Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

• Living Together: The Gangs of Haiti - Part 1: The Death of a President

  Part 1 - "The Death of a President"In July 2021, the President of Haiti, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated as he slept at home by a band of mercenaries. His murder sparked a wave of violent protests and a period of unprecedented crisis in the small Caribbean nation that the country has still yet to address nearly four years later.For a long time, violent gangs were used by politicians to win elections, harass political opponents and stamp out opposition. But the political vacuum and ensuing chaos after the death of the President has seen their power grow immensely. They have committed horrendous atrocities against the population that control and each other.Massacres, extortion, mass rape, looting, and blockades have brought about a situation where gangs control an estimated 90% of the capital Port-au-Prince. It has created a humanitarian situation of catastrophic proportions, as over one-million Haitians have been internally displaced as a result of the violence.In Part 1 of Living Together: The Gangs of Haiti, we chart the fallout from the President's murder, the brutal expansion of the gangs power and influence, as well as the relationship between political and economic actors with those same gangs.SpeakersJacqueline Charles, Haiti/Caribbean Correspondent, Miami Herald. Widlore Merancourt, Editor-in-chief for Ayibopost & reporter for the Washington Post on its Haiti coverageWilliam (Bill) G. O'Neill, UN Independent Expert on the Human Rights Situation in Haiti Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Senior Expert, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized CrimeGITOC LinksThe GI-TOC Observatory of Violence and Resilience in HaitiWill the Artibonite massacre be a turning point in Haiti - https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/artibonite-massacre-haiti/Gangs of Haiti: Expansion, power and an escalating crisis - https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GITOC-Gangs-of-Haiti.pdfViolence in Haiti: A continuation of politics by other means? - https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/violence-in-haiti-politics-crime-gangs/Additional...

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• Drugs, Dead Drops and the Battle Over Russian Darknet Markets

  If you were to walk around a Russian city, you might not realise it but hundreds of small packages of drugs, could be just below the surface, buried in the ground, or maybe attached to the back of a nearby drainpipe with magnets, or hidden inside a hole in a wall. These little "treasures" have been ordered online from a vendor operating on a darknet platform and then hidden by couriers known as 'Kladmen' all over the place waiting to be collected - this is the "dead drop" method.The darknet markets servicing Russia have revolutionized the illicit drug markets in the country, which has seen an explosion in the consumption of synthetic drugs like methadone, mephedrone or Alpha-PVP. The vendors run a network of chemists, wholesalers, and Kladmen. Sportsman, hired thugs, roam around looking for Seagulls (people who steal dead drops) and punishing Kladmen on behalf of vendors, before uploading the punishments to social media as a warning to others.For many years, Hydra, the largest DNM the world has ever known, defeated all competition and reigned supreme, handling over $5 billion dollars of cryptocurrency during its lifespan. But in 2022, it was taken down and like the mythical beast it was named after, new heads sprouted in its place - OMG!OMG!, Mega, Kraken, Blacksprut - all vying for position, competing for market share and creating the most audacious public marketing stunts and highly produced online videos. The DNMs, with connections to the precursor markets of China and India, operate on TOR, have pushed synthetic drugs into all corners of Russia, democratizing the production process, with how-to guides and readily available lab equipment, and even created an apprenticeship scheme for prospective Kladmen, with a guaranteed job at the end. The whole process is highly anonymised from production to transportation, and from purchase to delivery through the dead drop method. We have seen darknet markets affecting the drug appetites of an entire nation and beyond. Speaker(s):Max Daly, Journalist who specialises in drugs and organized crime. He is an Orwell Prize winner, co-authored of the book Narcomania and the co-author of the GITOC paper 'Breaking Klad: Russia’s Dead Drop Drug Revolution'.Patrick Shortis, Senior Blockchain Intelligence Analyst working on the illicit drugs program at TRM Labs and co-author of the GI’s paper ‘Breaking Klad: Russia’s Dead Drop Drug Revolution’.Links:Breaking Klad: Russia’s Dead Drop Drug RevolutionGlobal Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime(Podcast) “Death Can Wait”: Drugs on the Frontline in Ukraine Additional...

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• Colombia & Total Peace: Part 2: Buenaventura – “The Pact for Life”

  Buenaventura – “The Pact for Life”Buenaventura has long been an important node in international illicit markets, particularly cocaine trafficking due to its port. Gangs, paramilitaries and organized criminal networks have all looked to gain a foothold here. The resulting violence has meant the city has seen many murders, and even more disappearances, with terrifying tales emanating from the so-called 'Casa de pique’ (Chop Shops).In September 2022, two gangs in Buenaventura, on the Pacific coast of Colombia, signed a truce to end the bloodshed that had gripped the city for two years - called 'The Pact for Life', which was mediated by the Bishop of Buenaventura. Los Shottas and Los Espartanos (the Spartans) had been locked in a vicious battle ever since they had both broken away from the La Local gang, carving up the city between them.The administration of President Gustavo Petro, saw the truce as an opportunity to negotiate with these two gangs under the Total Peace policy, which looks to reduce violence in communities across Colombia.There has been a reduction in homicides, but this stat hides the fact that other crimes have increased - extortion, disappearances, control of movement, and the "justice" (fines, beatings or murder) meted out on the population by the gangs.Speaker(s):Mariana Botero Restrepo, former GITOC Analyst and Researcher in the Observatory of the Andean Region.Felipe Botero Escobar, Head of Andean Regional Office, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized CrimeJuanita Durán-Vélez, Lawyer, Crime and Justice Lab, Colombia.Links:Andean Regional Office, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized CrimeGlobal Initiative against Transnational Organized CrimePodcast & Article - Clan del Golfo: The fall of 'Otoniel': How Colombia's biggest drug lord was taken down.The base research (Negotiating with Criminal Groups: Colombia´s Total Peace Policy) for this episode was initially developed and supported by Serious Organized Crime and Anticorruption Evidence research program.Additional...

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• Colombia & Total Peace: Part 1 - "The ELN - The Easy Win"

  Colombia is a country that has been racked by conflict for around 60 years - multiple armed groups and organized crime have waged war against each other and the state.In 2016, after nearly seven years of negotiations, the FARC demobilized, creating a power vacuum that other groups, such as the National Liberation Army (ELN), Clan del Golfo, and FARC dissidents, quickly filled. Despite the FARC's exit, violence persisted, with cocaine production and illegal mining continuing unabated, leaving many communities under the control of criminal organizations.In 2022, the President of Colombia Gustavo Petro brought forward new legislation, known as 'Total Peace'. This ambitious and wide ranging policy looks to negotiate with all criminal groups, whether they are politically minded, like the FARC were or organized crime. Why? To help reduce violence, in particularly homicides, but also to try a new approach to end these long-running conflicts.One of the key players in these negotiations was the ELN, the oldest guerrilla group in the world. The Petro administration expressed optimism, claiming a peace agreement could be reached within three months of taking office. However, over two years later, those talks have stalled and ultimately collapsed, raising questions about the future of peace efforts in Colombia.Speaker(s):Juanita Durán-Vélez, Lawyer, Crime and Justice Lab, Colombia.Kyle Johnson, Researcher & Academic Director of the Conflict Responses Foundation, Bogotá, ColombiaFelipe Botero Escobar, Head of Andean Regional Office, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized CrimeLinks:Andean Regional Office, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized CrimeGlobal Initiative against Transnational Organized CrimePodcast & Article - Clan del Golfo: The fall of 'Otoniel': How Colombia's biggest drug lord was taken down.The base research (Negotiating with Criminal Groups: Colombia´s Total Peace Policy) for this episode was initially developed and supported by Serious Organized Crime and Anticorruption Evidence research program.Additional...

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• Mohamed Amra and the gangs of Marseille

  In May 2024, a prison van was attacked at a highway toll in Normandy, France. In dramatic footage shared on social media, a black SUV, driving the wrong direction, rammed into the prison van just as it went through the barriers. Then gunmen, dressed head-to-toe in black and armed with Kalashnikov rifles got out and started shooting at the van, killing two prison officers.They opened the van and freed the prisoner, a man named Mohamed Amra, aka "The Fly", who escaped with the gunmen. There is now an Interpol Red Notice out for Amra.The attack took place in broad daylight and sheds light on the dramatic increase in gang violence over the last few years in France. Mohamed Amra had connections to the city that has been at the forefront of this violence, Marseille, on the Mediterranean coast.Speaker(s):Iris Oustinoff Leroux, YPN Coordinator and Analyst, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized CrimeLinks:(GI article) France in the crossfire: Prisoner escapes in Normandy amid rise in organized crime(GI Paper) Smoke on the horizon: Trends in arms trafficking from the conflict in Ukraine(GI Article) The Western Balkans is still the criminals’ choice for weapons.Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized CrimeGlobal Organized Crime IndexSenate Report FAIT au nom de la commission d’enquête (1) sur l’impact du narcotrafic en France et les mesures à prendre pour y remédier, Additional...

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