This week, InSight Crime reveals how connections were forged between...

Weekly InSight
November 25, 2022 ([link removed])

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This week, InSight Crime reveals how connections were forged between Italy’s infamous 'Ndrangheta mafia ([link removed]) and multiple drug trafficking groups of South America, including Colombia’s feared paramilitaries. We detail the rise and fall of a trafficking network that moved huge volumes of cocaine from Colombia to Italy over decades and helped lay the foundations of the now-booming cocaine pipeline to Europe.

We also take an in-depth look at criminal dynamics on the perilous migrant route through the Darién Gap ([link removed]) , a barely chartered region of dense jungle and rugged mountains between Panama and Colombia, which splits North and South America. Criminals are guiding record numbers of migrants on this journey, where violence, sexual abuse, and forced drug smuggling are common.


** Latest Investigation
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** Cocaine Brokers: The 'Ndrangheta in South America ([link removed])
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Italy’s ’Ndrangheta Mafia has capitalized on South America’s cocaine boom to secure its role as one of the most influential drug trafficking groups in the world. Based in the southern Italian region of Calabria, this group has grown to become a multibillion-dollar enterprise with a presence that spans the globe.

In this three-part series, InSight Crime explores the ‘Ndrangheta’s role in South America’s cocaine trade.
Read all three parts of the investigation here:

1. The 'Ndrangheta: Versatile Middlemen in the Cocaine Pipeline to Europe ([link removed])
2. The 'Ndrangheta Connection to Colombia's Paramilitaries ([link removed])
3. Cocaine Brokers: The Flexible Backbone of the ’Ndrangheta Trafficking Empire ([link removed])


** Featured
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** How Organized Crime Profits from Migrant Flow Across Colombia's Darién Gap ([link removed])
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The Darién Gap, a perilous natural border between western Colombia and southern Panama, has become an alarmingly busy route for migrants traveling toward the United States. And criminal networks are preying on this desperation, ready to take advantage at every step.

Between January and October 2022, over 200,000 people illegally crossed the Darién Gap -- an all-time record, and one that confirms the passage as one of the busiest migration routes in the world. Long a favored drug trafficking route for Colombian criminal groups, this stretch of densely jungled, mountainous terrain now sees long lines of migrants snaking through the forest. Hundreds have died.

Read the analysis > ([link removed])


** NewsAnalysis
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All News ([link removed]) >
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** US Sanctions Oversimplify Fentanyl Trafficking From Mexico ([link removed])
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Authorities in the United States have sanctioned a Mexican criminal group for trafficking illicit fentanyl into the country but the designation passes...

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** International Sanctions Seek to Weaken Haiti's Patronage System Between Politicians, Gangs ([link removed])
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A raft of sanctions from the United States and Canada targeting...

Digital Wild West: Latin America Unprepared for Crypto-Crime ([link removed])
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Ex-FARC Civil War in Putumayo Tests Colombia Government's Resolve ([link removed])
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Wildlife Trafficking Grows in Mexico as Criminals Go Digital ([link removed])
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Ecuador Prison Quietly Released Top Albanian Cocaine Kingpin ([link removed])


** Impact
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What We do ([link removed])


** Gender-Based Violence in Tibú, MS13 Coverage Recognized
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Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation into a spate of gender-based killings in the Colombian town of Tibú, Norte de Santander. The investigation made waves across the region. It was the subject of an editorial ([link removed]) in Colombia’s La Opinión newspaper, as well as being cited in a separate article ([link removed]) . It also appeared in Colombia’s El Espectador ([link removed]) , and in the Global Investigative Journalism Network's newsletter ([link removed]) . The investigation’s authors, Laura Ávila and Alicia Flórez, spoke to Colombian NGO, Sisma Mujer, about the study. Listen here ([link removed]) .

Read our investigation on gender violence in Tibú here > ([link removed])

InSight Crime is also delighted to announce that our investigation, “MS13 & Co.,” won second place ([link removed]) in the Latin American Prize for Investigative Journalism 2022 Award, given by the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (Press and Society Institute) during the Latin American Conference of Investigative Journalism (COLPIN). Congrats to the author, Juan José Martínez.

The “MS13 & Co.,” investigation was also nominated for the Gabo Award 2022 ([link removed]) in October this year.

Read the investigation on the MS13’s expansion in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico here > ([link removed])
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** Giving Tuesday
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For over twelve years, InSight Crime has shed light on criminal dynamics across Latin America, helping to deliver vital information into the hands of policymakers, academics, and the region’s public.

Our job is costly, complex, and at times dangerous. This #GivingTuesday, we’re asking you to consider supporting our work.

Click here to make a donation > ([link removed])


** Criminal Actors
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Profiles of some of the notable criminal personalities and groups that have marked this week.

Browse by country > ([link removed])
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** AUC ([link removed])
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The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas...
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** Sinaloa Cartel ([link removed])
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The Sinaloa Cartel, often described as the largest and most powerful drug...


** Media Mentions
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About Us ([link removed])
NOV 18, 2022
THE ECONOMIST ([link removed])

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"Not only has Washington lost its most important ally in its counter-narcotics struggle in Colombia, but also Mexico, Venezuela and Chile,” InSight Crime Co-director Jeremy McDermott told The Economist."
Read the cited article > ([link removed])


** Our Trending Topics
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'NDRANGHETA LATIN AMERICA ([link removed])
SYNTHETIC DRUGS ([link removed])
EUROPE CRIME ([link removed])
CRIMINAL MIGRATION ([link removed])

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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.
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