Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Part 3 - "Wake Up! The Bandits Are Coming!"

At the end of March this year, officers from the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) responded to a request for assistance when an armoured Haitian National Police vehicle became stuck in a ditch near Pont-Sondé in Artibonite. The ditch was believed to have been dug by a local gang.

As the MSS officers arrived to help, they were ambushed by armed men, allegedly from the Gran Grif gang. During the firefight, three armoured vehicles were set on fire, and one MSS officer went missing, presumed killed. This incident marked the second casualty for the Kenyans in about a month.

The MSS was deployed to Haiti to help stabilize the security situation and combat the growing power of gangs. Unfortunately, since their arrival, the MSS has faced the same challenges as the Haitian National Police: a lack of manpower, inadequate equipment, and insufficient funding. The gangs continue to maintain the upper hand.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate.

In the final part of this series on Haiti, we will explore the challenges facing the Haitian National Police, the fall of beleaguered Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the rising confidence of the Viv Ansanm gang, the arrival and difficulties encountered by MSS officers, and the escalating humanitarian disaster in the country.

Speakers

Jacqueline Charles, Haiti/Caribbean Correspondent, Miami Herald.

Widlore Merancourt, Editor-in-chief for Ayibopost & reporter for the Washington Post on its Haiti coverage

William (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 Crime

Sophie Rutenbar, Visiting scholar at the New York University Center on International Cooperation

GITOC Links

The GI-TOC Observatory of Violence and Resilience in Haiti

Haiti, caught between political paralysis and escalating violence - https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/haiti-caught-between-political-paralysis-and-escalating-violence/

Kenya’s High Court blocks proposal to send police support to Haiti - https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/kenyas-high-court-blocks-proposal-police-support-haiti/

Will 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.pdf

Violence in Haiti: A continuation of politics by other means? - https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/violence-in-haiti-politics-crime-gangs/

Additional...

Part 2 - 'Fighting Back'

In 2022, a video emerged of an alleged senior gang member, Zo Pwason, who had been caught by an armed group of Haitian citizens, led by Commissioner Jean-Ernest Muscadin. Zo Pwason was allegedly a senior member of the 5 Segond gang. He was executed by the armed group.

Muscadin declared that “As long as I am government commissioner, the city of Miragoâne will remain a cemetery for bandits”.

In this episode we look at those citizens that have fought back against the growing power of the gangs, and the emergence of the 'Bwa Kale' movement in 2023. These self-defence or vigilante groups protect their neighbourhoods from the gangs, and target suspected gang members.

We'll discuss how the gangs control areas through violence, limiting movement and the frequent targeting women and girls.

But we'll also follow on from the last episode and explore the connections to other illicit markets like drugs and people smuggling, as well as the proliferation of firearms flowing into the country, the vast majority of which come from the US.

And finally, we'll discuss the previous scandal-ridden recent UN mission to the country.

Speakers

Jacqueline Charles, Haiti/Caribbean Correspondent, Miami Herald.

Widlore Merancourt, Editor-in-chief for Ayibopost & reporter for the Washington Post on its Haiti coverage

William (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 Crime

Sophie Rutenbar, Visiting scholar at the New York University Center on International Cooperation

GITOC Links

The GI-TOC Observatory of Violence and Resilience in Haiti

Will 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.pdf

Violence in Haiti: A continuation of politics by other means? - https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/violence-in-haiti-politics-crime-gangs/

Additional...

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...

'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:

Siria Gastelum Felix, the Director of Resilience, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime - Link

GITOC:

OC Index - Mexico

OC Index - Colombia

Clan del Golfo: The fall of 'Otoniel' - How Colombia's biggest drug lord was taken down.

Mexico’s war with itself? ¿La guerra de México consigo mismo?

Additional Reading:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmlj7cFHlsA

https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/criminal-prosecution-drug-traffickers-under-continuing-criminal

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-66853111

https://insightcrime.org/colombia-organized-crime-news/oficina-de-envigado-profile/

https://insightcrime.org/colombia-organized-crime-news/auc-profile/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-66784678

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/20/colombias-coca-crops-grew-to-historic-levels-last-year-un

https://museum.dea.gov/video-archive/kingpin-strategy-did-it-work

https://justiceinmexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/OCVM-21.pdf

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5?locations=CO&most_recent_value_desc=true

“If you can do it without consequences, then you should do it”.

What are illicit Financial Flows, or IFFs? And why do they matter?

Every illicit market, from drug trafficking, people smuggling, the illegal wildlife trade, arms trafficking etc. all are connected to IFFs. IFFs are about the movement of money across borders that is illegal in some way.

The money could be from a criminal act, like corruption or its money associated with the illicit markets above. Perhaps, it could be legitimately earned money that is transferred in a way that evades taxation, like being paid in cash and not declaring it or money is funnelled into complex corporate schemes and secrecy jurisdictions. Or perhaps its ultimate use is something like terrorist financing or funding organised criminal activity.

Dirty money is a global problem, according to the IMF, it makes up between 2-5% (up to $5.25 trillion dollars) of global GDP.

Given the scale of the problem, in this episode we will focus in on the Western Balkans in South-Eastern Europe through three IFFs - money laundering investigations in Kosovo, corruption and the role of the private sector in Albania, and tax evasion in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Speaker(s):

Dardan Kocani, Field Coordinator for Kosovo for the South Eastern Europe Observatory at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

Sokol Toska, Legal Auditor in Albania and expert in money laundering and illicit financial flows.

Anesa Agovich, Field Coordinator for Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Links:

Illicit financial flows in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia: Key drivers and current trends

Illicit Financial Flows in Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia: Key drivers and current trends

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Global Organized Crime Index

Research Links:

 https://www.europol.europa.eu/cms/sites/default/files/documents/europol-review-2016.pdf

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-105-trillion-world-economy-in-one-chart/

https://www.ibe.org.uk/resource/tax-avoidance-as-an-ethical-issue-for-business.html

https://www.transparency.org/en/corruptionary/tax-evasion

https://albaniandailynews.com/news/wanted-for-incinerators-affair-stela-gugallja-detained-in-austria...

In September 2023, there were four large cocaine seizures in and around the Atlantic Ocean - off the coast of Ireland, West Africa, Brazil, and Cape Verde.

The flows of cocaine that traverse the Atlantic travel mainly by sea, from the huge bulk carriers to small fishing vessels or sailing boats. Much of this illicit drug ends in the cocaine markets of Europe.

In this episode of Deep Dive: Monitoring, we briefly take a look at the seizures, what they mean for cocaine markets and the organized criminal networks involved. And do drug seizures make a dent in this multi-billion dollar industry?

Speaker:

Jason Eligh, Senior Expert, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and Thematic Lead of the GI-TOC's Global Drug Program - Link

Papers:

The cocaine pipeline to Europe

Atlantic connections: The PCC and the Brazil-West Africa cocaine trade

West Africa's Cocaine Corridor: Building a subregional response

Cocaine politics in West Africa: Guinea-Bissau's protection networks

A powder storm: The cocaine markets of East and southern Africa

Additional Reading:

https://www.donegaldaily.com/2023/10/03/gardai-believe-e157m-drugs-gang-tried-to-buy-boat-in-killybegs/

https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/cocaine-bust-trawler-remains-wedged-on-sandbank-off-wexford-coast/a295844397.html

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41235682.html

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:5058595/mmsi:250004351/imo:0/vessel:CASTLEMORE

https://afloat.ie/safety/marine-warning/item/26428-marine-notice-aim-requirements-for-seagoing-passenger-ships

https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/2023/09/28/us-sanctions-colombian-cartel-leader-linked-to-157m-irish-cocaine-haul/

https://www.policia.es/_es/comunicacion_prensa_detalle.php?ID=15905

Scam call centres are a blight on the lives of anyone unfortunate enough to have any dealings with them. They come to you with promises of a short cut to wealth, to fix a non-existent issue with your computer, claiming to be from a charity, threatening you with arrest for unpaid taxes.

There are 70 million of these phone calls worldwide every day and they generate billions of dollars each year. Organized crime is very much a part of this industry from Mexico to India and from the Philippines to Ukraine.

In this episode we delve into the hundreds, possibly thousands of scam call centres based in Ukraine, where investment scams are mainly targeting Russians.

Links:

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

PORT IN A STORM: Organized crime in Odesa since the Russian invasion

New front lines: Organized criminal economies in Ukraine in 2022

Global Organized Crime Index

Additional Reading:...

For over half a century armed groups in Colombia have battled one another and the state across the country. The FARC, ELN, AUC, AGC, and the infamous drug cartels, have committed untold atrocities on everyday Colombians. These groups use violence to control the local population and to assert territorial control over illicit drug production and trafficking routes.

This episode is about the people who live in those areas, those that have suffered at the hands of armed groups and organized crime, and those who put themselves at risk to fight for a better future for their communities.

Speaker(s):

Felipe Botero Escobar, Head of Colombia Programmes, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

Joshua Mitrotti - Director of Somos Comunidad (Resilience Community). Somos Comunidad is backed by USAID, and implemented by FUPAD Colombia and the PADF, who work alongside GI-TOC. Through a series initiatives in rural communities affected by violence, Somos Comunidad is trying to enhance community resilience and contribute to human security.

Community Leaders – Yolima, Yenis, Nancy, Luz, Luis

Initiative Beneficiaries – Jamileth, Dana, Dayanis, Nicole, Sofia

Links:

Somos Comunidad

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

PADF

Research Links:

https://www.eluniversal.com.co/sucesos/masacre-en-el-carmen-de-bolivar-mi-hijo-era-un-nino-venia-de-la-tienda-NF3447834

https://aldianews.com/en/culture/destinations/worlds-first-soda-pop

https://www.semana.com/nacion/cartagena/articulo/golpe-a-la-delincuencia-caen-13-presuntos-integrantes-de-la-subestructura-heroes-del-caribe/202204/

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/former-leader-violent-clan-del-golfo-drug-trafficking-organization-pleads-guilty

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5?locations=CO

https://colombiareports.com/assassinations-driving-increase-in-colombias-homicides-report/

For around two years the Conti ransomware group rampaged across the internet. They attacked hospitals, educational institutions, businesses, governments, and many more, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars in ransomware payments.

Business was booming for the cybercriminals. At least it was until the Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Conti leadership quickly pledged their loyalty to Russia and then everything began to fall apart.

This is the story of one of the most professional, prolific, and devastating organized cybercriminal groups in history.

Speaker(s):

Selena Larson – Senior Threat Intelligence Analyst and DISCARDED Podcast Co-host at Proofpoint - Twitter

Berk Albayrak, Threat Intelligence Analyst within the PRODAFT Threat Intelligence team and expert on Wizard Spider - Twitter

Conor Gallagher – Crime and Security Correspondent of the Irish Times - Twitter

Allan Liska, Threat Intelligence Analyst at Recorded Future and author of Ransomware: Understand. Precent. Recover. - Twitter

Juan Ignacio Nicolossi, the team leader for the Threat Intelligence Team at PRODAFT.

Zoë Brammer, Cyber & Information Operations Associate at the Institute for Security and Technology - Ransomware Ecosystem Map

Jake Moore, Global Cybersecurity Advisor for ESET.

Artwork by Paulina Rosol-Barrass

Additional Reading:

Reports/Papers:

PRODAFT - Conti Ransomware Group In-Depth Analysis

PRODAFT - Wizard Spider In-Depth Analysis

Google - Fog of War: How the Ukraine Conflict Transformed the Cyber Threat Landscape

DISCARDED Podcast (Proofpoint) -

Throughout history soldiers have used drugs, sometimes to fight better or to stay alert, or perhaps to help cope with the extreme psychological situation and trauma they are faced with. The current conflict in Ukraine is no different.

Concerns around this led to the Ukrainian parliament passing a new law that authorizes random drug and alcohol tests on soldiers. Organized crime is nothing if not adaptable, even in this most extreme environment. The soldiers fighting to protect their homeland represent a new and relatively wealthy market, ripe for criminal networks to exploit. And they are doing just that.

So who is behind this market? This is a story about war, drugs, the darknet and corruption.

Speaker(s):

Ted

Sasha

Additional Reading:

(GI Paper) New front lines: Organized criminal economies in Ukraine in 2022

Business Insider - Russian lawmakers baselessly claim their army is up against biologically modified Ukrainian super soldiers

LiveScience - Nazis Dosed Soldiers with Performance-Boosting 'Superdrug'

History - G.I.s’ Drug Use in Vietnam Soared—With Their Commanders’ Help

The Atlantic - The Drugs That Built a Super Soldier

Journeyman Pictures - Sierra Leone's Cocaine-Drugged Child Soldiers

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime - Lebanon’s role in Syria’s Captagon trade

Washington Post - Zelensky takes on Ukraine’s top internal enemy

Legatum Institute - Looting Ukraine: The East, the West and the Corruption of a Country (Full Version)

Transparency International - Corruption Perceptions Index

US DoJ Press release - Justice Department Investigation Leads to Shutdown of Largest Online Darknet Marketplace

Chainalysis - OFAC Sanctions Hydra Following Law Enforcement Shutdown of the Darknet Market, As Well As Russian Exchange Garantex

National Institute on Drug Abuse - Synthetic Cathinones ("Bath Salts") DrugFacts

UNIAN.info - SBU busts major drug lab in Kyiv region in raid...