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Criminal Actors
Histories and profiles of organized crime groups, insurgencies, street gangs, vigilantes and the criminal actors that lead them.
Pablo Escobar
AUC
/
30 AUG 2021
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was the pioneer in industrial-scale cocaine trafficking.
Jimmy Chérizier, alias 'Barbecue'
CARIBBEAN
/
19 AUG 2021
Former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, alias "Barbecue," is one of Haiti’s most prolific gang leaders.
Bala na Cara
BRAZIL
/
27 JUL 2021
Bala na Cara (BNC) is a prominent criminal group in Brazil's southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Border Command
COLOMBIA
/
8 JUL 2021
Los Comandos de la Frontera, or the Border Command, formerly known as La Mafia, is a group made up of…
G9 and Family
The “G9 and family and allies” (“G9 en fanmi e alyi” – G9) is a criminal federation of nine of…
César Emilio Peralta, alias ‘El Abusador’
COCAINE
/
29 JUN 2021
César Emilio Peralta, alias “El Abusador,” is one of the Dominican Republic's most notorious drug traffickers.
Eliecer Erlinto Chamorro, alias 'Antonio Garcia'
ANTONIO GARCÍA
/
JUNE 24, 2021
Eliecer Erlinto Chamorro, alias "Antonio Garcia," is the number two commander in Colombias National Liberation Army…
Loophole Spurs Large-Scale Land Grabs in Brazil
BRAZIL
/
4 JUN 2021
A government registry in Brazil has been used to designate millions of hectares of Amazon forest as rural lands, in…
Los Lagartos
ECUADOR
/
1 JUN 2021
Integrated by multiple gangs with shared allies and enemies, Los Lagartos is one of Ecuador’s prolific prison gangs, whose rivalry…
José Adán Salazar Umaña, alias 'Chepe Diablo'
CHEPE DIABLO
/
MAY 26, 2021
José Adán Salazar Umaña, alias "Chepe Diablo," does not fit the normal profile of a criminal leader. As the former…
Cárteles Unidos
MEXICO
/
25 MAY 2021
The Cárteles Unidos (CU) is a criminal organization that was born out of an alliance between the Cartel de Tepalcatepec,…
Shining Path
PERU
/
23 MAY 2021
The Shining Path or the Militarized Communist Party (Militarizado Partido Comunista - MPC) is the last remnant of Peru’s guerrilla…
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Top El Salvador Officials Embroiled in Food Aid Theft Investigation
EL SALVADOR
/
21 SEP 2021
A scrapped investigation into alleged food aid theft by officials in the administration of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has provided the first clear evidence that the government has systematically…
Enduring Italians, Ambitious Albanians – How Cocaine is Changing Europe’s Criminal Landscape
'NDRANGHETA
/
21 SEP 2021
Ever greater quantities of cocaine are making their way across the Atlantic and are being sold at ever greater prices across Europe.
Los 27, Puerto Rico’s Pioneers of the Prison Gang Model
PRISONS
/
20 SEP 2021
A major operation against one of Puerto Rico's foremost criminal gangs has revealed how this group's control of prisons helped to create a method of criminal governance that swept the…
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