From Illegal Markets to Legitimate Businesses

Aim of Project OCP – Organised Crime Portfolio – is to carry out an exploratory study of the economics of organised crime in Europe, and in particular to address three research questions, which are covered by the three sections of the final report:

• Where organised crime proceeds are generated, from which illicit markets (Part 1);
• Where these proceeds are then invested in the legitimate economy, in which regions, assets and business sectors (Part 2);
• The extent to which these proceeds are confiscated by European authorities (Part 3).

The project focuses on seven EU member states (Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom), represented by OCP partners, and for which provides an in-depth analysis. However, the report also presents a broader examination of the situation in Europe as a whole.

Project OCP has been carried out with the financial support from the Prevention of and Fight against Crime Programme of the European Union – European Commission, DG Home Affairs, and has been developed by an international consortium of eight partners: Transcrime – Joint Research Centre on Transnational Crime of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano and the Università degli Studi di Trento (Italy), coordinator of the project; Police University College (PCF – Finland); Agence de Gestion et de Recouvrement des Avoirs Saisis et Confisqués (AGRASC – France); An Garda Síochána – Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB – Ireland); Guardia di Finanza (GDF – Italy); Universiteit Utrecht (UU – The Netherlands); Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC – Spain); Durham University (UDUR – United Kingdom).

The report constitutes an important tool for both public and private institutions to improve the assessment of the risks of organised crime infiltration and to strengthen the tracing and the confiscation of criminal assets in Europe.

Authors (in alphabetical order): Monica Angelini, Francesco Calderoni, Diana Camerini, Marta Chinnici, Yulia Chistyakova, Jeltsje Cusveller, Marco Dugato, Joras Ferwerda, Luca Giommoni, Jarmo Houtsonen, Pilar Laguna, Marina Mancuso, Jerónimo Márquez, Jesús Palomo, Sarianna Petrell, Michele Riccardi, Nuria Ruiz, Alexandre Salha, Ernesto U. Savona, Cristina Soriani, Priscilla Standridge, Brigitte Unger, John Walker, David Wall.