Drug cartelA drug cartel is a criminal organization composed of independent drug lords who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the illegal drug trade. Drug cartels form with the purpose of controlling the supply of the illegal drug trade and maintaining prices at a high level. The formations of drug cartels are common in Latin American countries. Rivalries between multiple drug cartels cause them to wage turf wars against each other.
Drug lordA drug lord, drug baron, kingpin, or narcotrafficker is a type of crime boss, who is in charge of a drug-trafficking network, organization, or enterprise. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly in possession of something illegal but are insulated from the actual trade in drugs by several layers of staff. The prosecution of drug lords is therefore usually the result of carefully planned infiltration into their networks, often using informants from within the organizations.
Contract killingContract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. It is an illegal agreement in most jurisdictions. Either party may be a person, group, or organization. Contract killing has been associated with organized crime, government conspiracies, dictatorships, and vendettas. For example, in the United States, the Italian- and Jewish-American organized crime gang Murder, Inc.
Irish MobThe Irish Mob (also known as the Irish mafia or Irish organized crime) is a usually crime family-based ethnic collective of organized crime syndicates composed of primarily ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and have been in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish-American street gangs - famously first depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1927 book, The Gangs of New York - the Irish Mob has appeared in most major U.
Medellín CartelThe Medellín Cartel (Cártel de Medellín) was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. It is often considered to be the first major "drug cartel" and was referred to as such; (a cartel) due to the organization's upper echelons and overall power-structure being built on a partnership between multiple Colombian traffickers operating alongside Escobar.
MazatlánMazatlán (masaˈtlan) is a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The city serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipio, known as the Mazatlán Municipality. It is located on the Pacific coast across from the southernmost tip of the Baja California Peninsula. Mazatlán is a Nahuatl word for "place of deer". The city was colonized in 1531 by the Conquistador where many indigenous people lived. By the mid-19th century, a large group of immigrants arrived from Germany.
Transnational organized crimeTransnational organized crime (TOC) is organized crime coordinated across national borders, involving groups or markets of individuals working in more than one country to plan and execute illegal business ventures. In order to achieve their goals, these criminal groups use systematic violence and corruption. Common transnational organized crimes include conveying drugs, conveying arms, trafficking for sex, toxic waste disposal, materials theft and poaching.
Clandestine chemistryClandestine chemistry is chemistry carried out in secret, and particularly in illegal drug laboratories. Larger labs are usually run by gangs or organized crime intending to produce for distribution on the black market. Smaller labs can be run by individual chemists working clandestinely in order to synthesize smaller amounts of controlled substances or simply out of a hobbyist interest in chemistry, often because of the difficulty in ascertaining the purity of other, illegally synthesized drugs obtained on the black market.
Moroccan mafiaThe Moroccan mafia (مافيا مغربية, ⵎⴰⴼⵢⴰ ⵉⵎⵖⵔⵉⴱⵉⵢⵏ, Mocro Maffia) is a term that describes various criminal organisations that are primarily made up of people of Moroccan descent. These organisations are specialized in trafficking large quantities of cocaine and synthetic drugs through Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium, from where it is distributed to the rest of the European continent, thus being one of the most dominant participants in the European drug trade.
GangA gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in illegal, and possibly violent, behavior. The word gang derives from the past participle of Old English gan, meaning . It is cognate with Old Norse gangr, meaning .