The illegal underworld is an interactive part of the social system that exploits its features to thrive and survive. An analysis of the illegal environment requires attention to individual and group dynamics within the illegal context, cultural and social elements that encourage the development of illegality, psychological dynamics that hinder anti-illegality measures, and dynamics and social structures that encourage contact and exchanges between legal and illegal environments. A society that fights to overcome illegality must base its foundation on solid social pillars that cannot be eroded, therefore forcing illegality to assume less strategic and more easily controlled paths. Various factors influence the way people behave -- ideals and values, persuasion, utilitarian interests, emotions, and social conditioning -- and the achievement of a desired goal is usually more probable once an individual's motivation is guided along several of these lines. These guidelines can be translated into rules and structures through many tools, leaving more room for responsibility than repression, not only punishing illegal behavior, but rewarding, acknowledging, and encouraging legal behavior, using technological architectures and institutional patterns that promote consistency between the aims of the system and individual interests. The most important area to be regulated to counter illegality is the fundamental organization of social structures. Implementation of values of solidarity and justice will strengthen citizens' trust in the system and thus encourage their spontaneous compliance with the law. This article concludes with a discussion of the creation of new structures that are able to regulate emerging social patterns and processes that can counter transnational crime. 31 references