Episodios
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On the 1st May 2024, 711 migrants successfully crossed the Channel between France and the UK in small boats. This year is so far on track to see the highest number of crossings on record.
This highly industrialised illicit industry estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of Euros, has seen the coast of northern France demarcated between competing gangs from a specific region of the Middle East, and who have a long history of smuggling.
They control the entire length of the route, from beginning to end - targeting prospective migrants through social media, offering package deals, and advice on how to speak to authorities on arrival. Some migrants even use their own knowledge of the trip to become smugglers themselves.
In this episode we take a look at the criminal groups behind the small boat crossings; how organised the logistics are; how much money they make and where it goes; and finally what this could mean for the future of other illicit economies in Western Europe.
Speaker(s):
Tuesday Reitano, Deputy Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, author of the book Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Saviour. Author of the report Small Boats, Big Business: The Industrialization of Cross-Channel Migrant Smuggling.
Julien Goudichaud, documentary filmmaker who has been reporting on people smugglers who operate in Calais.
Afshin Ismaeli, a journalist and war photographer from Norway.
Links:
(GI Paper) Small Boats, Big Business: The Industrialization of Cross-Channel Migrant Smuggling - available in English & French
(Book) Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Saviour
(GI Paper) The Human Conveyor Belt: Trends in human trafficking and smuggling in post-revolution Libya
(GI Analysis) An increasing number of Albanians are crossing the English Channel from France using small boats
(GI Analysis) Western Balkan criminal groups are important players in the Netherlands
Additional...
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LockBit, the world's largest ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) provider suffered a very public takedown by an international law enforcement task force, Operation Cronos.
The ransomware behemoth quickly relaunched just days later. But in a world where trust is key, might the reputational damage be too great?
This is the story of the rise of LockBit, its relationship with other infamous cybercriminal groups, its uneasy relationship with some affiliates, its curious leader LockBitsupp, the public takedown and the relaunch, and what this means for the future of ransomware-as-a-service.
Speaker(s):
Koryak Uzan, Co-founder & Managing Director of PRODAFT
Links:
GITOC - The Rise and Fall of the Conti ransomware group
PRODAFT - LockBit: Behind the Lines of the Notorious RaaS
PRODAFT - The Demise of LOCKBIT: Disrupting the Most Prominent Ransomware Gang by Utilizing Upstream Threat...
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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
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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...
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'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
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“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...
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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
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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:...
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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/
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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) -
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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...
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Part 2: "The truth will triumph".
The description of Ahmed's murder showed that the killers were professionals, trained in the use of firearms. But despite the crowds that witnessed the killing, no one has ever been prosecuted for the crime.
Since the assassination of Ahmed, press freedom in Ghana has suffered. He is one of a number that have been attacked, harassed and arrested over the last few years, sparking fears for the future of press freedom in the country.
Much of the violence has been committed by state forces, either the police or the military, and yet impunity reigns and consequences are minimal.
We will look at the organized crime landscape in Ghana, and how alongside the traditional illicit markets such as drug trafficking and illegal mining, organized crime is at the forefront of the commercialization of violence.
Speaker(s):
Anas Aremeyaw Anas – Multi-award winning Ghananian Investigative Journalist and founder of the TigerEye PI, an investigative organisation in Ghana – famous motto “name, shame and jail”.
Muheeb Saeed, the program manager for Freedom of Expression at the Media Foundation for West Africa, the MFWA, which is a press freedom and media development organization based in Accra, but working across the West African sub-region.
Gideon Ofosu-Peasah, Analyst at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.
Jonathan Rozen, Senior Africa researcher at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Ana Paula Oliveira – Analyst and Manager of Assassination Witness Project, GITOC.
Liliane MOUAN – Senior Advisor on Corruption and Human Rights – West and Central Africa for Amnesty International.
Additional Reading:
Assassination Witness Project
Ahmed Divela - Faces of Assassination
Global Assassination Monitor
The Ripple Effect: the impact of contract killings (Podcast)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) - Four years since murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela, Ghana’s journalists still attacked with impunity.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Freedom of the Press Index
(GITOC Paper) The business of killing: Assassinations in South Africa
(GITOC Paper) Killing in silence: New research uncovers sheer magnitude of assassinations linked to organized crime
Murder of journalists in Mexico a threat to democracy: El asesinato de periodistas en México pone en peligro la democracia
(Deep Dive Podcast) Killing the Power of the Pen: Violence against journalists in Mexico - Part 1; Part 2.
(Deep Dive Podcast)
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Part 1: "Ahmed was no coward".
On World Press Freedom Day (3rd May) 2018, the Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, took to the stage in Accra to deliver a speech on press freedom. Ghana, had long been a beacon for press freedom and was selected to host the celebrations.
Just a few weeks later, TigerEye PI, the world famous undercover investigative unit led by Anas Aremeyaw Anas released their latest investigation, Number 12, which looked at corruption in professional football.
Around the same time, an MP, who disapproved of the methods of TigerEye PI, outed one of its undercover journalists, Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela, live on air by showing his picture and calling for him to be attacked.
A few months later Ahmed was shot and killed in a targeted assassination on the streets of Madina in Accra.
In these two episodes we will tell the story of Ahmed, his death, what it means for press freedom in Ghana and how the commercialisation of violence is a perfect opportunity for organized crime.
Speaker(s):
Anas Aremeyaw Anas, Multi-award winning Ghanaian Investigative Journalist and founder of the TigerEye PI, an investigative organisation in Ghana – famous motto “name, shame and jail”.
Jonathan Rozen, Senior Africa researcher at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Additional Reading:
Assassination Witness Project
Ahmed Divela - Faces of Assassination
Global Assassination Monitor
The Ripple Effect: the impact of contract killings (Podcast)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) - Four years since murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela, Ghana’s journalists still attacked with impunity.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Freedom of the Press Index
(GITOC Paper) The business of killing: Assassinations in South Africa
(GITOC Paper) Killing in silence: New research uncovers sheer magnitude of assassinations linked to organized crime
Murder of journalists in Mexico a threat to democracy: El asesinato de periodistas en México pone en peligro la democracia
(Deep Dive Podcast) Killing the Power of the Pen: Violence against journalists in Mexico - Part 1; Part 2.
(Deep Dive Podcast) Killing in Silence: The Global Assassination Monitor.
(Deep Dive Podcast) Guinea-Bissau Part 2: Pau de Sangue (Blood Timber).
Kennedy Agyapong Says He...
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Part 2: “It’s the worst kept secret in Sudan”.
In 2019, the Dossier Centre in London, shared some leaked internal documents from the private military company, the Wagner Group. The documents showed that Wagner had identified several countries they wanted to target for future operations. What was clear is that they often targeted countries with weakened autocratic government, seeking support against an internal threat.
In this episode, we navigate the illicit gold trade in Sudan and beyond by studying a complex corporate web. How these structures are used to bypass sanctions and whether the US designation of the Wagner Group as a "Transnational Criminal Organization" adds anything to the fight.
Speaker(s):
Julia Stanyard, senior analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and author of the paper ‘The Grey Zone: Russia’s military, mercenary and criminal engagement in Africa’.
Thierry Vircoulon, Research associate at the French Institute for International Affairs in Paris, member of the GI Network of Experts and a lead author of ‘The Grey Zone: Russia’s military, mercenary and criminal engagement in Africa’.
Kholood Khair - the Founder and Director of Confluence Advisory, Khartoum.
Ken Opala, the Field Network Coordinator for East and Southern Africa, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.
Mohanad Hashim, freelance Sudanese journalist, currently working at the BBC.
Jason Blazakis, Professor and Director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Justin Lynch, researcher, and author of Sudan’s Unfinished Democracy.
Additional Reading:
(GI Paper)The grey zone: Russia's military, mercenary and criminal engagement in Africa
(GI Paper) Going for Gold: Russia, sanctions and illicit gold trade
'If you desert, we'll execute you': 'Putin's chef' recruits convicts for war Yevgeny Prigozhin: UK reviews rules after Wagner head sued journalist
UK exposes sick Russian troll factory plaguing social media with Kremlin propaganda
Fake news and public executions: Documents show a Russian company’s plan for quelling protests in Sudan
Wagner chief admits to founding Russian troll farm sanctioned for meddling in US elections
Ukraine capital Kyiv endures Russian onslaught - BBC News
Russia is plundering gold in Sudan to boost Putin’s war effort in Ukraine
Sudan TV broadcast taken off air after loud bangs during military clashes
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Part 1: “Who are these guys and what are they doing here?”
In late February 2022, Airport workers in Khartoum International Airport in Sudan are stood glued to television screens, watching Russian tanks entering the outskirts of Kyiv in Ukraine. But just outside on the runway, a Russian cargo plane laden with cookies was about to take off, heading to Latakia on the coast of Syria.
Earlier that day, officials had inspected the aircraft, suspicious of the cargo manifest. It turned out they were right to be suspicious, because hidden under the cookies was gold. A ton of gold. But the military arrived and the plane was waived through.
Gold is Sudan’s largest export, although 80% of that is thought to be smuggled out of the country. The industry has a number of players, including the Rapid Support Forces who are currently locked in battle with its rival the Sudanese Armed Forces . But there is also another active group that works alongside both these two forces and has its eyes firmly on Sudanese gold - the Wagner Group.
Speaker(s):
Kholood Khair - the Founder and Director of Confluence Advisory, Khartoum.
Ken Opala, the Field Network Coordinator for East and Southern Africa, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.
Mohanad Hashim, freelance Sudanese journalist, currently working at the BBC.
Justin Lynch, researcher, and author of Sudan’s Unfinished Democracy.
Additional Reading:
(GI Paper)The grey zone: Russia's military, mercenary and criminal engagement in Africa
(GI Paper) Going for Gold: Russia, sanctions and illicit gold trade
'If you desert, we'll execute you': 'Putin's chef' recruits convicts for war Yevgeny Prigozhin: UK reviews rules after Wagner head sued journalist
UK exposes sick Russian troll factory plaguing social media with Kremlin propaganda
Fake news and public executions: Documents show a Russian company’s plan for quelling protests in Sudan
Wagner chief admits to founding Russian troll farm sanctioned for meddling in US elections
Ukraine capital Kyiv endures Russian onslaught - BBC News
Russia is plundering gold in Sudan to boost Putin’s war effort in Ukraine
Sudan TV broadcast taken off air after loud bangs during military clashes
CNN - How Russia could be stealing over $13 billion of gold a year from Sudan
Sudan fighting: RSF and...
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Africa is often the forgotten continent for things like drug trafficking, but just look around the news, the African continent plays a critical role in the global illicit drug market – and its growing – And no more so than in East and Southern Africa. As global trade has exploded, African organized criminal networks have established relationships with other criminal organizations around the world from the PCC in Brazil to the Comancheros Bikie Gang in New Zealand.
Over the course of a few years, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime have produced three papers covering the major illicit drug markets in the region - cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamime (crystal meth). These papers cover the movement and transiting of drugs but also the domestic markets - and the findings are that you find drugs everywhere, in coastal cities and rural villages.
In this episode we talk about all three illicit drugs, the markets, those involved and the users themselves.
Speaker(s):
Jason Eligh, Senior Expert, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
x2 Anonyomous researchers (Kenya, South Africa)
Happy Assan, Drug Researcher, Tanzania
Additional Reading:
(GI Paper) A Synthetic Age: The Evolution of Methamphetamine Markets in Eastern and Southern Africa - Link
(GI Paper) A Powder Storm: The cocaine markets of East and southern Africa - Link
(GI Paper) A Shallow Flood: The Diffusion of Heroin in Eastern and Southern Africa - Link
(Website) Drug Markets in Eastern and Southern Africa - Link
News Articles:
Record Bust For Mozambique Bound Drugs - Link
Mozambican arrested in Brazil with 5 kg of cocaine hidden in ‘7-day candles’ - Link
BBC News - Fuminho: One of Brazil's most wanted criminals arrested in Mozambique - Link
Insight Crime - Cocaine Trade Grows in East and Southern Africa - Link
Insight Crime - Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, alias ‘Marcola’ - Link
National commander of Comancheros jailed for conspiring to import 600kg of meth - Link
NZ Herald - Comancheros meth trial: Gang leader Seiana Fakaosilea, co-defendants sentenced - Link
SunStar - CUSTOMS CLARK SEIZES P11.27M WORTH OF METH -
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What does the term 'Environmental Crime' mean to you? Probably something like elephant or rhino poaching. Perhaps the plight of the pangolin, the adorable little armoured mammal, often sighted as the "most trafficked animal in the world". But it is so much more than that - from the illegal wildlife trade to illicit plastic waste, and from illegal mining to timber trafficking.
The spotlight on environmental crime has never been more prominent, public consciousness around climate change has seen to that. Indeed, environmental crime was implicated in early theories surrounding the origin of COVID-19.
And so, in this episode we'll show you the breadth of research taking place here at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. Through the story of our global responses to environmental crime we'll show just how integrated different illicit markets are with one another.
(This podcast is based around the paper ‘An analytic review of past responses to ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME and programming recommendations’)
Speaker(s):
Simone Haysom, Thematic Lead on Environmental Crime, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Farai Maguwu, Director at the Center for Natural Resource Governance in Zimbabwe and member of the GI Network of Experts
Vincent Opyene, a state-prosecutor in Uganda, specialising in wildlife crimes and founder of the Natural Resource Conservation Network.
Karla Mendes, Investigative Journalist at Mongabay, a non-profit environmental science and conversation news platform.
Peter Wagner, Director of the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments at the European Commission.
Natalie Pauwels, the Head of Unit, Stability and Peace - Global and Trans regional Threats at the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments at the European Commission.
Ana Paula Oliveira, Analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and presenter of The Ripple Effect podcast, part of the Assassination Witness Project.
Lucia Bird, Director of the West African Observatory, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Virginia Comolli, Senior Expert, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Jason Eligh, Senior Expert, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Additional Reading:
(GI Paper) An analytic review of past responses to ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME and programming recommendations - Link
(GI Paper) A Synthetic Age: The Evolution of Methamphetamine Markets in Eastern and Southern Africa - Link
(GI Paper) Deep-rooted interests: Licensing illicit logging in Guinea Bissau - Link
(GI Paper) Plastic for profit: Tracing illicit plastic waste flows, supply chains and actors - Link
(GI Paper) Branches of Illegality: Cambodia's illegal logging structures - Link
(GI Paper) Vietnam's virtual landscape for illicit wildlife trading: A snapshot of e-commerce and social media - Link
(GI Paper) Civil Society Observatory of Illicit Economies in Eastern and Southern Africa Risk Bulletin - Issue 25 - Kromah Cartel -
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P4 - 'Ndrangheta - "The Cocaine Gateway"
The port of Gioia Tauro in Calabria has long been considered one of the main cocaine gateways into Europe. In this episode we're going to tell the story of the 'ndrangheta and this port. How its completion in the 1990s coincided with the rise of the 'ndrangheta, were certain clans control this important node of the international cocaine market.
Our guest Anna Sergi takes us from a 'faida' ('ndrangheta feud) from her childhood in Gioia Tauro to the growth of the Piromalli 'ndrina. And from the "mother of all extortion" to the international expansion of the 'ndrangheta.
Speaker(s):
Anna Sergi, Professor of Criminology at the University of Essex, member of the GI Network of Experts and author of the new book ‘Chasing the Mafia: 'Ndrangheta, Memories and Journeys'.
Twitter
Additional Reading
(Book) Chasing the Mafia: 'Ndrangheta, Memories and Journeys by Anna Sergi
(Podcast) Clan del Golfo: The Fall of Otoniel
(Paper) - Transnational Tentacles: Global Hotspots of Balkan Organized Crime
(Book) Ports, Crime and Security: Governing and Policing Seaports in a Changing World by Anna Sergi, Alexandria Reid, Luca Storti, Marleen Easton.
(Podcast) The Index - episode 3 & 4 "Italy and mafia" - https://link.chtbl.com/TheIndex
The Global Organized Crime Index - Country Profile - Italy
OCCRP - Sting Operation Reveals ‘Ndrangheta-Colombian Cartel Partnership
Europol - Italian operation takes down corrupt port workers facilitating ‘Ndrangheta drug trafficking activities
Europol YouTube - Operation TRE CROCI
Centre for Industrial Studies - THE PORT OF GIOIA TAURO
Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
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Part 3 - "The Chamber of Control"
Woodbridge, Vaughan, Greater Toronto Area, 2014. A man called Carmine Verduci was gunned down outside a sports café. Over the coming days Italian and Canadian law enforcement alleged that Verduci, born in Calabria, was a connecting bridge between 'ndrangheta clans in the Locride area of Calabria and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). He was reported to be a senior member of what is known as 'The Siderno Group'.
In this third episode, Anna Sergi, author of the new book ‘Chasing the Mafia: 'Ndrangheta, Memories and Journeys', talks about the growth of the 'ndrangheta in North America and presence of the 'Siderno Group'.
Speaker(s):
Anna Sergi, Professor of Criminology at the University of Essex, member of the GI Network of Experts and author of the new book ‘Chasing the Mafia: 'Ndrangheta, Memories and Journeys'.
Twitter
Additional Reading
(Book) Chasing the Mafia: 'Ndrangheta, Memories and Journeys by Anna Sergi
(Book) Mafia Republic: Italy's Criminal Curse. Cosa Nostra, 'Ndrangheta and Camorra from 1946 to the Present by John Dickie
(Podcast) The Index - episode 3 & 4 "Italy and mafia" - https://link.chtbl.com/TheIndex
(Podcast) Deep Dive - 'Fishy Business'
The Global Organized Crime Index - Country Profile - Italy
The Global Organized Crime Index - Country Profile - Canada
The Global Organized Crime Index - Country Profile - United States
National Post - 'Carmine Verduci — the man who exposed Mafia's 'Canadian cell' — was gunned down near Toronto yesterday'
Toronto Star - 'Former GTA mob killer speaks out from Italian prison'
CBC - 'Project Sindacato ends in arrests of 9 members of alleged crime family in Vaughan'
Toronto Star - 'Massive GTA Mafia bust collapses. Defence says York police accessed lawyers’ communications'
National...
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Part 2 - "ndrangheta Royalty Down Under"
In 2007, the Australian Federal Police received a tipoff about a container arriving at the Port of Melbourne. The container had come from Italy and was full of tins of tomatoes, inside those tins was the largest ecstasy bust in the world at that time.
The AFP had discovered an international drug trafficking criminal syndicate at work. At the centre of this was one criminal dynasty, not only were they a prominent Calabrian mafia clan back in Platì, the heart of the 'ndrangheta, but also one of the founding 'ndrangheta clans in Australia.
In this second episode Anna Sergi, author of the new book ‘Chasing the Mafia: 'Ndrangheta, Memories and Journeys', talks about the growth of the 'ndrangheta in Australia through one family, who she describes as "Royalty".
Speaker(s):
Anna Sergi, Professor of Criminology at the University of Essex, member of the GI Network of Experts and author of the new book ‘Chasing the Mafia: 'Ndrangheta, Memories and Journeys'.
Twitter
Additional Reading
(Book) Chasing the Mafia: 'Ndrangheta, Memories and Journeys by Anna Sergi
(Book) Mafia Republic: Italy's Criminal Curse. Cosa Nostra, 'Ndrangheta and Camorra from 1946 to the Present by John Dickie
Anna Sergi blog, University of Essex - A flurry of attention, then collective forgetfulness – 100 years of the ‘ndrangheta Calabrian mafia in Australia
(Podcast) The Index - episode 3 & 4 "Italy and mafia" - https://link.chtbl.com/TheIndex
The Global Organized Crime Index - Country Profile - Italy
The Global Organized Crime Index - Country Profile - Australia
Four Corners (ABC and Fairfax media) - documentary
The Age - Drug accused 'tried to nurture journo'
The Age - Mr Bigs Busted
The Age - Heartache has no end for family of Donald Mackay
The Guardian - Nine charged in raids over gangland murder of Pasquale Barbaro
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