Crime Correspondent Organised crime groups are becoming more violent and increasingly using lethal violence which represents a threat to public security in the European Union. That's the warning from a new report entitled 'The use of violence by organised crime groups’ published by Europol, the European law enforcement agency. The report has also found that while violence by criminal gangs in Europe is increasing, the cost of contract killings has dropped. Cheaper contract killings The cost of a contract killing varies in different European countries depending on who is doing it and where it is being done. However, Europol says it is now becoming cheaper to have someone killed. The cost for a contract killing varies between €10,000 and €100,000 based on figures supplied by different European law enforcement agencies but "a hit" currently costs much less than previously because more and more inexperienced and younger criminals are willing to carry them out.