A key focus of this workshop will be to discuss the ways in which recruits into extra-legal organizations signal that they are trustworthy and have the necessary skills to become a member and also how organizations screen and test recruits for trustworthiness and the necessary skills. We intend to bring together scholars working on a wide variety of groups and organizations that differ in their aims, structures, size and local constraints, but they all share the need to find trustworthy, loyal and competent members under the conditions of illegality, the use of violence and varying risks of infiltration.