Organized Crime a Specific Approach

If the basic characterization of organized crime is to be found, one can find, among scholars of the subject, quite unanimity - the same is no longer the case with the precise definition of the concept:

In fact, it is difficult to establish a final concept on organized crime when, on the one hand, it is faced with multiple and renewed criminal practices, triggered by groups or networks in permanent dynamic adaptation and, on the other hand, we find “users” with varying degrees of conceptual demand and practical requirements, depending on the different purposes pursued: criminal investigation, criminal prosecution, exercise of legislative power, etc.

In fact, the investigator will be particularly interested in the objective screening of the organized criminal structure that he intends to dismantle, the magistrate the legal and penal framework of the criminal occurrences that occurred and their insertion in the legal figures created by the legislator (who, in fact, in Portugal, at no time) uses the expression “organized crime” in the current legislative frameworks, rather opting for “close” figures such as that of the “Criminal Association” (arts. 2874. of the Penal Code) or “Association of Delinquents” (art ”. 284. of the Decree) Law 430/83).

Origin and evolution of the organized crime

Organized criminal practice dates back to other centuries, being referenced, for example, in England, at the beginning of the sec. - XVIII (case of the group controlled by Jonathan Wild that was dedicated to theft, robbery and extortion in the city of London).