Today the Urabeños are the only BACRIM with a national reach. They are also arguably the only real BACRIM still standing. While the government recognizes the existence of three BACRIM…
Colombia's most prominent criminal organization, the Urabeños, have publically claimed responsibility for a major decline in murders in Medellin in 2013, challenging city authorities' claims that security forces are behind…
Twenty years ago, on December 2, 1993, Pablo Escobar, the pioneer of Colombia's cocaine trade, was killed on a rooftop in his native Medellin by police. His death signaled the…
Homicides in Medellin, Colombia were down over 60 percent in October compared to the same month last year, a decrease likely linked to a pax mafiosa struck between the city's two…
Colombia has extradited former Medellin crime boss "Sebastian" to the United States, posing the question of whether he will collaborate with the authorities and what impact it will have on…
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…
Colombia's most powerful criminal network the Urabeños may have entered into a pact with rivals Oficina de Envigado in Medellin, where the battle for control of the city has…
Criminal groups in Colombia are responsible for the distribution of millions of illegal cigarettes tied to Paraguay President-elect Horacio Cartes, highlighting the dubious business links which have made his rise…
An alleged head of Colombia's criminal syndicate the Oficina de Envigado has been captured in Panama, a new blow to the increasingly splintered and weakened group, which could further escalate…
Criminal gangs are now only present in 10 percent of Colombia's municipalities, according to the country's defense minister, although there is reason to doubt his assertion.
Nine people were killed in a massacre in Medellin, heralding a new round of violence as different criminal factions seek to establish hegemony of the underworld in Colombia's…
US prosecutors have asked for the maximum 15-year sentence in the case of Mauricio Santoyo, the security chief of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe who admitted ties to organized…
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InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area
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…
InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize
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…
InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works
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. …
InSight Crime – Ten Years of Investigating Organized Crime in the Americas
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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