This week, InSight Crime Co-director Steven Dudley writes on how the hyper-violence displayed by Mexico’s many splinter groups
Weekly InSight
September 3, 2021 ([link removed])
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This week, InSight Crime Co-director Steven Dudley writes on how the hyper-violence displayed by Mexico’s many splinter groups to control territory and underworld activities, is a tactic learned from one of the country’s most notorious cartels – the Zetas. We also launched a joint investigation with the Igarapé Institute ([link removed]) , which explores how organized crime is a major driver of environmental crime in Colombia’s Amazon region. A product of intense field research, the six-part series, to be published over the coming weeks, maps the many actors – guerrillas, drug trafficking organizations, gold mafias, and shadowy financiers – that coalesce to clear vast areas of forest with impunity.
Other highlights include a look at a pact among Haiti’s gangs in Port-au-Prince to allow the movement of medical supplies and food to earthquake victims; a report on remittances to Mexico possibly being used to launder drug money; and an account of how a bank robbery in Brazil, where hostages were strapped to the roofs of getaway vehicles, is but the latest in a string of spectacular heists by well-trained gunmen.
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** The Roots of Environmental Crime in the Colombian Amazon ([link removed])
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The Amazon Basin is being ravaged at an accelerating rate by organized criminal groups and "legal" enterprises alike, as deforestation soars and biodiversity suffers.
Illegal mining, logging, wildlife trafficking, land grabbing, coca cultivation and other activities stoke rampant deforestation and biodiversity loss across the region, with members of local communities often approached by criminal networks to clear thick swaths of trees or ensnare endangered species.
See the executive summary and first chapter > ([link removed])
New chapters will be published every Wednesday over the next four weeks.
** Featured
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** The Zetas’ Model of Organized Crime is Leaving Mexico in Ruins ([link removed])
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It was a Saturday, around 12:30 p.m. local time, when a caravan of three vehicles loaded with well-armed men and at least one woman began a violent rampage through Reynosa, a Mexican city of about 700,000 people that borders McAllen, Texas, and serves as an important hub for numerous criminal groups.
According to a detailed account ([link removed]) by the local news outlet Elefante Blanco, the caravan began in the eastern part of the city, stopped and robbed a car, then continued to a neighborhood near the city center where the carnage began in earnest.
Read the story > ([link removed])
** NewsAnalysis
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All News ([link removed]) >
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** The Descent into Madness of Brazil’s Bank Robberies ([link removed])
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The pictures shocked Brazil and the world. Bank robbers fleeing the scene at high speed in their getaway vehicle, with hostages...
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** Truce or No Truce: Gangs in Haiti Control Aid Movement ([link removed])
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More than two weeks after an earthquake devastated Haiti and killed at least 2,200 people, criminal gangs are still shaking down...
Cargo Ships Act as Trans-Atlantic Drug Carriers, With Crews Unaware ([link removed])
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Tentacles of Illegal Octopus Trade Clutch Mexico Town ([link removed])
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Express Kidnappings in Brazil's São Paulo Accelerate with Instant Pay App ([link removed])
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Record Remittances from US to Mexico Raise Money Laundering Concerns ([link removed])
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How Mexico's Cartels Have Learned Military Tactics ([link removed])
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The Urabeños' Venezuela Gamble May Be Failing ([link removed])
** Criminal Actors
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Profiles of some of the notable criminal personalities and groups that have marked this week.
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** 'Barbecue' ([link removed])
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Former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, alias "Barbecue," is one of Haiti’s most important gang leaders. He is best known for...
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** Pablo Escobar ([link removed])
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Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was the pioneer in industrial-scale cocaine trafficking. Known as “El Patrón,” Escobar...
** Media Mentions
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About Us ([link removed])
SEPTEMBER 2, 2021
FOLHA DE S. PAULO ([link removed])
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"A new report by the Igarapé Institute, in partnership with InSight Crime, presents a detailed profile of environmental crimes in the Colombian Amazon and showcases how public and private interests in the country - as well as in Brazil - are behind the deforestation."
Read the investigation > ([link removed])
** Impact
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What We do ([link removed])
** Gearing Up a New Class of Interns
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InSight Crime is readying its newest class of interns – from universities in Europe and the Americas – to begin investigative work on a number of high-impact projects. For the next few months, this group of eight will be integrated into projects that span the Americas. They will be digging into underworld activities on the US-Mexico border; armed actors along the Colombia-Venezuela border, one of the world’s most dangerous; the criminal chaos in Haiti; wildlife trafficking in the Amazon; and issues from gender and organized crime to drug pipelines across the globe.
Learn more on our about us page > ([link removed])
** Our Trending Topics
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