Dealing Crack: The Social World of Streetcorner Selling

Bruce Jacobs has produced two books -- Dealing Crack (1999) and Robbing Drug Dealers (2000) -- that accurately portray and insightfully dissect the world of drug trade. Perhaps the most competent judges of criminological research are criminals, and the ideas and stories found in Jacobs' work would likely provide practical as well as theoretical insights for both drug dealers and drug robbers.

I have read a copy of this book and recommend it to anyone interested in drug-dealing. I am tempted to give this book the nickname -- "The Art of War for Drug-Dealers," but this idea is over stating my case. A few quotes follow: "Composure under fire is critical, no matter how intense the scrutiny. Equanimity can preempt police suspicion, while its absense can do the opposite. To look suspicious is bad in itself, but to try to cover it up is worse." "The 'don't mess with me,' 'crazy' reputation is said to provide street crack sellers a measure of inoculation from victimization. Bourgois calls it a 'personal logic of violence in the streets overarching culture of terror.'" "Blood cancels all debts." "Active, street-level crack markets are saturated and increasingly unprofitable." "As an organizational system, open-air selling has become a "distant third" to sellers working in crack houses and selers working with beepers who meet customers at preassigned locations." "If history is any indication, it is not a question of if a new drug will emerge onto this volitile scene but when -- and what form it will take. The decline of one drug often signals the incubation of another."

Great book about street level crack dealing. It is also a marvelous study in field research and being 'on the other side' of the law.