Home secretary Alan Johnson has endorsed an 'Al Capone style' policy of using tax powers to target organised crime.
These include stronger powers to seize assets and renewed powers to close front businesses for crime, including saunas and massage parlours.
A report from the Home Office and the Cabinet Office found that ministers need to keep a tighter oversight of the problem of serious and organised crime.
Some 300,000 criminals in organised crime networks cost the UK almost £40bn a year, the report said.
This cost and scale means that serious crime cannot be tackled through traditional criminal justice mechanisms, the Home Office said.
And the department revealed that a "strategic centre" for organised crime would be created in the department.
Johnson said: "These and other measures will allow us to take action against all organised criminals from the 'Mr Big' at the top end right through to the long tail of organised criminality that exists underneath.
"The UK is known... as a world leader in the fight against serious organised crime. However, the threat continues to evolve and it is right that we update and strengthen our response to match."
