This pioneering study looks across key trafficking crimes to develop a social theory of transnational criminal markets. These include human trafficking, drug dealing, and black markets in wildlife, diamonds, guns and antiquities, The author offers an in-depth analysis of structural similarities and differences within illicit trade networks, and explores the economic underpinnings which drive global trafficking.Revealing how traffickers think of their illegal enterprises as just business , he draws broader lessons for the ways forward in understanding criminality in this emerging field.