McMafia

Journalist Misha Glenny, a former BBC World Service correspondent in Central Europe, traces how organized crime grew into a global business after the Soviet Union collapsed, the Berlin Wall came down and financial markets were deregulated. Traveling across five continents, he talks with police, victims, politicians and criminals, and his reporting takes in money launderers in Dubai, racketeers in Japan, gun runners in Ukraine, cybercriminals in Brazil and marijuana growers in western Canada. Glenny argues that the underworld copies the legal world economy in its methods as well as its rewards, and he ends by weighing where organized crime is heading. His reporting inspired the 2018 BBC television drama McMafia.

Vinod Khosla included it in his 2017 book recommendations, calling it a fun read though an older book.