Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 for 2023
InSight Crime has developed its own methodology to rank Venezuela's organized crime groups. Here, we present the strongest.
The Central General Staff (Estado Mayor Central - EMC) is the governing body of a group of factions who refused to demobilize during the FARC peace process in 2017.
The Acacio Medina Front is a dissident group that emerged from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), also known as the ex-FARC mafia.
Las Claritas Sindicato is one of the strongest and longest-lasting criminal groups dedicated to illegal mining in Venezuela’s southern state of Bolívar.
The Carlos Capa gang is one of the oldest surviving criminal gangs in Valles del Tuy, south of Caracas in Venezuela.
The R Organization is one of Venezuela's fastest growing mining gangs, which are often referred to as sindicatos.
Tren de Guayana is one of the most powerful mining gangs to currently operate in the southern Venezuela state of Bolívar.
The Border Security Colectivo (Colectivo de Seguridad Fronteriza – CSF) is a state-supported irregular militia group based in the Colombian border state of Táchira.
The “Cartel of the Suns” (Cartel de los Soles) is the term used to describe the shadowy groups inside Venezuela’s military that are involved in a wide range of criminal…
For decades, the Meleán crime family was one of the most powerful criminal groups in Venezuela. Established by Antonio Jesús Meleán Vergel, alias “Antonito,” the clan controlled large swathes of…
The Tren de Aragua is Venezuela’s most powerful local "megabanda," or large criminal gangs with more than 100 members. This group is largely based out of the Tocorón prison in…
Las disidencias de las FARC o ex-Farc Mafia son grupos de excombatientes de la antigua guerrilla que se opusieron o desencantaron del proceso de paz con el gobierno colombiano desde…
Tren del Llano (Train of the Plain) is one of the first so-called "megabandas" or criminal gangs to develop in Venezuela.