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Criminal Actors
Histories and profiles of organized crime groups, insurgencies, street gangs, vigilantes and the criminal actors that lead them.
Diego Perez Henao, alias 'Diego Rastrojo'
COLOMBIA PERSONALITIES
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2016-11-07 22:02:10
Diego Perez Henao, alias "Diego Rastrojo," was the military head of the Rastrojos, a criminal syndicate whose…
Luis E. Calle Serna
COLOMBIA PERSONALITIES
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2017-02-16 22:07:27
Luis Enrique Calle Serna was a leader in the feared and ambitious Rastrojos criminal organization in Colombia. He surrendered to US…
Mexico Profile
MEXICO
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2021-05-05
Mexico is home to some of the hemisphere’s largest, most sophisticated and violent organized criminal groups. These organizations have drawn…
Javier Antonio Calle Serna, alias 'Comba'
COLOMBIA PERSONALITIES
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2017-03-10 03:35:08
Javier Antonio Calle Serna, alias Comba, was the top leader of the Rastrojos, a group of former paramilitary…
Paisas
COLOMBIA GROUPS
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2017-03-10 03:31:38
The Paisas first emerged as a rural militia that grew out of the demobilized AUC paramilitary army, with…
Guillermo Leon Saenz Vargas, alias 'Alfonso Cano'
ALFONSO CANO
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2017-03-10 03:22:31
Guillermo Leon Saenz Vargas, alias Alfonso Cano, was the supreme commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the hemisphere's oldest…
Rastrojos
DIEGO RASTROJO
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2017-02-16 21:57:11
The Rastrojos were born out of the powerful Norte del Valle drug cartel and rose to become one of the…
Familia Michoacana
LA FAMILIA MICHOACANA
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MAY 5, 2020
At the height of its power, the Familia Michoacanas brutal tactics, strong base of operations and pseudo-religious ideology made it…
ERPAC
COLOMBIA GROUPS
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2017-03-10 03:23:57
The Popular Revolutionary Anti-Terrorist Army of Colombia (Ejercito Revolucionario Popular Antiterrorista Colombiano - ERPAC) began as a right-wing…
Oficina de Envigado
COLOMBIA GROUPS
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OCTOBER 28, 2020
The Oficina de Envigado has evolved from a debt collection agency for Pablo Escobar to a mafia federation that regulates…
CIACS
ARMS TRAFFICKING
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2017-03-09 22:38:30
Guatemala's 40-year civil war laid the groundwork for many criminal organizations, including several that spawned from state intelligence and military…
Latest
Politicians and Police Linked to Colombian Child Sex Ring
COLOMBIA
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1 JUL 2022
Colombian police uncovered a sex ring featuring underage migrants from Venezuela. Why does sex trafficking flourish in border areas?…
Chile Receiving Synthetic Drugs Galore From Netherlands, Belgium
CHILE
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1 JUL 2022
Authorities in Iquique and San Antonio, port cities in northern Chile, discovered nearly 475,000 MDMA tablets on various ships departing from the Netherlands and Belgium in the past two months.
Memo Fantasma to Walk, Thanks to Colombian Prosecutor
AUC
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30 JUN 2022
Paramilitary drug lord, alias “Memo Fantasma” or “Will the Ghost,” may soon walk out of prison in Colombia, after the prosecutor fumbled two hearings designed to keep the accused in…
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