[Organized and professional crime: a comparative approach]

After a short preliminary statement of a terminological character, the authors review the basic features of professional and organized crime, also in relation to historically well defined aspects of it, of the "crime-syndicate" type. The tracts differentiating in this sector the European criminality from the North-American one are identified, and the most significant examples of criminal organization active in recent times especially in Great Britain are illustrated. The survey is carried out taking into account the quantitative and qualitative evolution of the phenomenon and probing further into the value and function that the various categories of crime operators assume in the most modern forms of organized crime. A special attention is devoted to the activities of particular importance that precede and follow the perpetration of crimes. The problem of the professional and organized crime is also viewed in the light of the difference existing in the various European countries, and of the easy access to international connections which afford to this type of crime quite a comprehensive scope of action and which involve a greater difficulty of the activities carried out by the authorities of the various countries. The authors finally emphasize the gravity of the new forms of crime that are being committed especially in the business field, and urge all those concerned in criminological problems to devote their attention to the phenomenon, delving further into the connection it has with the deviance theory.