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This paper focuses on phone conversations wiretapped by the police. It discusses issues of validity and reliability of this type of data and it proposes the use of a combination of data analysis techniques. In order to utilize wiretapped conversations in a valid manner, individuals under surveillance must talk freely on the phone, the coverage of the group must be reasonably wide, and a large enough sample of conversations must be available. As for the analysis, we propose the use of a set of techniques: content analysis, correspondence analysis, descriptive network analysis and longitudinal stochastic actor-oriented models. Each technique highlights a different aspect of the criminal network. Systematic analysis of phone conversations can yield valid inferences on the nature and activities of criminal groups and enrich the understanding of the ties within a criminal network. If followed, the procedures …