City on fire: The role of extortion in urban fires.

Most of the literature on fires focuses on the wild or rural environment. Nevertheless, urban fires, and in particular those related to criminal activity, have recently begun to receive greater attention. This study focuses on the analysis of fires in shopping malls, public markets and businesses in...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geographical Journal Vol. 190; no. 4; pp. 1 - 20
Main Authors: García‐Tejeda, Enrique, Fondevila, Gustavo
Format: Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Dec2024
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=180703228&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 180703228
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00167398
        GEO
      jtl: Geographical Journal
      issn: 00167398
      maglogo: Y
    pubinfo:
      dt: Dec2024
      vid: 190
      iid: 4
      pid: 480
      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
    artinfo:
      ui:
        180703228
        10.1111/geoj.12578
      ppf: 1
      ppct: 19
      formats:
        fmt:
          – @attributes:
              type: T
              db: hlh
              ui: 180703228
          – @attributes:
              type: C
              db: hlh
              ui: 180703228
          – @attributes:
              type: P
              db: hlh
              ui: 180703228
      tig:
        atl: City on fire: The role of extortion in urban fires.
      aug:
        au:
          García‐Tejeda, Enrique
          Fondevila, Gustavo
        affil:
          Division of Legal Studies, Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE), Mexico City, Mexico
          Serra Hunter Program, Political Science and Public Law Department, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona Catalunya,, Spain
      su:
        Organized crime
        Cities & towns
        Arson
        Extortion
        Wildfires
        Shopping malls
        Real property
      sug:
        subj:
          Organized crime
          Cities & towns
          Arson
          Extortion
          Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers
          Lessors of Other Real Estate Property
          Wildfires
          Shopping malls
          Real property
      keyword:
        businesses
        extortion
        Mexico City
        spatial analysis
        urban fires
        businesses
        extortion
        Mexico City
        spatial analysis
        urban fires
      ab: Most of the literature on fires focuses on the wild or rural environment. Nevertheless, urban fires, and in particular those related to criminal activity, have recently begun to receive greater attention. This study focuses on the analysis of fires in shopping malls, public markets and businesses in Mexico City to study the criminal intention of arson in cities. Using spatial analysis and count models, we study emergency calls (911) from January 2019 to February 2021 to explore the occurrence of fires and extortion in order to predict these events. Our main finding indicates a spatial concentration of fires in the city, with extortion as a significant predictor that increases the occurrence of fires by an average of 16.63%, controlling for non‐intentional factors. In commercial nodes, extortionists may burn down premises that resist extortion in reprisal and as an indirect threat to future victims. The results contribute to the understanding of a new line of research on arson, real estate fraud and financially profitable activities for organised crime. It is possible that 'professional torches' are also linked to another, previously unconsidered crime: that of extortion.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N