The Crime That Pays is a study of higher-level drug syndicates and organized criminals who have achieved huge incomes and status in their deviant occupation. Based on interviews with drug couriers, drug investigators, and 70 higher-level drug traffickers, the book describes the characteristics of offenders, their modus operandi, the entrepreneurial aspects of organized crime, and the significance of friendship, kinship, race, and ethnicity in the development of criminal networks.

Most of the dealers in this study operated at the wholesale level for years, had realized huge profits, and lived extravagant lifestyles. For many, their arrest occurred only after the police had undertaken a sophisticated and proactive criminal investigation that took years to complete. Included in the text are an analysis of the police strategies used to combat drug trafficking and the social policy implications from this and other research studies.

The book includes original research both on the RCMP and on higher-level drug trafficking. Also included are analyses of Canadian drug laws and a critique of social policy relating to drug use and drug trafficking.