Triple Frontier

In a region where 50 percent of the population already makes its living in the informal market, it was perhaps of little surprise that black markets exploded in...

It was March 2020, not long after fear of the coronavirus began spreading across the Americas, when several major criminal groups started employing their own form...

An agreement between a Brazilian court and Dario Messer, the key operator behind one of South America’s largest money laundering operations, ends proceeding...

The PCC has become one of the most complex and important criminal organizations with Latin America, with over 30,000 members in Brazil, an active presence in...

Last year, the arrest of top customs officials in Paraguay revealed a sprawling corruption network that allowed smugglers to operate with near-complete impunity. As...

Smugglers in Brazil wasted no time in moving an anti-malarial drug touted by President Jair Bolsonaro as a potential treatment for the coronavirus, smuggling more...

Amid a shortage of cigarettes in Argentina after factory closings due to the coronavirus pandemic, the black market cigarette trade has surged -- an illegal economy...

Thanks to a combination of great organizational capacity, control of prisons, high levels of loyalty among its members and dominance of key criminal economies, the...

Two recent events show how one of Brazil's regional gangs, the PGC, is making waves inside Paraguay, likely seeking to emulate the drug trafficking success that its...

Armed men shot and killed a Brazilian journalist who covered police and drug trafficking along the Brazil-Paraguay border, underscoring the precarious situation for...

Over the last few years, the PCC’s continued expansion into Paraguay has seen Brazil's most powerful criminal group leave behind its roots as a prison gang to...

A growing market for stolen or smuggled pesticides has left Brazil in a bind, as it fights increasingly large robberies at home while also cracking down on smuggled...