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This article considers the oft-hidden instances of inter-criminal victimization in illegal drug markets amongst serious criminals in the North of England. Focusing on proto-criminal activity known in regional argot as 'taxing' (drug dealers robbing one another) it draws on ethnographic material and suggests that contrast to the literature on the subject from the USA 'taxing' in England rarely leads to cycles of retaliatory violence. Yet against a more general climate of precariousness in disadvantaged communities in England, 'taxing' as a deviant behavior is a gainful, relatively low-risk activity for a minority of established, professional violent criminals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the commercial cultivation of cannabis in England. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork with organised crime groups in disadvantaged locales, we argue that the rapid growth of cannabis cultivation is not the preserve of 'ghosts, gangs and good sorts'. Rather, these new markets reflect significant socio-cultural and technological transformations and the involvement of independent entrepreneurial criminals who, for the most part, come from impoverished neighbourhoods that have experienced, in recent years, a significant decline in legitimate job opportunities. This article offers new empirical data that shed light upon the organisation of commercial cannabis cultivation. It also challenges dominant academic accounts of these markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]