Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Overview

Episodes

Details

Winner of the 'Best Deep Dive Podcast' at the 2024 Publishers Podcast Awards, shortlisted three times for 'Best Investigative Podcast' and once for 'Best Video Podcast'. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime brings you stories and investigations from the global criminal underworld. The topics covered by Deep Dive are far ranging, one episode could be looking at a hybrid paramilitary organized criminal cartel; the next could be the dismantling of an encrypted communications network; or the use of complex corporate structures to hide illicit activity; or the role organized crime has in the recycling industry. This podcast series demonstrates the wide ranging investigations and research carried out by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Recent Episodes

MAY 21, 2024

The Long Tail: Cross-Channel Migrant Smuggling (France to the UK)

On the 1st May 2024, 711 migrants successfully crossed the Channel between France and the UK in small boats. This year is so far on track to see the highest number of crossings on record.

This highly industrialised illicit industry estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of Euros, has seen the coast of northern France demarcated between competing gangs from a specific region of the Middle East, and who have a long history of smuggling.

They control the entire length of the route, from beginning to end - targeting prospective migrants through social media, offering package deals, and advice on how to speak to authorities on arrival. Some migrants even use their own knowledge of the trip to become smugglers themselves.

In this episode we take a look at the criminal groups behind the small boat crossings; how organised the logistics are; how much money they make and where it goes; and finally what this could mean for the future of other illicit economies in Western Europe.

Speaker(s):

Tuesday Reitano, Deputy Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, author of the book Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Saviour. Author of the report Small Boats, Big Business: The Industrialization of Cross-Channel Migrant Smuggling.

Julien Goudichaud, documentary filmmaker who has been reporting on people smugglers who operate in Calais.

Afshin Ismaeli, a journalist and war photographer from Norway.

Links:

(GI Paper) Small Boats, Big Business: The Industrialization of Cross-Channel Migrant Smuggling - available in English & French

(Book) Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Saviour

(GI Paper) The Human Conveyor Belt: Trends in human trafficking and smuggling in post-revolution Libya

(GI Analysis) An increasing number of Albanians are crossing the English Channel from France using small boats

(GI Analysis) Western Balkan criminal groups are important players in the Netherlands

Additional Links

https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/deaths-at-the-calais-border/

https://www.duvarenglish.com/illegal-networks-in-turkey-said-to-be-providing-fake-passports-to-isis-members-to-travel-to-west-news-60262

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/16-arrests-vietnamese-network-smuggling-migrants-across-english-channel-busted

https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/channel-crossings-tracker

https://news.sky.com/story/more-than-700-people-cross-channel-in-busiest-day-of-the-year-so-far-13127430

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats

https://labour.org.uk/updates/stories/labours-immigration-and-border-policy-stop-small-boats/

https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-61782866

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/five-high-value-targets-arrested-one-of-largest-networks-smuggling-migrants-across-english-channel-halted

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/39-arrests-in-cross-border-operation-against-migrant-smuggling-in-small-boats-across-english-channel

https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20220923-france-busts-people-smugglers-accused-of-making-thousands-from-channel-crossings

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/16/decathlon-stops-canoe-sales-in-northern-france-to-curb-migrant-crossings

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/migrants-detected-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats-last-7-days

https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/50834/inside-frances-battle-against-migrant-smugglers-a-closer-look

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/convicted-the-east-london-money-launderer-who-took-payments-for-small-boats-crossings

https://www.facebook.com/NCA/videos/-arrest-footagea-man-investigated-by-the-nca-for-laundering-money-made-by-people/1573557123417557/

https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/man-convicted-running-illegal-financial-service-people-smugglers

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/gang-leader-who-bragged-of-smuggling-more-than-100-women-into-uk-jailed-for-10-years

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/migrant-channel-crossings-europol-nca-arrests-b2116830.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67145474

https://news.sky.com/video/former-landlady-of-hewa-rahimpur-says-she-is-in-shock-over-people-smuggling-allegations-12956583

https://news.sky.com/story/hewa-rahimpur-gang-leader-who-smuggled-up-to-10-000-migrants-across-channel-jailed-12986202

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/prolific-small-boats-people-smuggling-network-dismantled-as-part-of-international-operation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC85bBq8MXo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuZjG3UCufg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv2mJtx9o5M&t=53s

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gunfights-between-channel-smugglers-jns9dcntj

https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/06/19/mediterranean-migration-crisis/why-people-flee-what-eu-should-do

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/663cdb73bd01f5ed3279386c/07_May_2024_Small_boats_-_time_series.ods

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/channel-migrants-small-boats-asylum-rwanda-b1155217.html

54 MIN

MAR 26, 2024

LockBit: Is this the end?

LockBit, the world's largest ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) provider suffered a very public takedown by an international law enforcement task force, Operation Cronos.

The ransomware behemoth quickly relaunched just days later. But in a world where trust is key, might the reputational damage be too great?

This is the story of the rise of LockBit, its relationship with other infamous cybercriminal groups, its uneasy relationship with some affiliates, its curious leader LockBitsupp, the public takedown and the relaunch, and what this means for the future of ransomware-as-a-service.

Speaker(s):

Koryak Uzan, Co-founder & Managing Director of PRODAFT

Links:

GITOC - The Rise and Fall of the Conti ransomware group

PRODAFT - LockBit: Behind the Lines of the Notorious RaaS

PRODAFT - The Demise of LOCKBIT: Disrupting the Most Prominent Ransomware Gang by Utilizing Upstream Threat Intelligence

https://twitter.com/PRODAFT

https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/gb/security/news/ransomware-by-the-numbers/lockbit-blackcat-and-clop-prevail-as-top-raas-groups-for-1h-2023

https://www.wired.com/story/lockbit-ransomware-takedown-website-nca-fbi/

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/02/fulton-county-security-experts-call-lockbits-bluff/

https://www.blackfog.com/the-top-10-ransomware-groups-of-2023/

https://go.recordedfuture.com/webinar/threat-briefing/lockbit-takedown

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-19/fbi-uk-crime-agency-say-they-have-disrupted-lockbit-hacking-gang?cmpid=cyber

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lockbit-ransomware-returns-to-attacks-with-new-encryptors-servers/

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/nca-leads-international-investigation-targeting-worlds-most-harmful-ransomware-group

https://samples.vx-underground.org/tmp/Lockbit_Statement_2024-02-24.txt

https://therecord.media/lockbit-lied-about-deleting-exfiltrated-data-after-ransom-payments

https://www.sophos.com/en-us/content/state-of-ransomware

https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/gb/security/news/ransomware-spotlight/ransomware-spotlight-rhysida

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/06/hacker-british-library-cybersecurity-cybercrime-uk

https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-352a

https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/ransomware-spotlight/ransomware-spotlight-royal

https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/blackcat-ransomware-site-claims-it-was-seized-uk-law-enforcement-denies-being-2024-03-05/

https://thehackernews.com/2024/03/exit-scam-blackcat-ransomware-group.html

https://twitter.com/ddd1ms/status/1764979901965201552

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/under-increasing-federal-scrutiny-blackcat-ransomware-gang-pulls-exit-scam-on-its-way-out/

https://www.trustwave.com/en-us/resources/blogs/spiderlabs-blog/resurgence-of-blackcat-ransomware/

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/blackcat-ransomware-gang-recovers-from-early-december-law-enforcement-operation-restores-websites-seized-by-doj/

https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/lockbit-leak-site-reemerges-week-after-complete-compromise-

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/prodaft_manual-ransomware-business-activity-7026870344648916992-mgZX/?originalSubdomain=nl

https://therecord.media/lockbit-ransomware-indictments-us-doj-bassterlord

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2114

https://therecord.media/lockbit-affiliates-arrested-in-ukraine-poland

https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/ukraine-arrests-father-son-duo-lockbit-cybercrime-bust-2024-02-21/

https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/lockbit-takedown-sanctions-february-2024/

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/law-enforcement-disrupt-worlds-biggest-ransomware-operation

https://analyst1.com/this-forum-is-a-bunch-of-communists-and-they-set-me-up-lockbit-spills-the-tea-regarding-their-recent-ban-on-russian-speaking-forums/

https://securityaffairs.com/149941/hacking/lockbit-3-leaked-code-usage.html

https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/ransomware-as-a-service-gang-lockbit-pays-first-50k-bounty-a-20099

https://therecord.media/wazawaka-cyber-most-wanted-interview-click-here

https://www.state.gov/the-department-of-state-announces-reward-offer-against-russian-ransomware-actor/

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/mikhail-pavlovich-matveev

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/evil-corp-switches-to-lockbit-ransomware-to-evade-sanctions/

https://resources.prodaft.com/fin7-cybercrime-gang

https://analyst1.com/ransomware-diaries-volume-1/

https://www.mimecast.com/content/darkside-ransomware/

https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa21-291a

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lockbit-ransomware-goes-green-uses-new-conti-based-encryptor/

https://blog.talosintelligence.com/ransomware-affiliate-model/

https://www.csoonline.com/article/573937/with-conti-gone-lockbit-takes-lead-of-the-ransomware-threat-landscape.html

https://youtu.be/0EQenbbPSaE

https://threatpost.com/darkside-hackers-court-paying-affiliates/166393/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/us/politics/biden-colonial-pipeline-ransomware.html

https://twitter.com/vxunderground/status/1568273779050127363?lang=en

https://twitter.com/vxunderground/status/1568981950043414530?lang=en

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/msrc/bounty

https://bughunters.google.com/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/lockbit-30-introduces-the-first-ransomware-bug-bounty-program/

https://analyst1.com/lockbit-takedown-operation-cronos-a-long-awaited-psyops-against-ransomware/

https://twitter.com/vxunderground/status/1697027546452259277

https://twitter.com/NCA_UK/status/1759888184979157123

https://twitter.com/NCA_UK/status/1759873080069910955

https://twitter.com/NCA_UK/status/1759857979086499939

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/law-enforcement-disrupt-worlds-biggest-ransomware-operation

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-and-uk-disrupt-lockbit-ransomware-variant

https://twitter.com/NCA_UK/status/1759842879688655053

https://twitter.com/NCA_UK/status/1759906806044725514

https://therecord.media/an-interview-with-lockbit-the-risk-of-being-hacked-ourselves-is-always-present

34 MIN

MAR 4, 2024

Russia, War & Organized Crime

Russian organized crime has a mythology attached to it - the brutal tattooed men of the Vory v Zakone. But those days are long in the past, rapid globalisation saw a new type of organized criminal take the reins in the Russian underworld, spreading their influence as criminal facilitators across the world.

But the war in Ukraine has changed that. It's changed the relationship between organized crime and the Russian state, the status quo within the established criminal order, the potential vacuum left by those criminals who fight and die in the conflict, the establishment of Russian criminal groups outside of the country, the flows of illicit goods themselves have evolved, and then Ukraine, once so critical to those illicit flows, is currently lost.

Such is the uncertainty surrounding organized crime that there have been rumblings about a possible return to a dark period in Russian history, known as the 'Wild 90s' - a period of anarchy that is etched into the Russian psyche.

Speaker(s):

Mark Galeotti, the Executive Director of Mayak Intelligence, honorary professor at University College London, member of the GI Network. Author of ‘The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia' and the GI-TOC paper: Time of Troubles: The Russian underworld since the Ukraine invasion

Links:

(GI Paper) Rebellion as racket: Crime and the Donbas conflict 2014-2022

(GI Paper) Evolving drug trends in wartime Ukraine

(GI Analysis) The devil’s not-so-new psychoactive substance: Alpha-PVP, a highly addictive synthetic drug, is experiencing growing demand in Ukraine.

(GI Paper) Crossroads: Kazakhstan's changing illicit drug economy

(GI Paper) Port in a storm: Organized crime in Odesa since the Russian invasion

(Podcast) “Death Can Wait”: Drugs on the Frontline in Ukraine

Research Links:

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/23/russian-artist-fined-for-extremist-toy-doll-with-prison-tattoos-a82852

https://tass.ru/obschestvo/9218777

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/08/17/russia-outlaws-childrens-criminal-underground-movement-a71178

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/sep/18/decoding-russian-criminal-tattoos-in-pictures

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68140873

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-recruited-convicts-fierce-assault-units-storm-gladiator-/32806371.html

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russia-turns-off-prison-heating-to-make-inmates-fight-in-ukraine-njgg08wc9

https://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2015/08/26_a_7719581.shtml

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/08/18/murders-drugs-and-brawls-russias-pardoned-ex-convicts-return-home-after-fighting-in-ukraine-a82175

https://vk.com/wall-62402836_32981

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/11/14/in-russia-pardoned-murderers-are-returning-from-the-front-and-reoffending_6254288_4.html

https://www.ft.com/content/9fdb5668-7e55-4b09-a6ca-6ba77999530b

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/08/18/murders-drugs-and-brawls-russias-pardoned-ex-convicts-return-home-after-fighting-in-ukraine-a82175

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/11509

https://www.depo.ua/rus/politics/mae-shist-sudimostey-i-krishu-na-rosii-shcho-vidomo-pro-odnogo-z-nayplivovishikh-zlodiiv-v-zakoni-loru-sumskogo-yakogo-mozhut-viklyuchiti-z-sanktsiynogo-spisku-rnbo-202110171379964

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFIKYeOgCA

https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/knb/press/news/details/545229?lang=ru

https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/knb/press/news/details/527735?lang=ru

https://meduza.io/feature/2023/01/26/mnogie-rossiyane-bezhali-ot-mobilizatsii-v-kazahstan-no-teper-v-strane-zapreschayut-vizaran-blagodarya-kotoromu-oni-mogli-zhit-bez-vnzh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DarVDSo5vY

https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-troops-locked-out-of-stolen-john-deere-farm-equipment-2022-5?r=US&IR=T

https://www.grainews.ca/machinery/machinery-brands-comply-with-global-sanctions-against-russia/

https://www.politico.eu/article/farm-machinery-gps-theft-uk-rural-crime-ukraine-russia-war-sanctions/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/13/british-farms-crime-wave/

https://www.nfumutual.co.uk/media-centre/harvest-security-alert-as-cost-of-gps-thefts-doubles-in-2023/

https://www.businessinsider.com/catalytic-converter-thefts-rhodium-palladium-platinum-russian-involvement-2023-2?r=US&IR=T

https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/world/news/russia-is-resorting-to-putting-computer-chips-from-dishwashers-and-refrigerators-in-tanks-due-to-us-sanctions-official-says/articleshow/91519650.cms

https://web.archive.org/web/20221107114101/https:/www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russia-suspected-of-buying-eu-fridges-to-strip-for-weapon-parts-p73sdtngc

https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/special-resources/silicon-lifeline-western-electronics-heart-russias-war-machine

https://www.aftonbladet.se/ledare/a/GMMK76/darfor-behover-putin-svenska-fartkameror

https://www.uasvision.com/2022/10/24/swedens-stolen-speed-cameras-inside-russian-drones/

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202302199696

https://www.twz.com/bizarre-theft-wave-targets-same-rotax-engines-used-in-iranian-drones

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/bizarre-theft-wave-targets-same-rotax-engines-used-in-iranian-drones

https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1584476545912971264?s=20

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/04/27/colonel-alexander-denisov-russia-ukraine-tank-engines/

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/16386

https://svpressa.ru/society/article/398101/

https://93.ru/text/incidents/2023/12/26/73060844/

https://cepa.org/article/fsb-gamekeepers-turn-poachers-in-putins-crime-riddled-state/

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/01/08/russian-fsb-officers-arrested-for-55mln-bribes-tass-a83655

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/05/12/banditry-threatens-the-new-russia/e46ef158-bd84-4ca9-870f-612817fe5854/

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/23/how-organised-crime-took-over-russia-vory-super-mafia

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/05/12/banditry-threatens-the-new-russia/e46ef158-bd84-4ca9-870f-612817fe5854/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/abramovich-tells-of-role-in-aluminium-wars-6256950.html

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/apr/13/mining.russia1

https://www.svoboda.org/a/27226932.html

https://www.rferl.org/a/blood-sports-rise-of-russia-gangster-athletes/27722386.html

46 MIN

FEB 5, 2024

Monitoring: What is going on in Ecuador?

At the start of the year masked gunman burst into a television studio in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The cameras were live and the entire event was broadcast. The video shows gang members shouting at staff, pushing them to the ground, threatening them with guns and explosives. These pictures subsequently travelled around the world.

But this event was just one in a series to hit Ecuador in a short space of time. Car bombs, kidnappings, murder, prison riots, prominent prisoner escapes, and another national state of emergency.

Criminal violence has washed over the country as competing gangs like Los Choneros and Los Lobos battle in prisons and on the streets over control of the lucrative cocaine trafficking business. Foreign organized criminal actors like the Mexican Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartels, the Albanian Mafia, FARC dissident groups from Colombia, and others, are all active in Ecuador, a country described as a "cocaine superhighway".

In the space of just five or so years, Ecuador has gone from one of the safest countries in Latin America to a country with one of the highest murder rates. In this episode we are going to talk about how this happened.

Speaker(s):

Felipe Botero Escobar, the Head of Andean Programmes at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

GI-TOC:

(Paper) Organized crime declares war: The road to chaos in Ecuador

(Blog) Fernando Villavicencio - Assassination Witness Project

The Global Organized Crime Index - Ecuador Country Profile

(Paper) Transnational Tentacles: Global Hotspots of Balkan Organized Crime

(Podcast episode) The Index - Ecuador

(Paper) The cocaine pipeline to Europe

Additional Reading:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-12/gang-violence-ecuador-cocaine-banana-exports-los-choneros/103311442

https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/seguridad/el-fiscal-cesar-suarez-asesinado-en-los-ceibos-investigaba-el-ataque-armado-en-tc-television-nota/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68014040

https://news.sky.com/story/prosecutor-investigating-ecuador-tv-station-attack-shot-dead-13050642

https://ecuador221.com.ec/ofrecen-recompensa-por-informacion-de-cinco-cabecillas-de-bandas-criminales/

https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/seguridad/colon-pico-captura-riobamba-enero-2024-nota/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67912235

https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-01-09/daniel-noboa-declares-an-internal-armed-conflict-in-ecuador-after-an-armed-commando-breaks-into-a-television-station-live-on-air.html

https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2024/01/ecuador-criminal-groups-launch-attacks-jan-9-following-declaration-of-state-of-emergency-and-curfew-update-3

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/world/americas/ecuador-gang-prison-emergency.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12943831/Chaos-Ecuador-cops-abducted-prison-riots-cities-rocked-explosions-feared-Los-Choneros-gang-boss-Fito-escaped-jail-sparking-state-emergency.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67921986

https://time.com/6552988/ecuador-most-wanted-criminal-fito-escape-guayaquil-prison/

https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-01-09/state-of-emergency-declared-in-ecuador-as-security-crisis-worsens.html

https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/seguridad/quien-es-alias-fito-el-cabecilla-que-el-gobierno-no-hallo-en-la-carcel-regional-durante-operativo-nota/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/09/ecuadoran-president-declares-armed-conflict-gunmen-storm-tv-studio/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/6/2/ecuadors-embattled-president-lasso-will-not-seek-re-election

https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2023/03/31/ecuador-asesinaron-a-ruben-cherrez-amigo-del-cunado-de-guillermo-lasso-y-vinculado-a-la-mafia-albanesa/

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecuadors-President-Calls-for-Investigation-of-Brother-in-law-20230314-0021.html

https://usacrime.com/leandro-el-patron-norero-beheaded-ecuador-prison/

https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20221005-new-clashes-break-out-in-ecuador-prison-after-deadly-riot

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-63126159

https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/01/25/can-ecuador-free-itself-from-the-grasp-of-the-drug-lords

https://insightcrime.org/news/gang-boss-money-launderer-murdered-ecuadorian-pison-riots/

https://insightcrime.org/news/judges-officials-fall-ecuador-cleans-house/

https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240121-diana-salazar-the-prosecutor-spearheading-ecuador-s-fight-against-narcopolitics

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/12/ecuador-violence-bloody-drug-war

https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-08-13/once-ecuador-was-a-peaceful-country-now-it-is-one-of-the-regions-most-violent.html

https://www.ft.com/content/579d9423-e10d-4f2e-8fe8-33e12b80f25e

https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/seguridad/asesinan-julio-cesar-farachio-candidato-a-la-alcaldia-de-salinas-nota/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-64553935

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-66289355

https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-10-07/colombian-hitmen-who-killed-presidential-candidate-fernando-villavicencio-murdered-in-an-ecuadorian-prison.html

https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-08-13/fito-the-gang-leader-who-threatened-to-kill-candidate-fernando-villavicencio-moved-to-maximum-security-prison.html

https://www.ecuavisa.com/noticias/seguridad/orden-muerte-fernando-villavicencio-salio-desde-la-carcel-LD5948827

https://veja.abril.com.br/mundo/a-relacao-entre-membros-do-pcc-e-a-crise-de-violencia-no-equador

https://www.metropoles.com/mundo/faccoes-em-guerra-com-o-estado-no-equador-tem-vinculos-com-pcc-e-cv

https://eu.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2024/01/26/mexican-cartels-play-role-in-ecuador-violence-tv-station-storming/72255406007/

https://apnews.com/article/ecuador-crisis-killings-mexican-cartels-2b82e62999b2696e70bd0f6ce933026f

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/09/30/ecuador-prison-riot-cartels/

https://www.proceso.com.mx/nacional/justicia/2021/8/31/detienen-en-colombia-presunto-operador-del-cjng-270991.html

https://insightcrime.org/news/arrest-mexico-sinaloa-cartel-presence-colombia/

https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/mexican-cartels-bolster-foothold-and-alliances-in-colombia/

https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/latin-america/ecuador-nabs-wanted-narco-president-says-crackdown-bearing-fruit.phtml

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/senior-farc-commander-pleads-guilty-brooklyn-federal-court-conspiring-distribute

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/22-00767-INCSR-2022-Vol-1.pdf

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-64785502

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/frontpage/2022/December/record-amounts-of-cocaine-seized-bring-the-builders-32-tons-of-cocaine-disposed-through-encapsulation-method-in-ecuador.html

https://insightcrime.org/news/record-cocaine-seizure-blow-to-ecuadors-gangs/

https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2016/vol1/253260.htm

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/ecuador-presidential-hopefuls-pledge-action-ports-where-bananas-hide-cocaine-2023-10-11/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-10/dutch-seize-record-660-million-cocaine-hidden-in-banana-cargo

https://www.intellinews.com/banana-crates-from-ecuador-now-usual-suspect-for-turkey-s-cocaine-police-286135/?source=latin-america

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italian-police-find-880-million-cocaine-stashed-banana-crates-2023-05-16/

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/prison-for-drugs-gang-who-attempted-to-smuggle-cocaine-worth-11-million-in-bananas

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12451487/Spain-cocaine-Ecuador-banana.html

http://www.fsb.ru/fsb/press/message/single.htm%21id%3D10439686%40fsbMessage.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67964229

https://www.ft.com/content/0bcff64a-4a16-49e4-87dc-03295e40b63d

https://apnews.com/article/ecuador-kidnapping-british-businessman-former-consul-ba9c148f10b39071375250119b6c1710

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/02/ecuador-violence-deadly-attacks-gangs-cartels

https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/latin-america/mutilated-bodies-gang-wars-shock-once-peaceful-ecuador.phtml

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/13/ecuador-violence-galapagos-cocaine/

https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/seguridad/gobierno-declaracion-excepcion-carceles-ecuador.html

https://elpais.com/internacional/2023-03-01/419-muertos-y-cero-responsables-dos-anos-de-la-oleada-de-masacres-carcelarias-en-ecuador.html

https://insightcrime.org/ecuador-organized-crime-news/lobos-ecuador/

https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2020/12/07/nota/8075287/dos-bandas-relacionadas-choneros-lagartos-pelea-carcel-esmeraldas/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/fito-cartel-leader-ecuador-violence-b2476638.html

https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240111-what-we-know-about-fito-ecuador-s-notorious-gang-leader-who-escaped-jail

https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2020/07/04/nota/7894974/guerra-bandas-guayaquil-pierde-protagonistas-hasta-covid-19/

https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2019/06/12/nota/7374450/quien-era-alias-cubano/

https://insightcrime.org/es/noticias-crimen-organizado-ecuador/los-lagartos/

https://insightcrime.org/news/brief/homicides-ecuador-prisons/

https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m8a8/gang-war-causes-brutal-prison-riots-across-ecuador-leaving-79-dead

https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2020/12/28/nota/9045034/persona-herida-bala-interior-centro-comercial-manta/

https://www.primicias.ec/noticias/sociedad/macabro-mensaje-muerte-rasquina/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-67930452

https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-01-11/tv-studio-hostages-recall-terror-of-on-air-attack-it-is-very-easy-to-kill-journalists-in-ecuador-too-easy.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12948857/Gangsters-stormed-Ecuadorian-TV-station-guns-grenades-taking-journalists-hostage-humbled-detained-police.html

28 MIN

DEC 4, 2023

Monitoring: Ovidio Guzmán and the Kingpin Strategy

'The King is dead, long live the King!'

In September 2023, Ovidio Guzmán López, the son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán, stood in a courtroom as a series of charges were laid out, including his alleged role as a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel.

There is a long list of cartel and organized crime leaders over the past few decades who have been targeted through what become known as the 'Kingpin Strategy'. The strategy aims to weaken, destabilise, and destroy criminal groups through a variety of methods, but is not without critics.

In this episode of Deep Dive: Monitoring, we look at the arrest of Ovidio, the history and impact of the Kingpin Strategy, how organized crime responds to a prominent criminal leader being removed, the so-called "Narco-Culture" that surrounds criminal actors, and the impact it has on the communities bearing the greatest impact of these criminal groups.

Speaker: