Criminal Actors
Histories and profiles of organized crime groups, insurgencies, street gangs, vigilantes and the criminal actors that lead them.
Mario Ramirez Treviño, alias ‘X20’
Mario Ramirez Treviño, alias X20, was the head of the Gulf Cartel, an organization that has trafficked contraband and illegal…
Alejandro ‘Omar’ Treviño Morales, alias ‘Z42’
Alejandro "Omar" Treviño Morales, alias "Z42," was a member of criminal organization the Zetas and brother to former Zetas leader…
Peru Profile
Violence in Peru has been relatively low since the end of its civil conflict in the late 1990s. Although it…
Moris Alexander Bercián Manchón, alias ‘El Barney’
Moris Alexander Bercián Manchón, alias "El Barney," is one of six MS13 members in El Salvador sanctioned by the United…
Knights Templar
The Knights Templar (Cabelleros Templarios) emerged in March 2011 as a splinter group of the once-mighty Familia Michoacana. Like their predecessors, the Knights Templar cast themselves…
Juárez Cartel
The Juárez Cartel is responsible for smuggling tons of narcotics from Mexico into the United States throughout its long and turbulent…
First Capital Command – PCC
The First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC) was inspired by the Red Command (Comando Vermelho). Both criminal…
Amigos dos Amigos
Amigos dos Amigos is a criminal group based in Brazil’s second-largest city, Rio de Janeiro. The organization was formed in…
Red Command
The Red Command (Comando Vermelho) is Brazil’s oldest criminal group, created in a Rio de Janeiro prison in the 1970s…
Antônio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, alias ‘Nem’
Antônio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, alias “Nem,” led the Amigos dos Amigos gang in Rocinha, a neighborhood of some 150,000 residents…
Latest News
LatAm Crime Groups Set Sights on Europe’s Bustling Cocaine Market
With higher profits and lower risks than the United States, Europe has emerged recently as arguably the most important cocaine market in the world.
Colectivos Ramp Up Property Seizures in Venezuela
An increase in the number of reports of illegal invasions of homes and commercial establishments in Venezuela during the pandemic has revealed the ever-widening criminal portfolio managed by militant civilian…
French Guiana’s Unpatrolled Waters Lure Illegal Fishing Crews
Illegal fishing off the coast of French Guiana surged amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as French maritime patrols struggled to mobilize resources, luring illegal fishing crews to the country's pristine waters.
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