“Los Argentinos”: A Gang of Swindlers and the Criminal Integration of the Americas, 1935-1943’

This article analyses the cross-border execution of the crime of fraud, which was rife across the American continent during the interwar period. In the early decades of the twentieth century, Mexico had become a major hub for fraud following a boom in this type of crime across the South American Atl...

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Dettagli Bibliografici
Pubblicato in:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/chs,
Autore principale: Esteva, Diego Pulido
Natura: Article ou chapitre numérique
Lingua:Anglais
Pubblicazione: Crime, Histoire & Sociétés 2024
Accesso online:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Descrizione
Riassunto:This article analyses the cross-border execution of the crime of fraud, which was rife across the American continent during the interwar period. In the early decades of the twentieth century, Mexico had become a major hub for fraud following a boom in this type of crime across the South American Atlantic region. Focussing on a gang of swindlers known as “Los Argentinos”, cosmopolitan travelling criminals, the article investigates the growth of so-called “tricksterism” and the cross-border nature of crimes of fraud and forgery. It concludes that “tricksterism” benefited from both flows of migrants and cross-border connections, eventually building webs of complicity with local, state and federal authorities.