Investigating organized crime is an expensive and often risky enterprise. Reaching primary sources and getting the real story involve extensive fieldwork. Please donate. Every dollar supports our mission.
DONATE NOW
Prisons
Painting the picture of the least understood, and potentially most potent, part of the criminal underworld.
News Analysis
Filter by
Lots of Blame, Little Proof - Mexico's Cartels Behind Violence in Ecuador?
NEWS
/
16 NOV 2021
After yet another prison massacre, Ecuadorean authorities have doubled down on Mexico’s two biggest cartels being behind gang warfare in the South American nation by providing weapons and cash to…
The Drug Lord and the Governor's Daughter - Quadruple Homicide in Paraguay
NEWS
/
20 OCT 2021
The killing of four young people in Paraguay’s border city of Pedro Juan Caballero has led back to an imprisoned man who was once its most-wanted drug trafficker, revealing systemic…
Ecuador’s Prison Slaughterhouse a Warning to Rest of Latin America
NEWS
/
30 SEP 2021
Ecuador is reeling from its worst-ever prison massacre in Guayaquil but the factors that led to this situation could well be replicated in other countries across the region.
Death of a Pran: Suicide Marks Venezuela Former Prison Boss’ Decline
NEWS
/
24 SEP 2021
Weeks after reports emerged of the suicide of a notorious Venezuelan prison gang boss in Colombia, authorities have confirmed the death of Edwin Ramón Soto Nava – a death that…
Los 27, Puerto Rico’s Pioneers of the Prison Gang Model
NEWS
/
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…
In Venezuela, Prison Gang Chants Support for Politicians
NEWS
/
13 AUG 2021
Political support from career criminals is usually a matter of skulduggery and campaign finance. But one prison gang in Venezuela broke with tradition, releasing a video in which its members…
Investigations
Other InDepth
#SupportFreePress
Support Our Work
Stay Informed with Weekly InSight
Get fresh updates on organized crime from across the region delivered to your inbox.
SUBSCRIBE