All About Don Berna

ANALYSIS

Blurring the Line: The Security Secretary and the Medellín Mafia

COLOMBIA / 17 JUL 2017

The arrest of Medellín's security secretary in north Colombia has rocked the city establishment and challenged the political elite's prevailing narrative it has spent years promoting. But was he mediating…

Colombia Elites and Organized Crime: ‘Don Berna’

AUC / 9 AUG 2016

By the end of 1993, Pablo Escobar was cornered. The cocaine king -- known as "El Patrón" -- was running out of money and options. His top assassins were either…

Who Really Killed Pablo Escobar?

COLOMBIA / 29 JUL 2014

Extradited Colombia paramilitary leader and mafia boss Diego Fernando Murillo, alias "Don Berna," has claimed his brother fired the shot that killed infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, adding a new…

Medellin Truce Inches Groups Closer to Criminal Hegemony

DON BERNA / 4 OCT 2013

The Medellin mafia, fragmented through bitter infighting, has called a truce and made an agreement with their rivals the Urabeños, seeking to rebuild the criminal hegemony once enjoyed by the…

Diego Fernando Murillo, alias ‘Don Berna’

COLOMBIA / 2016-11-17 14:48:11

Until his extradition to the United States in 2008, Diego Fernando Murillo, alias "Don Berna," was the leader of mafia group the Oficina de Envigado, which grew from the…

Paisas

COLOMBIA GROUPS / 2017-03-10 03:31:38

The Paisas first emerged as a rural militia that grew out of the demobilized AUC paramilitary army, with links to the Oficina de Envigado, but later…

Oficina de Envigado

COLOMBIA GROUPS / OCTOBER 28, 2020

The Oficina de Envigado has evolved from a debt collection agency for Pablo Escobar to a mafia federation that regulates almost all criminal activity in Medellín.

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InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area

ARGENTINA / 25 JAN 2021

Through several rounds of extensive field investigations, our researchers have analyzed and mapped out the main illicit economies and criminal groups present in 39 border departments spread across the six countries of study – the Northern Triangle trio of Guatemala, Honduras, and El…

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InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize

COLOMBIA / 20 NOV 2020

The staff at InSight Crime was awarded the prestigious Simón Bolívar national journalism prize in Colombia for its two-year investigation into the drug trafficker known as “Memo Fantasma,” which was…

ANALYSIS

InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works

COLOMBIA / 12 NOV 2020

This project began 10 years ago as an effort to address a problem: the lack of daily coverage, investigative stories and analysis of organized crime in the Americas. …

ANALYSIS

InSight Crime – Ten Years of Investigating Organized Crime in the Americas

FEATURED / 2 NOV 2020

In early 2009, Steven Dudley was in Medellín, Colombia. His assignment: speak to a jailed paramilitary leader in the Itagui prison, just south of the city. Following his interview inside…

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