Relying on Brown's(2005a,b) thesis that contemporary shifts in penal policy are best understood as a reprisal of colonial rationality, so that offenders become “ non- citizens ” or “ agents of obligation ” , this article argues, firstly, that this framework (with certain important refinements and extensions) finds support in developments in Irish criminal justice policy aimed at offenders suspected of involvement in “ organised crime ” . These offenders have found themselves reconstituted as “ agents of obligation ” with duties to furnish information about their prope rty and movements, report to the police concerning their location and, importantly , refrain from criminal activity or face extraordinary sanctions. Secondly, it is submitted that this draconian approach to the control of organised crime is built on false premises; specifically the idea that “ organised crime ” as such exists and is best controlled through restrictions on the freedom of key groups or “ core nominals ”