Abstract
Criminal organizations, with the advent of new information technologies, have found additional ways and spaces through which to commit crimes, especially in online hidden markets and through new means of laundering illicit proceeds. The opening of these new illegal markets has helped to increase the capital of criminal organizations which, if spread and rooted in the territory, can influence the various spheres of politics and decision-making processes of an entire country. Despite the seriousness of the threat, organised crime is not sufficiently understood. Although regulatory interventions and actions to prevent and combat cybercrimes perpetrated by organised crime have been implemented, through the international collaboration of the police forces with the various investigative agencies, the individual states intend to maintain full sovereignty in the area of criminal justice; all this leads to a lack of uniformity between both national and European institutions in the area of organized crime, while adequate regulation is still lacking in the dark web. In the light of the exponential increase in online criminal activity in recent years and even 25% between the first and second quarter of 2020 due to the coronavirus emergency, it is therefore essential that the individual Member States put aside uncertainties, exploiting the European Union as a fulcrum in the fight against transnational organised crime. A common solution would be to criminalize access to some areas of the Onion Routing, integrate the provisions of the article 416 of the Penal Code to apply them also to the digital context and establish the crime of mafia-type criminal association in the European legislative landscape as explained in article 416-bis of the Italian Penal Code.
 
 Interpol; Europol; Postal police; Criminal law; Darknet
Highlights
Criminal organizations, with the advent of new information technologies, have found additional ways and spaces through which to commit crimes, especially in online hidden markets and through new means of laundering illicit proceeds
The organizations engaged in these commercial activities have expanded their sales sphere to an increasingly large international clientele, increasing their earnings prospects and exploiting new means of payment such as cryptocurrencies to launder money, evading many of the controls imposed on financial institutions by anti-money laundering laws
The opening of new illegal markets has helped to increase the turnover of organized crime by billions of euros (UNODC, 2011). Such huge sums of money, the result of illicit sales, are invested in building contracts, bars, restaurants, shops and betting centres, which in addition to having the function of cleaning up dirty money, increase the capital of criminal organizations which, if widespread and rooted in the territory, they can influence the various spheres of politics and decision-making processes of an entire country
Summary
Organized crime is a form of associated delinquency which presupposes a stable organization of several people to commit multiple crimes, to obtain, directly or indirectly, financial or material advantages. The multiple products sold range from drugs to weapons, malware and illegally acquired personal data and information and resold on online markets Another traditional activity under the influence of organized crime is the online gambling which manages huge volumes of transactions and cash flows which can hide and mask money laundering (Romiti, 2014). C) criminal organizations interface with the Onion Routing (i.e. the technique that makes network communications anonymous) and cryptocurrencies through direct involvement in a cyber action 'acting as a guiding hand' in certain operations. These actions are perpetrated through the recruitment of personnel qualified in the use of IT techniques or by real cybercriminal groups that act exclusively online. The Darknets markets ensure the anonymity of transactions allowing carders to remain safe
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
