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Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Winner of the 'Best Deep Dive Podcast' at the 2024 Publishers Podcast Awards, shortlisted three times for 'Best Investigative Podcast' and once for 'Best Video Podcast'. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime brings you stories and investigations from the global criminal underworld. The topics covered by Deep Dive are far ranging, one episode could be looking at a hybrid paramilitary organized criminal cartel; the next could be the dismantling of an encrypted communications network; or the use of complex corporate structures to hide illicit activity; or the role organized crime has in the recycling industry. This podcast series demonstrates the wide ranging investigations and research carried out by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
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Top 10 Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - The Rise and Fall of the Conti Ransomware Group

The Rise and Fall of the Conti Ransomware Group

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

play

06/27/23 • 78 min

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) - Defending Against Cyber Criminals: Emotet’s Resurrection & Conti’s Implosion - April 12 2022

pwc - Conti cyber attack on the HSE: Independent Post Incident Review

CNN - ‘I can fight with a keyboard’: How one Ukrainian IT specialist exposed a notorious Russian ransomware gang

Proofpoint - The Human Factor Report 2022 - Threat Report

Ransomware Task Force (Institute for Security and Technology -

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Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - “They don’t ******* withdraw it” - Scam Call Centres in Ukraine
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10/02/23 • 40 min

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:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/katie-investigates/father-attempted-suicide-crypto-fraudsters-tricked-144k/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-36108762

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-22/ukraine-s-economy-grows-year-on-year-first-time-since-war-began

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/03/30/western-lenders-may-regret-forcing-ukraine-to-turn-to-the-imf

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/latvia-and-lithuania-detain-108-over-multi-million-euro-call-centre-scam

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20100609/midtown-west-hells-kitchen/fbi-raids-suspected-mafia-boiler-rooms-midtown/

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6928696

https://www.occrp.org/en/fraud-factory/trail-of-broken-lives-leads-to-kyiv-call-center

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-65038949

https://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/fraudfactory/

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/bulgarian-authorities-take-down-online-investment-scam-responsible-for-losses-of-more-eur-10-million

https://www.epravda.com.ua/publications/2023/03/24/698383/

https://twitter.com/i/status/1606340479196479488

https://www.businessinsider.com/russians-scammed-torching-kremlin-offices-cars-2023-4?r=US&IR=T

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66440752

https://t.me/mashmoyka/11725

https://www.businessinsider.com/russians-scammed-torching-kremlin-offices-cars-2023-4?r=US&IR=T

https://t.me/url_mash/4742

https://www.businessinsider.com/russians-scammed-torching-kremlin-offices-cars-2023-4?r=US&IR=T

https://www.interfax-russia.ru/moscow/main/fsb-preduprezhdaet-moskvichey-o-moshennikah-sklonyayushchih-k-perevodu-deneg-i-podzhogam

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66440752

https://t.me/rabota_vakansii_dnepr0/10

https://lawrange.net/en/services/lawyer-for-fraud-in-ukraine-under-article-190-of-the-criminal-code-of-ukraine/

https://ruscrime.com/breaking-through-potential-victims-conversation-scenarios-and-tricks-of-telephone-crooks-from-ukrainian-call-centers/

https://crime-ua.com/node/30638

https://en.fromheartua.charity/ua/stats

https://incident.obozrevatel.com/crime/organizator-narkosindikata-pri-podderzhke-fsb-razvernulsya-v-ukraine-on-v-rozyiske-no-rulit-iz-za-granitsyi.htm

https://censor.net/ru/news/3434694/sluga_naroda_seminskiyi_otritsaet_prichastnost_k_rossiyiskomu_kolltsentru_posle_obvineniyi_tischenko

https://lb.ua/news/2023/08/01/568007_tishchenko_zayaviv_pro_vikrittya.html

https://denzadnem.com.ua/aktualno/139009

https://incident.obozrevatel.com/crime/organizator-narkosindikata-pri-podderzhke-fsb-razvernulsya-v-ukraine-on-v-rozyiske-no-rulit-iz-za-granitsyi.htm

https://antikor.com.ua/ru/articles/650654-rossijskij_narkobaron_meksikanets_podminaet_pod_sebja_rynok_moshennicheskih_kol-tsentrov

https://regionews.ua/rus/news/ukraine/1693672865-tayny-meksikanskogo-ekspressa-smi-rasskazali-zachem-egor-levchenko-na-samom-dele-lovit-baryg

https://antikor.com.ua/ru/articles/650654-rossijskij_narkobaron_meksikanets_podminaet_pod_sebja_rynok_moshennicheskih_kol-tsentrov

https://incident.obozrevatel.com/crime/organizator-narkosindikata-pri-podderzhke-fsb-razvernulsya-v-ukraine-on-v-rozyiske-no-rulit-iz-za-granitsyi.htm

https://lb.ua/news/2023/08/01/568007_tishchenko_zayaviv_pro_vikrittya.html

https://regionews...

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Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - Illicit Financial Flows in the Western Balkans

Illicit Financial Flows in the Western Balkans

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

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11/14/23 • 41 min

“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

https://top-channel.tv/english/former-minister-is-sentenced-to-5-8-years-in-prison-for-corruption-with-the-incinerators-his-second-is-found-innocent/

https://telegraf.al/i-pakategorizuar/boset-e-inceneratoreve-denohen-per-here-te-dyte-ne-arrati-policia-dhe-spak-nuk-arrijne-dot-te-zoto-mertiri-e-gugallja/

https://www.eu-ocs.com/albania-seizes-waste-disposal-facility-amid-fraud-allegations/

https://balkaninsight.com/2022/01/06/short-circuit-the-stunning-simplicity-of-top-level-corruption-in-albania/

https://balkaninsight.com/2023/07/10/albania-prosecutors-seek-former-deputy-pm-arben-ahmetajs-arrest/

https://balkaninsight.com/2020/09/28/the-incinerator-how-a-politically-connected-albanian-built-an-empire-on-waste/

https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/25/albania-former-minister-sentenced-for-corruption/

https://balkaninsight.com/2023/08/01/albania-seizes-tirana-waste-disposal-company-over-alleged-fraud/

https://www.cna.al/english/aktualitet/mirel-mertiri-bosi-real-i-inceneratorit-elbasan-mesazhet-e-plota-qe-b-i362014

https://albaniandailynews.com/news/spak-asks-meta-to-find-out-location-of-former-minister-ahmetaj

https://www.voxnews.al/english/investigim/dosja-buka-arben-ahmetaj-doli-mbi-vendimin-e-formes-se-prere-te-gjyka-i50069

http://www.panorama.com.al/privatizimi-i-fabrikes-spak-kemi-prova-demi-1-5-milione-euro-ahmetaj-nxjerr-dokumentet-e-bejne-per-presion-duan-te-me-mbyllin-gojen/

https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/albanian-government-to-continue-concession-with-companies-implicated-in-financial-crime/

https://www.transparency.org/en/projects/cases-project/data/public-private-partnership-for-waste-incinerators

https://assets.publishing.service....

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Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - The Fall of EncroChat

The Fall of EncroChat

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

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01/12/21 • 40 min

In June 2020, EncroChat users received a flurry of panicked messages from the company claiming its encrypted network had been hacked by "government entities". What unravelled was one of the biggest hacks by law enforcement in history, who claimed many of its users are alleged organized criminals in Europe.

The hack was said to have revealed a litany of criminal behaviour - drug deals and shipments, money laundering and arms trafficking, corrupt police officers, a planning of a murder and even the discovery of a torture chamber, hidden within a shipping container.

But was the hack even legal? And what are the implications for the encrypted communications that many of us use everyday?

This podcast was based on the reporting of Joseph Cox at Motherboard, VICE News.

Guests:

Joseph Cox, Senior Staff Writer at Motherboard, VICE News.

Jake Moore, Cyber Security Specialist at ESET.

Edouard Klein, Intelligence-Driven Cybersecurity, Sekoia.fr

Tuesday Reitano, Deputy Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Reading:

How Police Secretly Took Over a Global Phone Network for Organized Crime, Motherboard

Encrochat Investigation Finds Corrupt Cops Leaking Information to Criminals, Motherboard

Encrypted Phone Network Says It's Shutting Down After Police Hack, Motherboard

Europol, Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment (iOCTA) 2020

Al Jazeera, Opinion: The EncroChat police hacking sets a dangerous precedent

ComputerWeekly.com - Berlin court finds EncroChat intercept evidence cannot be used in criminal trials

ComputerWeekly.com - Secrecy around EncroChat cryptophone hack breaches French constitution, court hears

Presenter: Jack Meegan-Vickers

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

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Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - Killing in Silence: The Global Assassination Monitor

Killing in Silence: The Global Assassination Monitor

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

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01/10/22 • 33 min

An assassination is like a stone being dropped into the middle of a still pond – the splash is the violent act itself – the ripples are the repercussions, that spread far and wide – fear, intimidation, silencing, corruption, erosion of trust, environmental damage, illicit firearms, impunity and retaliation – after all, violence begets violence – the damage to society is far-reaching, way beyond the shock of that initial killing.

In November 2021, the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime launched the Global Assassination Monitor - the first ever global database on contract killings.

Speakers

Ana-Paula Oliveira, Analyst, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

Nina Kaysser, Senior Analyst, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Presenter

Jack Meegan-Vickers

Additional material

The Global Assassination Monitor

(Paper) Killing in Silence: New research uncovers sheer magnitude of assassinations linked to organized crime

Assassination Witness Project

(Podcast) Faces of Assassination (Also available across podcast platforms)

(Book pdf) Faces of Assassination book

(Paper) The rule of the gun: Hits and assassinations in South Africa, 2000-2017

(Paper) Murder by Contract: Targeted killings in eastern and southern Africa

(Paper) How to silence the guns? Southern Africa's illegal firearms markets

(Paper) Making a killing: What assassinations reveal about the Montenegrin drug war

(Article) Mozambique’s quiet assassination epidemic

(Podcast) Too Many Enemies (Narrative podcast exploring the assassination crisis in South Africa)

More podcast episodes from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, and more.

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Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - "He's an animal" - Part 1: Clan del Golfo: The Fall of Otoniel
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02/21/22 • 34 min

In late 2021, the leader of Clan del Golfo (The Urabeños) Dairo Antonio Úsuga, aka "Otoniel", was captured by the Colombian police. President Iván Duque said that the arrest was only matched by the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s.

Over the course of two episodes we look at the birth of Clan del Golfo out of the ashes of the right-wing paramilitary movement in Colombia. We'll explore their involvement in illicit markets such as drug trafficking, illegal mining, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and how they use extreme violence and targeted assassinations to spread fear.

So who is Otoniel? Well, a prominent drug trafficker, Daniel "El Loco" Barrera, after being captured by Colombian police, warned them that about Otoniel, repeatedly saying..."He's an animal".

Speakers:

Angela Olaya, the Co-founder and Senior Researcher at the Conflict Responses Foundation in Colombia.

Toby Muse, Foreign Correspondent, documentary filmmaker and author of the book Kilo: Life and Death inside the secret world of the cocaine cartels.

Jorge Mantilla, the Director of Conflict Dynamics and Organized Violence, Ideas for Peace Foundation and a member of the GI network

Related Links:

Toby Muse - Kilo: Life and Death inside the secret world of the cocaine cartels

Insight Crime - Dairo Antonio Usuga "Otoniel" Profile

Colombia Reports - Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC) / Gulf Clan

Insight Crime - AUC Profile

Mapping Militants, CISAC, Stanford

El Semana - Daniel "El Loco" Barrera arrested

Paramilitaries’ Heirs: The New Face of Violence in Colombia - Human Rights Watch

The Last Man Standing? The Rise of the Urabenos - Jeremy McDermott

Reuters - Virgins recruited as sex slaves for Colombian drug lords - reports

Full Reading List to be provided soon.



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Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - "Don't text or call me" - Part 2: Clan del Golfo: The Fall of Otoniel
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03/28/22 • 47 min

At the end of part 1, Otoniel we left him in sole charge of Clan del Golfo, the biggest organized crime group in Colombia.

In part 2 "Don't text or call me", we look through the eyes of a man who goes by the alias "Messi", who was involved in cocaine trafficking and money laundering for Clan del Golfo. We'll see how he used real-estate, cars, watches, front companies and government contracts to clean the drug money...as well through football, music and livestock!

And finally we'll delve into the murky world of illegal gold mining and the way Clan del Golfo use violence, intimidation and even assassination to get extortion payments from the workers.

Speakers:

Daniel Rico, Researcher at Ideas for Peace Foundation and Director of C-Analysis in Colombia and member of GI Network

Luis Fernando Trejos Rosero, Profesor investigador del Departamento de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales, Universidad del Norte, Colombia

Jorge Mantilla, the Director of Conflict Dynamics and Organized Violence, Ideas for Peace Foundation and a member of the GI network

Toby Muse, Foreign Correspondent, documentary filmmaker and author of the book Kilo: Life and Death inside the secret world of the cocaine cartels.

Marcena Hunter, Senior Analyst, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Ana Paula Oliveira, Analyst, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime & Global Assassinations Monitor.

Related Links:

(Paper) Cocaine Pipeline to Europe

(Paper) Transnational Tentacles

Toronto Star - Death, extortion stalk workers at Canadian mine in Colombia

Miami Herald - Dirty gold is the new cocaine in Colombia — and it’s just as bloody

Global Financial Integrity - The Gold Standard: Addressing Illicit Financial Flows in the Colombian Gold Sector through Greater Transparency

Toby Muse - Kilo: Life and Death inside the secret world of the cocaine cartels

Insight Crime - Dairo Antonio Usuga "Otoniel" Profile

El Tiempo - La historia secreta de ‘Messi’, el capo de los $ 4 billones

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Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - "You beat me" - Part 3: Clan del Golfo: The Fall of Otoniel
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04/11/22 • 38 min

As the net begins to close on Otoniel, life on the run is hard. Deep in the jungles of Úraba, he never stays in a single place for more than two nights, he no longer communicates using phones and he stays away from urban centres for fear of capture. But he still runs the largest organized criminal group in Colombia.

One by one, other senior members of Clan del Golfo are picked off. But Otoniel continues to evade law enforcement in a constant game of cat and mouse.

But now, Operation Agamemnon is in full swing with Search Bloc, the Colombian army and international partners hunting Otoniel - and when he is finally captured it's reported that he said "You beat me".

This is part 3 of Clan del Golfo: The Fall of Otoniel.

Speakers:

Angela Olaya, the Co-founder and Senior Researcher at the Conflict Responses Foundation in Colombia.

Toby Muse, Foreign Correspondent, documentary filmmaker and author of the book Kilo: Life and Death inside the secret world of the cocaine cartels.

Jorge Mantilla, the Director of Conflict Dynamics and Organized Violence, Ideas for Peace Foundation and a member of the GI network

Related Links:

Toby Muse - Kilo: Life and Death inside the secret world of the cocaine cartels

Insight Crime - Dairo Antonio Usuga "Otoniel" Profile

teleSUR - A Look into 'Clan del Golfo,' Colombia's Largest Paramilitary Group

el Colombiano - Siete líneas guiarán al Ejército nacional

Los Informantes - Las chicas del clan: alias ¿Otoniel? y su red de prostitución de menores

el Heraldo - “Somos hombres de Dios”, el mensaje de alias Otoniel al Papa

Reuters - Colombian police capture sister of Clan del Golfo leader Otoniel

El Tiempo - Cayó alias Otoniel, el narcotraficante más buscado del país | El Tiempo

Semana - Presidente Iván Duque entrega detalles de la captura de alias Otoniel

The Guardian - Colombia’s most-wanted drug lord, Otoniel, captured in jungle hideout

BBC - Colombia's most wanted drug lord Otoniel captured

Insight Crime -The Urabeños After Otoniel - What Becomes of Colombia's Largest Criminal Threat?

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Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - P1 - Killing the Power of the Pen: Violence against journalists in Mexico
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05/09/22 • 42 min

Part 1 - "It’s a message of terror, to stop asking questions"

Mexico is known as one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist on the planet, and 2022 is on record to be the deadliest yet. José Luis Gamboa Arenas, a journalist from Veracruz became the first to be killed this year, the body of Luis Enrique Ramírez Ramos, a Sinaloan journalist was found in Culiacán on May 5th taking to total to nine.

So how has Mexico got to the point where so many journalists and media workers are being attacked and killed? This is a story of bravery in the face of surveillance, intimidation and violence, extreme corruption, organized crime, shockingly high levels of impunity, censorship and a hostile political climate.

Update: May 11th 2022 - Two more journalists were murdered in Veracruz as they sat in a car - Yessenia Mollinedo and Sheila Garcia. The total now has risen to 11.

Speakers:

Marcela Turati Muñoz, Mexico, is a reporter for the magazine Proceso, where she reports about human rights, social development, and the impact of drug violence and its victims. She is also the co-founder of Quinto Elemento Lab.

Miguel Ángel León Carmona - a Mexican Journalist in Veracruz.

Griselda Triana, Author of The Forgotten Ones: Relatives of murdered and disappeared journalists in Mexico and wife of Javier Valdez.

Siria Gastélum Félix, Resilience Director at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Leopoldo Maldonado - Regional Director, Office for Mexico and Central America, Article 19.

Jan-Albert Hootsen, Mexico Representative / Representante en México, The Committee to Protect Journalists.

Additional Reading

Murder of journalists in Mexico a threat to democracy (GITOC)

The forgotten ones: Relatives of murdered and disappeared journalists in Mexico (GITOC)

Marcela Turati on the chilling implications of Mexico’s probe into her reporting (Committee to Protect Journalists)

Veracruz: journalists and the state of fear (Reporters Without Borders)

Mexico Archives (Article19)

The Pegasus Project (Forbidden Stories)

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Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime - Russia, War & Organized Crime

Russia, War & Organized Crime

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

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03/04/24 • 46 min

Russian organized crime has a mythology attached to it - the brutal tattooed men of the Vory v Zakone. But those days are long in the past, rapid globalisation saw a new type of organized criminal take the reins in the Russian underworld, spreading their influence as criminal facilitators across the world.

But the war in Ukraine has changed that. It's changed the relationship between organized crime and the Russian state, the status quo within the established criminal order, the potential vacuum left by those criminals who fight and die in the conflict, the establishment of Russian criminal groups outside of the country, the flows of illicit goods themselves have evolved, and then Ukraine, once so critical to those illicit flows, is currently lost.

Such is the uncertainty surrounding organized crime that there have been rumblings about a possible return to a dark period in Russian history, known as the 'Wild 90s' - a period of anarchy that is etched into the Russian psyche.

Speaker(s):

Mark Galeotti, the Executive Director of Mayak Intelligence, honorary professor at University College London, member of the GI Network. Author of ‘The Vory: Russia’s Super Mafia' and the GI-TOC paper: Time of Troubles: The Russian underworld since the Ukraine invasion

Links:

(GI Paper) Rebellion as racket: Crime and the Donbas conflict 2014-2022

(GI Paper) Evolving drug trends in wartime Ukraine

(GI Analysis) The devil’s not-so-new psychoactive substance: Alpha-PVP, a highly addictive synthetic drug, is experiencing growing demand in Ukraine.

(GI Paper) Crossroads: Kazakhstan's changing illicit drug economy

(GI Paper) Port in a storm: Organized crime in Odesa since the Russian invasion

(Podcast) “Death Can Wait”: Drugs on the Frontline in Ukraine

Research Links:

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/10/23/russian-artist-fined-for-extremist-toy-doll-with-prison-tattoos-a82852

https://tass.ru/obschestvo/9218777

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/08/17/russia-outlaws-childrens-criminal-underground-movement-a71178

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/sep/18/decoding-russian-criminal-tattoos-in-pictures

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68140873

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-recruited-convicts-fierce-assault-units-storm-gladiator-/32806371.html

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russia-turns-off-prison-heating-to-make-inmates-fight-in-ukraine-njgg08wc9

https://www.gazeta.ru/politics/2015/08/26_a_7719581.shtml

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