Economies of Banditry in the Late Ottoman Empire

Throughout the reign of Sultan Selim III (1789-1807), Ottoman officials complained about the destruction of a notorious criminal named Kara Feyzi and thousands of his followers: they pillaged, slaughtered, and burned down communities throughout the Balkans. But these public complaints often concealed the officials' own ties with these so-called bandits and were used as opportunities to slander the...