A recently released list of Venezuela’s most wanted criminals has brought attention to some of the country’s most important organized crime figures, but also underlines the government’s refusal to acknowledge …
Megabandas
-
-
Extortion pervades nearly all levels of Venezuelan society, sowing greater fear as it becomes more violent. The repercussions of not paying extortion are severe: grenades thrown at businesses, assassinations, forced …
-
Venezuelan security forces carry out violent invasions of neighborhoods controlled by gangs, but there is little evidence of their success.
-
The Carlos Capa gang is one of the oldest surviving criminal gangs in Valles del Tuy, south of Caracas in Venezuela.
-
Tren del Llano (Train of the Plain) is one of the first so-called “megabandas” or criminal gangs to develop in Venezuela.
-
Four months after Venezuelan security forces killed gang boss and public enemy No. 1, El Koki, police in his former Caracas stronghold have suffered two separate grenade attacks – in …
-
BriefCriminal NewsUncategorized
How Venezuelan Gangs Masquerade as Community Organizers to Secure Territory
by Mia Meyerby Mia MeyerElements of the Venezuelan underworld, whether drug cartels, street gangs or illegal mining groups, have hit upon a unique way of establishing social control:
-
Brief
Honor Among Thieves – The Venezuela Manhunt for an Altruistic Mob Boss
by Mia Meyerby Mia MeyerIn December 2021, residents of Tejerías, a small city in the northern state of Aragua, Venezuela, started to notice strange events: wild parties in public plazas organized by a local …
-
Security forces in Venezuela have killed a string of infamous gang bosses, indicating that the gangs are no longer operating with impunity as they have for years, though some have …
-
A powerful Caracas gang has imposed a curfew after police raids left a dozen people dead – another example of how attempts to root out the gang have led to …