Key legal question
Whether the defendants' family-based drug ring qualified as a criminal organization under Art. 260ter StGB.
Extracted holding
No. The group was a stable criminal band, but the required highly dangerous, durable and structurally replaceable organization was not shown.
Extracted reasoning
The court held that Art. 260ter StGB must be construed narrowly and targets particularly dangerous organized crime. The family ties, limited replaceability of members, and the typical secrecy and division of labor in drug dealing were insufficient for a criminal organization.