As Brazil’s PCC Gentrifies, Favela Residents Must Fend for Themselves
When the First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC) took over the brightly-colored hillside favelas in São Paulo,…
Organized Crime and AI: 5 Topics We Are Monitoring in 2026
As advances in artificial intelligence (AI) bring it to nearly all corners of life, both criminal organizations and law enforcement…
GameChangers 2025: Cryptocurrency Is Now in the Criminal Mainstream
A decade ago, Latin America’s criminal groups were starting to experiment with cryptocurrency, but in 2025, they went all in.…
GameChangers 2025: The Unstoppable Rise of Environmental Crime
In 2025, environmental crimes spread into corners of the Amazon Basin that had so far largely escaped the rampant plunder…
GameChangers 2025: Top Criminal Newsmakers This Year
In a year that saw a dramatic reset to the fight against the drug trade and organized crime in the…
How Organized Crime Threatens the Amazon’s Uncontacted Tribes
Organized crime has become an existential threat to the uncontacted Indigenous peoples of the Amazon as illegal gold miners, drug…
On the Radar: Latin America Blurs the Line Between Crime and Terrorism
This week, we look at the recent designation of two Brazilian powerhouse gangs as terrorist organizations in Paraguay, the passing…
Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, alias ‘Marcola’
Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, known by the aliases “Marcola” and “Playboy,” has been the top leader of Brazil’s biggest and…
Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, alias ‘Marcola’
Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, known by the aliases “Marcola” and “Playboy,” has been the top leader of Brazil’s biggest and…
Historic PCC Bust Spurs Brazil Crackdown on Digital Money Laundering
An investigation into a multibillion-dollar First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC) money laundering scheme involving chemical imports,…