Brazil’s biggest gang has expanded across the region. Confronting them head-on might just make the problem worse.
A criminal group allied with Brazil’s First Capital Command was allegedly behind the massacre of more than a dozen people in a strategic area of northern Brazil, suggesting the…
A new war between Brazil’s two biggest crime groups has contributed to escalating violence across the country, which authorities are struggling to contain due to flawed crime control policies as…
Shocking footage of Brazil prison guards torturing inmates has sparked an investigation, and serves as a stark reminder of the poor prison conditions that strengthen the country’s powerful prison gangs.
Prosecutors in Brazil have charged more than 200 inmates in connection to one of the country’s bloodiest prison massacres in recent years, as the security situation on the ground continues…
Brazil's largest and most powerful criminal organization is allegedly plotting to free a prominent drug trafficker currently jailed in Paraguay, raising questions about the extent of the trafficker's ties…
The arrest in Brazil of a wanted drug trafficker from Peru who was on the run for more than a decade illustrates how trafficking dynamics have evolved in Peru's coca-producing…
A new report says that Brazil's largest and most powerful criminal organization is planning a spate of attacks against government officials to mark the anniversary of the group's founding, but…
Authorities in Bolivia and Brazil will enter into a bilateral agreement later this month aimed at combating the expansion of Brazilian criminal groups into Bolivia, but the move might…
Recent attacks in Bolivia attributed to Brazil's main criminal groups have led Bolivia's interior minister to believe that these organziations have divided territorial control of the Andean country among themselves.
Rising cocaine seizures in Argentina coupled with growing concerns about domestic consumption could be signs that the Andean nation may be headed down a similar path as Brazil, although…
The recent seizure of 60 sophisticated military rifles originating from Miami in Río de Janeiro's international airport has exposed a massive arms trafficking network that may potentially be arming Brazil's…
About InSight Crime
Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua Becomes Truly Transnational
This week, InSight Crime published a deep dive into the total control that Venezuelan mega-gang, Tren de Aragua, has over the lives of those it smuggles between Venezuela and Chile…
Turkish Traffickers Delivering Latin American Cocaine to Persian Gulf
Last week, InSight Crime published the second half of an investigation piecing together the emerging role of Turkish cocaine traffickers in supplying Russia and the Persian Gulf, which are among…
Turkey as a Lynchpin in European Cocaine Pipeline
InSight Crime is extending its investigation into the cocaine pipeline to Europe, and tracking the growing connections between Latin American drug traffickers and European criminal organizations. This led us to…
Memo Fantasma Coverage Gets Worldwide Attention
Guillermo Acevedo, the former Colombian drug lord and paramilitary commander better known as Memo Fantasma, may soon be allowed to leave prison. Since first revealing the identity of Memo Fantasma…
Who Are Memo Fantasma and Sergio Roberto de Carvalho?
Inside the criminal career of Memo Fantasma In March 2020, InSight Crime revealed the identity and whereabouts of Memo Fantasma, a paramilitary commander and drug trafficker living in…
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