“Hagedorn has done it again: charted new ground. He presents clean, clear observations in a field dominated by camera obscura posited images of ‘gangs.’ This book opens new questions about gangs, politics, and ‘disorganization.’ Read it.”

Peter K. Manning, author of Democratic Policing in a Changing World

“An intricate tale of violence, mafia influence, and police corruption.”

Chicago Reader

“This is an important book, reminiscent of Sutherland’s Professional Thief, Ianni’s Black Mafia, and other personal, insider studies of professional and organized crime and criminals. Hagedorn skillfully combines information and insights from multiple sources with scholarly analysis to reveal the nature of organized crime as it evolved during the late twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. His account of relationships between street gangs of this period and Chicago’s Outfit, the legacy of Al Capone and others, is especially important.”

James F. Short, Jr., coauthor of Juvenile Delinquency and Delinquents

“The Insane Chicago Way is quite original and advances our knowledge on gangs in a number of ways. Most criminologists draw a clear separation between organized crime and street gangs, but Hagedorn shows—in a highly compelling account—how Chicago gangs in the 1990s attempted to emulate the mafia. In doing so he paints a new picture of street gangs as they exist in our neighborhoods—not simply as reflections of other forces but as quasi-institutions, major historical agents in the development of violence and violent traditions.”

David Brotherton, author of Banished to the Homeland