in some looted objects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Simon Mackenzie

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  1. Simon Mackenzie
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Correspondence to Simon Mackenzie .

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  1. Difesa Sociale, Centro Nazionale di Prevenzione e, Piazza Castello 3, Milano, 20121, Italy

    Stefano Manacorda

  2. , Faculty of Law, University of Australia, Sydney, Australia

    Duncan Chappell

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Mackenzie, S. (2011). The Market as Criminal and Criminals in the Market: Reducing Opportunities for Organised Crime in the International Antiquities Market. In: Manacorda, S., Chappell, D. (eds) Crime in the Art and Antiquities World. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7946-9_4

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