Weekly InSight

This week, InSight Crime tells the story of Dritan Gjika, an Albanian drug trafficker who allegedly rose to the top of Ecuador’s cocaine export industry before his network was exposed and he disappeared. 


We also analyze how Latin America is being affected by global trends outlined in the United Nations’ newest World Drug Report; we evaluate what a decade's worth of data reveals about Brazil’s criminal landscape; we break down how the capture of a top Tren de Aragua leader will impact the group’s stability; and we explain a spike in cyber crimes in Brazil. 


This and more below.

Latest Investigation

https://insightcrime.org/news/the-rise-of-albanian-dritan-gjika-and-his-cocaine-network-to-europe/

Around midnight on February 6, 2024, Ecuador’s National Police stormed a beige, two-story villa in a luxurious gated community on the outskirts of Guayaquil, the country’s biggest port city.


Inside, they found a mother with her young daughter, along with multiple firearms and ammunition. The husband, Albanian businessman Dritan Gjika, was nowhere to be found. 


Read the article here > 

See more coverage from Ecuador >

On July 2, InSight Crime investigator Victoria Dittmar moderated a roundtable on electoral violence in Mexico hosted by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED). 


The conference, which took place in Mexico City in collaboration with various non-governmental organizations, analyzed the historic wave of political violence that marked Mexico’s presidential election last month and evaluated its significance for the future of democracy in the country.  


Read more >

Watch the conference >

This Week's Criminal Profile: Tren de Aragua

One of the co-founders of Tren de Aragua, Larry Álvarez Nuñez, alias “Larry Changa,” was arrested on July 1 in Colombia. Álvarez is one of three main leaders of the powerful Venezuelan gang and was in charge of the group’s expansion in Colombia according to Colombia’s Defense Ministry.  


Born in Venezuela’s Tocorón prison in the late-2010s, Tren de Aragua swiftly rose to become the country’s most powerful gang and the first to expand its reach transnationally, exploiting the diaspora of Venezuelan migrants in the region. However, the Venezuelan government’s recent efforts to retake control of gang-dominated prisons, combined with Álvarez’s recent capture, have dealt the group a serious blow and created an unprecedented power vacuum that could fragment the group.

Trending Topics

Support out work


We go into the field to interview, report and investigate. We then verify, write and edit, providing the tools to generate real impact in fighting organized crime.