Organised crime cost some £245 million (€360 million) in lost revenue in Northern Ireland last year, the Organised Crime Task Force has reported.
The taskforce co-ordinates the law enforcement agencies, Customs and the government bodies in the fight against criminal gangs.
Its sixth report, published yesterday, stressed organised crime was not a victimless offence and represented a threat to the health and wellbeing of all.
Marking the beginning of a concerted publicity drive to highlight its dangers, security minister Paul Goggins said everyone suffered and must play a role in stepping up the fight against organised crime gangs.
Rejecting the idea that criminal gang members were "Del Boy" characters, the minister warned: "We've got the powers to deal with them - powers stronger than we've ever had before."
Speaking afterwards, Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde said paramilitaries were also organised criminals.
"The bottom line is they are all criminals if [they commit crime] under any flag of convenience, it's still crime and we will deal with it."
He said there were some 200 crime gangs operating in Northern Ireland and that law enforcement agencies were co-ordinating a more sophisticated approach to tackle them.
Asked if the IRA was withdrawing from organised crime, Sir Hugh said: "It's early days. My concerns are around people doing this for their own personal gain as much as for some illegal organisation.
"The one distinction I would draw is with dissident republicans." He said he was meeting the Independent Monitoring Commission and admitted: "There is evidence they [the IRA] are winding down.
"It would be naive to think that an organisation of that size will stop committing criminal activity."