The Meaning of Dirty Money Laundering as a Form of Organized Crime

Organized crime poses a major threat to democracy, rule of law, human rights and also, economic and social progress in all countries of the world. In recent years, Southeastern Europe has been affected particularly by organized crime and economic crime, as it is also by economic power, international relations, sophisticated methods and techniques, as well as the negative impact accompanying these crimes.16 The meaning of organized and economic crime depends to a large extent on the priorities of law enforcement and policies against crime. Organized crime itself is a dynamic concept which continually adapts to a permanently changing environment and new opportunities for crime.17 Since crime proceeds find a common denominator in various forms of organized crime and economic crime, financial investigation is essential to any analysis on organized and economic crime. However, organized crime still remains a not very clear concept, which is considered the most threatening form of crime in a given society and often time influenced and linked to various political and institutional interests.18 Organized crime is shaped under the influence of political, social and economic contexts in which it operates, very complex relationships, often non-confrontational, but clientelist and in symbiosis with it, the government and the society. ―The old concept of organized crime groups is replaced with the new concept of organized crime ―bureaucratic‖ groups, with very developed structures, to make the collaboration networks more inaccessible and fluid, which make even more difficult the task of identifying and analyzing them. Keywords: orginized and economic crime, dirty money, collaboration networks, etc.