The schism in the Yamaguchi-gumi is generating one violent incident after another, but authorities believe the worst is yet to come. Beware the Ides of March. TOKYO — Molotov cocktails, beatings, shootings—the tempo of Yakuza on Yakuza violence is picking up in Japan, and there’s every reason to believe it’s just a little taste of…
Category: Modern Crime
Cartel Corner #60: Profile of The ‘Texis’ Cartel of El Salvador
Unlike some Central American gangs that have earned fame for their brutality and their liberal use of violence, the Cartel de Texis has developed a reputation for a more business-like approach to the drug trade. But as the report by Salvadoran news site El Faro about the group illustrates, while the gang isn’t known for leaving…
Inspirational: Ex-Spec-Ops Vets Hunting Down Pedophiles
This NGO is training elite special operations veterans to track down child pornographers and rescue their victims. A group of highly trained and driven veterans, most of whom served among the elite ranks of the military’s special operations forces, are taking the fight to a very specific enemy: individuals who distribute and produce…
Technology Update: Feds Don’t Need Apple to Get Into Your iPhone
IT’S A SHOWDOWN that has the country mesmerized. In court battles brewing across the nation, the FBI is trying to force Apple to help it extract data from iPhones seized in more than a dozen cases. The government is so intent on forcing Apple’s hand that in each case the Justice Department has invoked the…
Another Reason to Be Armed: Property Mgr. Shoots Burglar Dead in Las Vegas
Somewhere, everyday in the USA, 2100+ people use a gun for self defense, to stop a crime or save the lives of themselves or their family. “We believe that the American public deserve to understand that on the average, guns save 2,191 lives and are used to thwart crimes every day,” says Alan Gottlieb of…
Cartel Corner #58: The Next Generation of Narco’s
There was a time, the story goes, when if a local collided with a drug trafficker’s car on the streets of Culiacán — a bastion of the infamous Sinaloa cartel — the narco was likely to hop out to check that everything was ok. “They’d say: ‘If you have any problems call this doctor and…
Modern Global Crime: The New Piracy Hot Spot In Africa
(Hint it is one of Africa’s Most Corrupt Countries and is Home to Boko Haram) It’s Tuesday morning, and Phillip Belcher pauses anxiously before opening an email. The subject line reads: “Vessel under attack at this moment.” He clicks through to the bleak description that notes a ship is under attack by a skiff, or…
Cartel Corner #57: 6 Common Misconceptions about the MS-13 Street Gang
In response to a recent article on the MS13 published by Foreign Policy and reprinted at InSight Crime, gang expert Carlos Garcia challenges six commonly held misconceptions about the street gang based in several parts of Central America, Mexico, and the United States. There is an abundance of journalists, communicators and even academics who accuse…
Why You Should Side With Apple and Not the FBI in the San Bernardino I-Phone Case
I have the utmost respect for Bruce. The man knows his stuff and is the final word in topics of this sort. -SF By Bruce Schneier Earlier this week, a federal magistrate ordered Apple to assist the FBI in hacking into the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple will fight this order…
Dose of Truth: Accepting the Possibility of a “Central American Spring”
Central Americans May Be Ready for Their Own Arab Spring The spread of gangs, the U.S. narcotics trade, and rampant corruption are major factors contributing to mass migration and alarmingly high levels of violence. Tens of thousands of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans, many of them unaccompanied minors, have arrived in the United States in recent years,…