The problem is quite topical because there is no complete definition of organized crime in legislation and scientific literature that can meet the requirements of modern reality. Having analysed the existing approaches to the concept of organized crime and empirical data (158 militiamen and 120 officers of Prosecutor's Office of Eastern-Siberian region) an attempt was made to give criminological concept of organized crime and to analyse its main features. The author proves that organized crime according to its size is a broader concept than organized criminal activity and includes organized criminal formations. Among the main features of organized crime are the level of organization of criminal activity, lucrative impulse and corruption relations. There are 3 levels of organization when one characterizes the first feature. At the first level crimes are committed by organized and stable criminal groups, whose acts are intentional. These groups do not have complex structures and hierarchies; the functions of leaders and doers are not separated. The second level is made up by criminal groups that are at the transitional stage to more perfect and dangerous criminal structures that differ from below standing formations by higher functional differentiation, hierarchy, separation of roles and having corruption relations. The third level differs qualitatively from the first two in organization of criminal environment, its criminal solidarity, and leaders' consolidation. The author concludes that the first level is not connected with organized crime as a social phenomenon and is connected with group crime, because there is no hierarchy in criminal groups of such a level. But intergroup dynamics may exist. Having certain external conditions and internal changes such groups can become organized criminal formations. Using the substantial features of organized crime mentioned above, the author defines it as a negative social phenomenon, which is criminal (but sometimes non-criminal) activity to receive, enlarge an legalize criminal income; and also a complex of hierarchically organized criminal formations that use corruption relations to achieve their objectives and that have the highest latency as a result of functioning of their own system of neutralization of all forms of social control.
