Ryan Gingeras is a professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School and is an expert in modern Eastern European and Middle East history. He is the author of six books, including The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire and Sorrowful Shores: Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1912–1923, which was shortlisted for numerous book prizes. He has published on a wide variety of topics related to history and politics in publications such as Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Washington Post, Times Literary Supplement and Foreign Policy. As a faculty member of the Naval Postgraduate School, he has participated and contributed to research and executive education projects on the behalf of the US Department of State, Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. In addition to speaking German, Spanish and Turkish fluently, he also possesses working knowledge of Ottoman Turkish, Albanian, Macedonian and Greek. Ryan was born in New York City but has spent much of his life in California. He currently lives with his wife and children in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

‘His ambitious new book . . . takes in organised criminals everywhere from Noo Yawk’s goodfellas through to the Chechen mob and the Medellín cocaine cartel, via Ned Kelly, Jamaican Yardies and the Yakuza . . . Gingeras writes well and joins the historical dots . . . for those who want to know how mafias began – especially those as fascinated by it all as Gingeras – this book may prove to be an offer they can’t refuse'

Ryan Gingeras is a professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School and is an expert in modern Eastern European and Middle East history. He is the author of six books, including The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire and Sorrowful Shores: Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1912–1923, which was shortlisted for numerous book prizes. He has published on a wide variety of topics related to history and politics in publications such as Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Washington Post, Times Literary Supplement and Foreign Policy. As a faculty member of the Naval Postgraduate School, he has participated and contributed to research and executive education projects on the behalf of the US Department of State, Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. In addition to speaking German, Spanish and Turkish fluently, he also possesses working knowledge of Ottoman Turkish, Albanian, Macedonian and Greek. Ryan was born in New York City but has spent much of his life in California. He currently lives with his wife and children in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

‘His ambitious new book . . . takes in organised criminals everywhere from Noo Yawk’s goodfellas through to the Chechen mob and the Medellín cocaine cartel, via Ned Kelly, Jamaican Yardies and the Yakuza . . . Gingeras writes well and joins the historical dots . . . for those who want to know how mafias began – especially those as fascinated by it all as Gingeras – this book may prove to be an offer they can’t refuse'

Ryan Gingeras is a professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School and is an expert in modern Eastern European and Middle East history. He is the author of six books, including The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire and Sorrowful Shores: Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1912–1923, which was shortlisted for numerous book prizes. He has published on a wide variety of topics related to history and politics in publications such as Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Washington Post, Times Literary Supplement and Foreign Policy. As a faculty member of the Naval Postgraduate School, he has participated and contributed to research and executive education projects on the behalf of the US Department of State, Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. In addition to speaking German, Spanish and Turkish fluently, he also possesses working knowledge of Ottoman Turkish, Albanian, Macedonian and Greek. Ryan was born in New York City but has spent much of his life in California. He currently lives with his wife and children in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

‘His ambitious new book . . . takes in organised criminals everywhere from Noo Yawk’s goodfellas through to the Chechen mob and the Medellín cocaine cartel, via Ned Kelly, Jamaican Yardies and the Yakuza . . . Gingeras writes well and joins the historical dots . . . for those who want to know how mafias began – especially those as fascinated by it all as Gingeras – this book may prove to be an offer they can’t refuse'