The repeated appearance of “copycats” in Guatemala shows how criminals are taking advantage of the country’s widespread extortion and its near primal fear of street gangs.
Cell phone trafficking in Costa Rica prisons has become a lucrative and rarely punished business, allowing criminals to continue their illicit activities and letting crimes like extortion persist.
A visit to a women’s prison in Guatemala shows the increasing role that women play in extortion rackets. The ubiquity of extortion markets in urban, poor neighborhoods has converted this…
Authorities in El Salvador are keen to expand a much-praised local policing model believed to have helped two rural communities tackle bloody gang control. But a visit to the areas…
The administration of US President Donald Trump has announced that it plans to end to a migration policy known as Temporary Protected Status for 2,500 Nicaraguans, while 60,000 Hondurans have…
A new report suggests that two organized crime groups in Mexico initially funded their criminal enterprises through extorting and kidnapping avocado farmers, shedding new light on how these now-powerful…
A new report says that thousands of corner stores have closed in Honduras' capital in the past two years due to extortion and pushing residents to flee, a stark…
A new report claims that a Colombian loan shark network is operating in more than three quarters of Mexico's states, a further indication that these lucrative schemes are expanding their…
In our July 13 Facebook Live, Executive Director Jeremy McDermott spoke to InSight Crime investigator James Bargent about what are known as "bandas criminales" or BACRIM -- Colombia's "franchise" mafias…
A case against the MS13 operating in El Salvador's capital city shows how the gang's money laundering side is getting more sophisticated, even as it remains reliant on violence for…
Mexico's largest convenience store chain says it has been forced to close a number of stores amid growing insecurity and violence, a reflection of the economic impacts of the…
The latest revelations about land trafficking in Peru show how unchecked urban sprawl can foster criminal enterprises that operate with official complicity. …
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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