HomeNews4 Key Takeaways from the Romanian Mafia in Mexico
NEWS

4 Key Takeaways from the Romanian Mafia in Mexico

MEXICO / 1 MAR 2021 BY KATYA BLESZYNSKA EN

An investigation into a criminal group, led by Romanians based in Mexico and specialized in ATM skimming and credit card fraud, has continued to uncover fascinating details about how the group operated, including a network of political alliances.

In February, a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Mexico’s Financial Investigation Unit (Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera – UIF) led to accounts suspected of belonging to the Romanian group being frozen. According to the UIF, the gang’s substantial earnings from across Mexico involved operations worth $23 million inside Mexico, international transfers worth $24 million and other financial operations worth a colossal $231 million.

In total, the so-called Riviera Maya gang has stolen an estimated $1.2 billion over the past five years. Milenio reported the scheme as being “the biggest bank robbery ever seen in Mexico’s history.”

Mere days later, federal authorities announced suspected links between Florian Tudor, alias “El Tiburón” (The Shark), the gang’s Romanian leader, and a broad protection ring of Mexican politicians, including former governors of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, national lawmakers and local mayors of towns near Cancún.

As this story continues to evolve, InSight Crime takes a look at the most important takeaways so far:

1. Latin America's Only 'Homegrown' European Criminal Group

Several European criminal syndicates have long had a presence in Latin America, including Italian, Albanian and Serbian mafia groups. But their presence in the region has typically come in the form of intermediaries and brokers who establish criminal partnerships with Latin American gangs to ensure their cocaine supply to Europe.

SEE ALSO: The Italian Mafia and the Move Upstream

Tudor’s group was different. Its base of operations was in Mexico and built alliances with other criminal groups and politicians in order to operate undisturbed. While the Riviera Maya gang has been linked to sex trafficking and extortion, the fact that they stayed out of drug trafficking may have granted them a measure of independence from other criminal operations.

Its alleged leader, Tudor, moved from Romania to Cancún before 2014, followed by friends and family who make up a tight, mainly Romanian, inner-circle, which has proven difficult for intelligence units and law enforcement to infiltrate.

While the group’s center of operations was in Cancún, it had a national presence. Members known as “pullers” were dispatched widely to withdraw money using cloned cards and install more devices into over 100 ATMs in Cabo San Lucas, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel and other tourist hotspots. The scheme has proven so lucrative that some of Cancún’s newest buildings reportedly involved investments from Tudor.

While the group had certain hallmarks of their Mexican counterparts, such as paying off political operatives for protection, it remains the only example of a European-led criminal group entirely based in Latin America.

2. Political Protection

The Romanian mafia’s success, in part, has been due to Tudor’s extensive network of contacts spanning across multiple political parties, involving both national and local corrupt officials, which have secured their protection over the years.

Intelligence information published by Milenio states that those linked to the group include the deputy of the Green Party, José de la Peña Ruiz de Chávez, as well as two former Quintana Roo governors, among many others.

Claims have also been made against René Bejarano, a current aspiring federal deputy for the National Regeneration Movement (Movimiento Regeneración Nacional – MORENA). On February 9, Bejarano publicly admitted that he knew members linked to Tudor’s group but that he cut all ties when he realized they were using both his and his party’s name to engage in criminal activities.

Back in May 2020, reports surfaced that officials inside the Attorney General’s Office were involved in protecting the group.

In February 2021, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called for a full investigation into the Riviera Maya gang and their operations.

3. Money Laundering

The Mexican government is currently investigating evidence that the gang set up multiple shell companies which invested millions of dollars in real estate, land acquisitions, casinos and luxury goods in Mexico. This included a luxury, multi-story villa acting as their main Cancún headquarters.

A 2020 investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) into the gang highlighted that in 2015, Tudor’s stepbrother Adrian Enăchescu also set up a Delaware-based company with offices in New York and San Francisco, supposedly a front in order to send money from US bank accounts to gang members in Mexico and Romania.

SEE ALSO: CPI: Romanian Weapons Modified in the US Become Scourge of Mexican Drug War

Tudor’s hometown of Craiova is a hub for Romanian organized crime groups, aided by rampant local corruption, the evidence of which can be seen in its luxury downtown apartments often bought with money sent over from Mexico and the US, according to OCCRP. The town was allegedly the origin point for earlier ATM-skimming operations that targeted Switzerland, Italy, France and the United States.

4. State Response

Since their modus operandi was exposed in 2015, multiple arrests have been carried out by US, Mexican and Romanian authorities to attempt to dismantle the group, but Tudor's tight inner circle and political contacts have made this difficult.

On March 31, 2019, Tudor was arrested in Quintana Roo but released hours later due to insufficient evidence. There have also been several property raids, which the alleged leader claims were carried out illegally.

However, efforts have noticeably ramped up over the past few weeks. On January 31, at least 85 Romanians were held at Cancun International Airport after they were unable to confirm the reason for their trip, repatriating four back to Europe who held travel bans.

In February, the Financial Intelligence Unit (La Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera– UIF) froze the bank accounts of at least 79 alleged members and accomplices of the Riviera Maya gang, although how effective this move will be, given the gang's sophisticated schemes, remains to be seen.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

FEATURED / 16 MAR 2023

The Northeast Cartel has established almost complete dominance of criminal economies in Mexico's border city of Nuevo Laredo.

EL MENCHO / 5 JAN 2022

Drone attacks in Michoacán, bodies hanging from bridges in Zacatecas, attacks with remotely detonated explosives in Guanajuato, massacres in Jalisco…

BOLIVIA / 8 MAR 2023

InSight Crime reviews Latin America and the Caribbean's cocaine seizure date from 2022 to find out what it reveals about…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

All Eyes on Ecuador

2 JUN 2023

Our coverage of organized crime in Ecuador continues to be a valuable resource for international and local news outlets. Internationally, Reuters cited our 2022 Homicide Round-Up,…

WORK WITH US

Open Position: Social Media and Engagement Strategist

27 MAY 2023

InSight Crime is looking for a Social Media and Engagement Strategist who will be focused on maintaining and improving InSight Crime’s reputation and interaction with its audiences through publishing activities…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.