Abstract

JORDA SANZ, Carmen  and  REQUENA-ESPADA, Laura. How do criminal groups organize themselves according to their own specific main activity? Description of a Spanish sample. Rev. Crim. [online]. 2013, vol.55, n.1, pp.31-48. ISSN 1794-3108.

In a descriptive analysis, the results obtained about the unlawful activity of 67 organized crime groups are exposed, according to the characteristics of each criminal organization. Groups under analysis pertain to police operations developed by the Civil Guard's Operating Central Unit ("UCO") carried out between 1990 and 2010. Although seventeen different criminal activities have been identified in these groupings, conclusions drawn from data are exclusively related to those showing higher prevalence, such as robberies with assault (N = 24), hashish trafficking (N = 9) and cocaine trafficking (N = 8). Information obtained shows that the main unlawful activity through which the analyzed organized groups get their largest share of profits makes some discrimination among variables relating to the criminal organization and internal dynamics such as structure, task distribution criteria, types of complex means used and countries they trespass, in the face of the development of their activities.

Keywords : Organized crime; forms of crime; police investigation; unlawful drug trafficking; hurtogrievous theft; aggravated theft.

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