This book investigates the discrepancy between the popular perception of organized crime as a rigid, hierarchical structure and the reality of criminal activity as a fluid, localized, and often normalized aspect of urban life. Dick Hobbs, a distinguished sociologist, utilizes his extensive ethnographic research and direct engagement with criminal participants to challenge conventional academic and law enforcement frameworks. By examining the intersection of historical economic shifts and individual criminal agency, he argues that the concept of 'organized crime' is a social construct that often obscures the mundane, opportunistic nature of illicit markets.

Experts in the field of criminology frequently cite this work for its rigorous ethnographic approach and its challenge to traditional top-down models of criminal organization. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a sophisticated, albeit challenging, examination of the sociology of crime.