Can civil society bring governments to curb transnational crime? The article answers this question by analysing a most-likely case for civil-society influence: organ trafficking. Physicians’ efforts to eliminate this practice are examined in Pakistan and Israel: two major participants in the global organ trade. In both countries, the physicians’ pressure resulted in the enactment of organ-trade prohibitions. These, however, were not fully enforced. The analysis suggests that, even under favourable conditions, civil society’s impact on transnational-crime policies is limited, yet not inconsequential: Pakistan’s involvement in organ trafficking, and even more so Israel’s, has declined. Beyond its contribution to understanding civil society’s role in the criminalization process, the article sheds light on the hitherto little-studied politics of the organ trade.