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Criminal acts of extortion represent a form of classic criminality; however, since the 20th century, they have also got the dimension of organised criminality if we take into account the circumstances under which they are committed, the intent of the perpetrator and the way in which the aim is achieved. They have been systematised within the Criminal Code in the group of criminal acts against property, which represent the most numerous criminal acts starting from the oldest written legal documents, to modern criminal legislation. The scope, dynamics and great prevalence of property offences in the structure of overall criminality in general, and particularly the specific character of the criminal acts of extortion, which are property offences, but, at the same time, criminal acts of violence, while certain forms and manners of their expression occur as a segment of organised criminality, and the complexity of the methods and ways of their suppression and prevention have been the motive for the author to pay special attention to this topic so that criminal acts of extortion could be analysed by a multi-disciplinary approach: theoretical, historical-legal, comparative-legal, judicial-practical, criminological and criminal-political. On the basis of national and foreign legal theories, judicial and statistical practice, historical legal documents, and the positive criminal legislature of Serbia and other modern countries, systematically and in the logical order, the notion, elements, characteristics, forms and manners of expression are presented in this paper, as well as the place, role and significance of the criminal acts of extortion within the structure of property criminality from the oldest written legal documents of Serbia to the present day, as well as within the comparative criminal law, and the criteria for the distinction of these criminal acts from other similar criminal acts in the Criminal Code of Serbia from 2005, i.e. in the legal theory and judicial practice. These criminal acts are also analysed throughout their historical development, from the Middle Ages and the application of the oldest legal documents to the present day. This is followed by the analysis of criminal acts of extortion in the comparative criminal legislation and their critical comparison to the decisions from the Serbian legislation. This kind of paper is also characterised by the analysis of the legal-theoretical, criminaljudicial, criminological and judicial-practical aspects of criminal acts of extortion, while simultaneously pointing out the faults in the application of certain legal decisions, and proposing decisions for overcoming and solving them. Criminal acts of extortion, as real, usual criminal acts in the area of classic, general criminality (of property and violent characters), but also as a form of expression of organised criminality, have required the application of various scientific-research methods in this study, such as: the observation method, the method of content analysis, the method of synthesis, the legal-dogmatic method, the historical-legal method, the comparative-legal method, the judicial-statistical method, etc., with the aim of conducting a comprehensive analysis of the research subject of this doctoral thesis – criminal acts of extortion and the ways and methods of their suppression and prevention. The analysis of criminal acts of extortion explores, to a certain extent and in a certain manner, certain general legal-historical institutes which, here, have a special place, role and significance, such as: complicity, an extended criminal act, a collective criminal act, the attempt of a criminal act and the concurrence of criminal acts, i.e. the application of certain forms of criminal sanctions (punishments, security measures), but also other criminal-legal measures such as: the confiscation of material gain which has been obtained by committing a criminal act and the confiscation of property originating from a criminal act