The Underworld Podcast

Listen Now: Varnamtown Episode 1

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Two years ago, Kyle MacLachlan, the star of Twin Peaks, called investigative journalist Joshua Davis with a strange story. Kyle had heard a rumor that...

The Bamboo Union Triads, Taiwan's White Wolf Godfather, and a Murdered Reporter in SF

05 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Chinese-American reporter Henry Liu was gunned down in his Daly City garage in 1984, it brought the Bamboo Union, Taiwan’s most powerful Triad,...

The Yakuza Boss Caught Selling Burmese Nuclear Material to Iranian Generals (Sort Of)

27 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You may have seen the news last week, about a Yakuza boss caught in Bangkok trying to sell nuclear material to a fake Iranian general. Takeshi Ebisawa...

She Hunted Down the Zetas Cartel Members Who Killed Her Daughter

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When members of the fearsome and brutal Zetas cartel kidnapped her daughter, Miriam Rodriguez did what they asked and paid the ransom. But it wasn't e...

From Helicopter Prison Breaks to Missing Millions: The French Bank Robbers Who Became Heroes

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On the face of it, Toni Musulin and Redoine Faïd couldn’t be more different: one a quiet, skinflint armored vehicle driver, the other a flamboyant ...

The Headhunting Burmese Tribe Running the World's Biggest Cartel: The Wa w/ Patrick Winn

06 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Wa tribe, an indigenous tribe residing in the mountainous Burma China borderlands, has long had a reputation as a people not to be trifled with. A...

Behind Ecuador's Gang TV Takeover: Prison Kings, Megabusts and Daytime Executions

30 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This month armed men stormed an Ecuadorean TV station, shocking the world and plunging the nation into gang hell. Prosecutors have been assassinated a...

Griselda Blanco and Miami's Drug Wars: Netflix's New Narcos

23 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dubbed the Cocaine Godmother and the Black Widow, Griselda Blanco rose to power when the cocaine boom was taking off and Colombian cartels started pum...

A Cop-Cartel Heist and Sky High Homicide Rates: What the Hell is Going on in Tijuana

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When a team of cops drove a truck laden with Sinaloa Cartel product out of a Tijuana warehouse in November, experts predicted violence even worse than...

The Kingpin Behind Asia's Triad Super-Syndicate Cartel : Tse Chi Lop, with Josh Berlinger

09 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The mysterious Chinese-born criminal mastermind Tse Chi Lop didn't raise too many eyebrows when he was arrested in Canada in the 1990's for running he...

New Years/Christmas Q + A!!!!!

02 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Danny and Sean jump in on all of your questions for this Christmas New Years week specia; Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

The El Chapo of the Sahel, Africa's Desert Trafficking and the Sahara’s Most Dangerous Gangs

26 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We do Christmas shows different. Using ancient desert trade routes made famous by megarich kings, narcos, terrorists and arms traffickers have turned ...

Mafia-controlled Ports, Nazi Submarines, and Backroom World War 2 deals with Brendan Sullivan

19 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Long before Pearl Harbor the US had already lost 243 mariners at sea. German UBoats came close enough to NY harbor to sink US merchant ships just by l...

Air America, Corsican Mobsters and Spies Gone Native - Did the CIA Fuel the Modern Heroin Trade?

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

At one point in the 1960s Air America was the largest carrier on the planet. It was also a CIA front, and its ragtag pilots ferried tons of raw opium ...

Santo Trafficante: Havana Nights, Killing Castro and the King of Florida

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Trafficante crime family ruled Florida for decades, earning the respect and admiration of powerful mobsters like Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and S...

Slave Compounds, Sam Bankman-Fried and Crypto’s Crooked Heart - with Zeke Faux

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Zeke Faux is an NYC-based reporter with Bloomberg Businessweek. His new book, “Number Go Up”, is a wild ride into the criminal heart of cryptocurr...

MS-13 and The 18th Street Gang's Reign of Terror

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

El Salvador's warring street gangs-turned-armies may have finally been broken thanks to the heavy-handed policies of Nayib Bukele dumping anyone and e...

From Fantasy Islands to a Coup D’État: The Dominion of Melchizedek:

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a fake country and a global scam operation, must be in want of a wife with a...

The Dominion of Melchizedek: The "Mothership for Con Artists Worldwide"

07 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Back in the early 1980s David and Mark Pedley were little more than a father-son real estate scam duo. Then came prison, escape, and a self-penned Bib...

The New Orleans Godfather and the JFK Assassination: Carlos Marcello

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Carlos Marcello went from a small time produce hustler to heading up the New Orleans Mafia with a massive gambling empire and a hand in every pie in t...

The Chechen Mafia Goes Global: Ramzan Kadyrov, Car Bombs, Guns-for-hire and The World's Weirdest Reality Show

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The final show in our Chechen trilogy focuses on the republic's current gangster-in-chief, Ramzan Kadyrov, and his rise to become one of the world's m...

The Knife Fighting Italian Gangster Who Built an Army while in Prison

17 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Camorra clans of Naples had always played second fiddle to the Sicilian Mafia and the Calabrian 'Ndranghetta. Until Raffaelle Cutolo started build...

How Russian Mobsters Masterminded a Crazy, Fake Cricket League for Betting Riches: Sean's in the Field!

10 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This May, on assignment for _Sports Illustrated_, Sean visited Molipur, a tiny village in Gujarat, India, to dive into what seemed like a funny caper:...

The Secret Rise of Female Narcos in Latin American Cartels with Deborah Bonello

03 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Deborah Bonello is a Mexico City-based reporter who's distilled years of reporting on some of the most dangerous women on earth into her new book "Nar...

Ex-Con Mercenaries, Wagner, Prigozhin, and the Russian Mafiosos Fighting in Ukraine with Joshua Yaffa

26 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Russian mercenary/state aligned outfit Wagner emerged from the early days of the war in Ukraine, led by an ex-con turned hot dog salesman turned P...

The Chechen Mafia Strikes Back: War Profiteering, School Sieges and a Turncoat Named Kadyrov

19 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Soviet Union is toast, Chechnya is at war and Grozny, its embattled capital, is being bombed to dust. Gangs of Chechen criminals are getting rich ...

Becoming the Chechen Mafia: Ancient Outlaws, Soviet Scabs and a British KGB Plot

12 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we track the concept of the Chechen Mafia—not an easy thing to define—from ancient invasions and the creation of the "Abrek", or ...

The Camorra Clans of Naples: Italy's Most Violent Criminal Organizarion

05 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The origins of Naples' feared criminal clans known as the Camorra go back hundreds of years to the days of rural banditry and villa owners with privat...

The Maltese Mobsters who Ruled London's Empire of Vice

29 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Messina family came from Sicily, then Malta and North Africa, before settling in 1930s London—whose underworld was about to be supercharged by w...

Los Zetas: The Brutal Cartel Formed By Mexican Commandos

22 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mexican Cartels have always had a penchant for violence, but the brutal tactics of Los Zetas plunged Mexico into never before seen levels of bloodshed...

Bootlegging All Over the World: Illegal Brews from North Korea to Pakistan

15 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The term ‘rumrunning’ might be associated with Prohibition-era goons in the American Midwest. But bootlegging is alive and well today, and this we...

The Brutal Burmese Human Trafficking Syndicates of Southeast Asia: Classic Underworld

18 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been made by a vicious network of organized crime figures throughout Southeast Asia by preying on what the United...

A Romanian Mob Illicit Arms Deal With a Twist - with Trevor Aaronson

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Trevor Aaronson is a contributing writer at The Intercept. The second season of his show Alphabet Boys digs into the strange story of Flaviu Georgescu...

North Korea's Crypto Crimes: Special Episode from Click Here

27 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We have a special episode swap from the good folks at the Click Here podcast. For years, North Korea was known for making such a perfect counterfeit h...

Ridouan Taghi's Murderous Rampage, and the Cocaine Kings of Antwerp and Rotterdam - with Mitchell Prothero

20 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mitchell Prothero has been on the tail of Ridouan Taghi, the Mocro Mafia and the Marengo Trial for years—and he joins Sean to discuss "Gateway: Coca...

Tiger Traffickers, Narco Zoos and the (Even Darker) Truth Behind Joe Exotic

25 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2019 Sean spent weeks on the road between Oklahoma and Miami, investigating roadside zoo owner—and soon-to-be American icon—Joe Exotic. The tru...

The World's Most Powerful Cocaine Broker: Inside the 'Ndrangheta with Antonio Talia

18 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In recent years, another one of Italy's feared criminal groups has risen above the Sicilian Mafia to become among the most powerful organized crime gr...

The Robber Baron Mafias of the Lawless Amazon Rainforest

11 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last year’s murders of journalist Dom Phillips, and indigenous rights campaigner Bruno Pereira, shocked Brazil and the world. But they were just one...

The Time Sean Went to Burma to Find A Billion Dollar Meth Lab

04 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The biggest drug cartel in the world isn't Mexican, or Colombian. It's Asian. Buried deep in the Burmese jungle are networks of cutting edge meth labs...

The Golden Era of Clubs, Club Drugs, and Mafia Crews in NYC Nightlife to Miami and Back

28 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1990's, Manhattan's booming dance club scene was hit by two massive trends: Ecstasy and Techno. With the eye-patch wearing Canadian nightlife i...

A Brazilian Murder, Narco Evangelists and Holy Warfare: The Gangsters of the Global Pentecostal Movement

21 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Pentecostalism has exploded everywhere—and with it a whole new wave of grifters, crooks and machine gun-toting zealots. Sean spoke to Elle Hardy, au...

The Antwerp Diamond Heist and the Gads Hill Train Robbery: History Daily Swap

14 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week we bring you guys an episode swap with the good folks at History Daily. In the first segment on February 16, 2003, five thieves break into t...

The Time the Mexican Army Ruined My Cartel Sleepover

07 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Even the best laid plans of mice and men don't stand a chance when the federales get involved. In this episode, Danny recounts the time he linked up w...

Underworld Special - On The Hunt for Himalayan Purple Haze in Nepal

21 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For thousands of years, Nepali farmers grew some of the world’s trippiest marijuana, in Himalayan valleys so fertile they were considered sacred. In...

The Narco-paramilitaries of Northern Ireland

14 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For generations, northern Ireland has been no stranger to armed militant groups willing to dispense violence. But whereas those groups once fought ove...

Acid, Greasers, Hippies and Violence: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love

07 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With slick hair, a wry smile and a penchant for violence, John Griggs was the picture of a Sixties California greaser. His gang caused chaos across An...

The Jamaican Posses Take Over America: Kings of the Crack Era

31 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Wall Street of Patrick Bateman was just ramping up, and rap had taken over the Bronx and Brooklyn as Jamaican-American deejays like Kool Herc were...

Calabria’s ‘Ndrangheta vs the Good Mothers with Alex Perry

24 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For decades the ‘Ndrangheta rose to become the world’s most powerful organized crime group—and barely anybody knew who they were. Then the death...

The Rise of Jamaica's Warring Gangs & Bob Marley's Attempted Assassination

17 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1960's, Jamaica's leading politicians saw an opportunity in the street gangs that were forming up in Kingston's slums. Pretty soon, each gang l...

Australia's Brutal Gang Families Waging War in Sydney

10 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sydney has long been Australia’s “Sin City”, a pot of gold for crooks with the right connections and friends in the police. But over the past tw...

The International Kingpins: Montreal's Rizzuto Family

03 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

International organized crime has rarely seen a figure as powerful and connected as Vito Rizzuto, Montreal's underworld king. When his father Nic left...

How FIFA’s Godfather and Brazil’s Biggest Gangster Forged a Deadly Alliance, ft. Conor Powell

20 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Castor de Andrade might just be the most powerful mobster you’ve never heard of. Born into a life of crime in Rio’s suburbs, he graduated from loc...

Introducing: The Last Resort

18 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Last Resort explores big, crazy, dangerous ideas – ideas that no one took seriously, but which may now be our best options. What would actually ...

Japanese Schoolgirl Gangs and Kamikaze Bikers: How an Assassin’s Sword Kicked off a Criminal CountercultureDraft Episode for Dec 13, 2022

13 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When a fascist killer plunged his sword into Japan’s socialist leader on live TV, few could have predicted its consequences. But gangs of sailor-sui...

Sex Money Murda, Pistol Pete and the United Blood Nation (and Young Thug!)

06 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This is the story of Pistol Pete, one of the most revered killers to ever walk the streets of New York City, who found infamy after the small click he...

Scammers, Traffickers and Bribes: The Dirty, Criminal Secrets Plaguing FIFA’s World Cup in Qatar - featuring Philippe AuclairDraft Episode for Nov 29, 2022

29 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As things heat up in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Sean meets soccer journalist Philippe Auclair in a London pub (of course) to talk about the man...

The Brazilian Prison Gang Dominating South America: The PCC

22 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In less than 3 decades, a Brazilian gang formed during a prison soccer tournament has become one of, if not the most powerful gang in all of Latin Ame...

BONUS: George Chidi on Atlanta's Rap Murder Spree

01 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sean met Atlanta crime reporter George Chidi to talk about the city's rap labels and their role in its spiraling gang violence—from Young Thug and L...

Update: Sean *Did Not* Get Kidnapped for Unpaid Cricket Bets

07 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We've got new episodes ready to go. We hear you guys. SOON. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Slave Armies Powering a New Kind of Golden Triangle Cybercrime

10 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When the pandemic took punters from Southeast Asia’s most notorious gambling dens, their gangster owners turned to the web, entrapping thousands of ...

Felix Mitchell:The Druglord That Took On The Black Panthers, and Oakland's Kingpin Wars

03 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Felix "The Cat" Mitchell was like nothing Oakland had ever seen before. He took over the city's heroin market from, wholesale to retail, driving exoti...

The Death of "God's Banker", the Vatican, a Pope's Murder, Mafia Plots and a Secret Masonic Coup

28 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Roberto Calvi's body was found swinging from a London bridge in 1982 it sent shockwaves through the religious, financial and criminal worlds. But...

The Jewish & Redneck Gangsters that Beat the KKK: Charlie Birger w/ Jake Hanrahan

20 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the era of prohibition, Charlie Birger built a bootlegging and gambling empire in southern Illinois, otherwise known as little Cairo. He charmed wo...

Vladimir Putin, the KGB and the German Nazi Gangster Who Was a Communist Spy

12 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rainer Sonntag was just your run-of-the-mill, anti-state East German petty criminal—until a black ops team headed by then-KGB agent Vladimir Putin h...

Chechen Mobsters, Bombs, Bumps and Special Ops: The Criminal Tale of Caviar

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Caviar has been considered a delicacy since ancient times. But when the Soviet Union collapsed, a black market flourished—and kicked off gang wars a...

The Punjabi Indian Gangster Rapper Killed in a Gang War: Moosewala

28 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, better known as Moosewala, was on the cusp of becoming a global superstar. Racking up billions of views on youtube, the Punjabi...

The Bank of the Underworld: Kingpins, Arms Traffickers, Pablo Escobar and Saddam Hussein

21 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Bank of Credit and Commerce International was headed by a messianic, Karachi financier named Agha Hasan Abedi, with deep, deep connections all rou...

The Cartel Heroin Queenpin Who Ran Juarez for 50 Years with Benjamin Smith

14 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Before El Mencho or El Chapo, even before Pablo Escobar, there was Ignacia Jasso, otherwise known as “La Nacha.” She was the Queen Pin of Juárez ...

Fentanyl's Surge from China To Mexico to St Louis

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Over the last three years there's been an explosion of fentanyl on the streets of America and it's led to over 100,000 Americans dying from drug overd...

Who Rules Porn? From Hot Money

07 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’re shaking things up today and sharing a preview from Hot Money, a new podcast from our friends at Pushkin Industries and the Financial Times. Wh...

Belize's Gangster Politics and Ukraine's Battle for the Donbas

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Sean gets into the details about his story for Rolling Stone on Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, the rapper turned prime minister favorite in Be...

A Sicilian Rugby Team Fighting the Mafia - And Ukraine Update

11 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Danny's in Ukraine, and Sean's cover story at Sports Illustrated—about a Sicilian rugby team facing down the Mafia—just dropped. So we're combinin...

Daniel Kinahan, Tyson Fury and the Irish Drug Cartel that Built a Boxing Empire - with Nicola Tallant

26 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For years, Dublin-born Daniel Kinahan built on the work of his heroin-lord father Christy, aka the Dapper Don, to become one of the world's biggest co...

The Shady World of Cryonics: Missing Heads, Bank Robbers and an Italian Funeral Mogul

19 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're joined by journalist and writer Peter Ward, whose upcoming book The Price of Immortality: The Race to Live Forever is out this week. Since the t...

Murder Inc: The Jewish & Italian Hit Squad that Terrorized the US

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1920's, high level gangsters like Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky had a plan to bring some semblance of order to the underworld. Together with a...

TEASER: From Cautionary Tales: Death on the Floor

07 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Here’s a special preview of the new season of Cautionary Tales from Pushkin Industries. On Cautionary Tales, bestselling author Tim Harford shares s...

Whitey Bulger, Jai Alai, the Winter Hill Gang, & the Tycoon Murder that Stunned America

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

*Note: technical difficulties with Sean's microphone this episode, apologies* By the late Seventies Jai Alai, a superfast, racketball-like sport, had ...

Lord of the Skies: The Man Who United Mexico's Cartels

22 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're joined by author Noah Hurowitz to tell the story of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, one of the most powerful narco-traffickers to every live, with an es...

PATREON TEASER: A Former Gangster on his Life in Belize City's Crips - and how Cartels are Changing Everything

14 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Here's a little teaser from this week's patreon episode, with Sean on the ground in Belize doing a bigger story and sharing some of his work along the...

The Brutal Russian Mafia Wars of Tolyatti, Russia's Detroit

08 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1980s, as the Soviet empire crumbled, organized criminals eyed up the sprawling VAZ automobile plant in the city of Tolyatti, “Russia’s Det...

Carjacking and Fentanyl: Down and Out in Philadelphia & St. Louis

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode thrown together because of a last-minute delay, Danny recounts recent reporting trips to Philadelphia and St. Louis. 2021 saw Philadel...

The Wild Cowboys of Washington Heights: NYC's Most Dangerous Crack-era Gang

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

New York City in the late 1980's and early 1990's was a war zone. The crack era ushered in a record number of murders, topping 2,000 some years, as ga...

Colombia's Narco-Soccer: Pablo Escobar, Los Pepes, and the Murder of The Gentleman

08 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the early Nineties Colombia had one of the world’s best soccer teams. Some even tipped them for 1994’s World Cup in the USA. But the country’...

Glasgow's Ice Cream Wars: Drugs, Police Framing, and Soft Serve

31 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As badly-planned 1960s projects pushed Glasgow's poorest people to the city's fringes, ice cream vans became a lifeline, delivering food, drink and ci...

The Raskol Gangs of Port Moresby: Tribal Wars, Street Battles and Homemade Guns in Papua New Guinea

25 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The ‘raskol’ gangs that terrorize Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea’s chaotic capital city, have their roots in the isolated, rainforest conflicts ...

SPECIAL PROMO: From Deep Cover: Who Was Bob Cooley?

24 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

SPECAL PROMO: Deep Cover tells true stories of crime and corruption. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jake Halpern reveals dark underworlds most of u...

The Punjabi Mafia and the Indian-Canadian Celeb Hitman Bindy Johal

18 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Vancouver and the little known city of Surrey, violent gang wars between rival factions in the Indo-Canadian Sikh community has seen upwards of 200...

El Mencho and CJNG: Mexico's Most Wanted and Sadistic Narco

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

He’s a recluse, a cockfighting high-roller, a former cop and a maniac. But will Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka El Mencho, do what he’s been threa...

Born To Kill: The Vietnamese Refugee Gang that Terrorized the US

04 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the late 1980's, a new gang threw asian immigrant communities across America into chaotic spurts of violence. They were brutal, they were vicious, ...

Sergeant Smack, Frank Lucas, and the Bangkok Heroin Corpse Connection

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Leslie "Ike" Atkinson rose from Army sergeant to international casino hustler, to Bangkok bar owner and quarterback of one of the biggest heroin smugg...

50th Episode/holiday Q+A Special!!!

14 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We meant to get this up a few episodes back for the 50th episode special but figured it would work for the holidays. Danny and Sean go through all the...

Can a Former Gangster Rapper Stop Belize's Deadly Bloods vs Crips Wars?

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In Belize City, rival factions of Bloods and Crips clicks have turned the south side of the city into one of the most violent cities on earth in an en...

How Meth Turned New Zealand's Biker Gang Scene Upside Down: Mongrels, Black Power and Killer Beez

30 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For decades, New Zealand's biker gangs fought each other for turf, cash and kudos. Violence between its two biggest outfits, the Mongrel Mob and Black...

West Africa's Cocaine Empire: Guinea Bissau's True Narco State Status

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Does any country deserve the title of narco-state more than tiny Guinea-Bissau? The West African nation has become the beating heart of the global coc...

The Gangs Controlling Haiti: A Dead President, Amish Hostages, and a Psycho Named BBQ

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A President assassinated. Amish missionaries from Ohio held for million dollar ransoms (per person!). A former cop named Barbecue turned vicious gang ...

Gangs of England: The Real Peaky Blinders and the Racecourse Wars

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On the smog-filled streets of industrial Birmingham, groups of ‘Peaky Blinders’ earned a reputation as Britain’s most feared gang, terrorizing a...

The Rise and Recent Capture of Colombia's Most Brutal Narco, Otoniel, w/ Toby Muse

02 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Out there in the jungle, something evil and powerful grows. This is the story of Dairo Antonio Usaga, better known as Otoniel, Colombia’s most wante...

The Out of Control Arab Israeli Crime Clans Driving the Murder Rate Sky-High

26 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the last 5 years, murders in what's known as Israel's Arab sector have increased 50%, setting new records every year as criminal clans and organize...

The Burmese Heroin Jungle Kingpin & the Transgender Opium Queen

19 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Khun Sa was a mercenary, a rebel, a warlord and a freedom fighting drugmaker who all-but created the modern heroin industry in the wake of the Vietnam...

NY’s Chinatown Wars: Ghost Shadows, Hong Kong Triads, Tongs, and the China White Heroin Connection

11 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Nicky Louie stalked the streets in the 1970's, he was the first gangster to scare Chinatown in decades. At only 22-years-old, he led his gang of ...