Introduction to Part I: The History of the Concept

At the beginning of the twenty-first century the concept of organised crime has gained almost complete – political and scientific – legitimacy in Europe. Its political legitimacy is clearly shown by the fact that most European domestic governments and virtually all the major international organisations have issued ad hoc laws, conventions and plans specifically targeting organised crime and mentioning it in their titles. Despite some resistance, especially in northern European countries, organised crime has also become a legitimate scientific research topic and one that attracts much interest among criminologists and other social scientists. At the conferences held annually since 2001 by the European Society of Criminology, for example, organised crime has been one of the most prominent topics.