x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Twice winner of the "Best Deep Dive Podcast" at the Publishers Podcast Awards, shortlisted four times for "Best Investigative Podcast" and once for "Best Video Podcast". The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime brings you stories and investigations from the global criminal underworld. The topics covered by Deep Dive are far ranging, one episode could be looking at a hybrid paramilitary organized criminal cartel; the next could be the dismantling of an encrypted communications

true crime news commentary

All Episodes

29:30

P1 - The Murder of Ahmed Divela

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2023/05/03

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

en

52:18

P2 - The Wagner Group in Sudan

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2023/04/17

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

en

42:33

P1 - The Wagner Group in Sudan

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2023/04/17

Part 1: “Who are these guys and what are they doing here?”In late February 2022, Airport workers in Khartoum International Airport in Sudanarestood 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

en

57:51

The Drug Markets of East and Southern Africa

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2023/01/18

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

en

51:23

How to Respond to Environmental Crime

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/11/15

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

en

25:46

P4 - 'Ndrangheta - "The Cocaine Gateway"

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/10/19

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

en

26:46

P3 - 'Ndrangheta - Canada: "The Chamber of Control"

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/10/12

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

en

36:12

P2 - 'Ndrangheta - "'Ndrangheta Royalty Down Under"

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/09/26

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

en

45:04

P1 - 'Ndrangheta - "The Madonna of the Mountain"

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/09/05

Part 1 - "The Madonna of the Mountain"In Calabria, southern Italy there is a mountain massif called Aspromonte, "harsh mountain". The villages that hug the mountain slopes, places like San Luca, Natile and Platì are the birthplaces of the clans that make up what is collectively known as ‘Ndrangheta – one of the most powerful organized criminal syndicates in the world. From these humble beginnings the clans have spread their tentacles around the globe and become major players in the international

en

42:06

P2 - Killing the Power of the Pen: Violence against...

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/05/25

Part 2 - "I fear for my life"In 2019, journalist Lourdes Maldonado rose from her seat to speak to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at a press conference - it was during this moment she said "I fear for my life" due to a long running legal dispute. Three years later, and just days after that case had been ruled in her favour, she was gunned down outside her home.Officials blamed a local cartel group, but critics were not and still are not convinced by this version of events. There is little

en

42:05

P1 - Killing the Power of the Pen: Violence against...

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/05/09

Part 1 - "It’s a message of terror, to stop asking questions"Mexico is known as one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist on the planet, and 2022 is on record to be the deadliest yet. José Luis Gamboa Arenas, a journalist from Veracruz became the first to be killed this year, the body of Luis Enrique Ramírez Ramos, a Sinaloan journalist was found in Culiacán on May 5th taking to total to nine.So how has Mexico got to the point where so many journalists and media workers are being attacked

en

38:01

"You beat me" - Part 3: Clan del Golfo: The Fall of...

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/04/11

As the net begins to close on Otoniel, life on the run is hard. Deep in the jungles of Úraba, he never stays in a single place for more than two nights, he no longer communicates using phones and he stays away from urban centres for fear of capture. But he still runs the largest organized criminal group in Colombia.One by one, other senior members of Clan del Golfo are picked off. But Otoniel continues to evade law enforcement in a constant game of cat and mouse.But now, Operation Agamemnon is in

en

47:32

"Don't text or call me" - Part 2: Clan del Golfo: The...

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/03/28

At the end of part 1, Otoniel we left him in sole charge of Clan del Golfo, the biggest organized crime group in Colombia.In part 2 "Don't text or call me", we look through the eyes of a man who goes by the alias "Messi", who was involved in cocaine trafficking and money laundering for Clan del Golfo. We'll see how he used real-estate, cars, watches, front companies and government contracts to clean the drug money...as well through football, music and livestock!And finally we'll delve into the murky

en

34:57

"He's an animal" - Part 1: Clan del Golfo: The Fall...

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/02/21

In late 2021, the leader of Clan del Golfo (The Urabeños) Dairo Antonio Úsuga, aka "Otoniel", was captured by the Colombian police. President Iván Duque said that the arrest was only matched by the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s.Over the course of two episodes we look at the birth of Clan del Golfo out of the ashes of the right-wing paramilitary movement in Colombia. We'll explore their involvement in illicit markets such as drug trafficking, illegal mining, human trafficking, sexual

en

33:56

Killing in Silence: The Global Assassination Monitor

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2022/01/10

An assassination is like a stone being dropped into the middle of a still pond – the splash is the violent act itself – the ripples are the repercussions, that spread far and wide – fear, intimidation, silencing, corruption, erosion of trust, environmental damage, illicit firearms, impunity and retaliation – after all, violence begets violence – the damage to society is far-reaching, way beyond the shock of that initial killing.In November 2021, the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized

en

56:05

Plastics for Profit

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2021/12/07

In this episode we look at the criminal involvement in the plastic waste industry.The lucrative global market in plastic waste is expected to be reach over $50 billion US Dollars by 2022. From Mafia groups to poly-crime networks, the temptation for organised criminal groups and bad actors to get a slice of this market is too hard to resist - and so corners are cut, laws are ignored, and irreversible damage is done. Alongside this, some waste management companies are used as Fronts to conceal other

en

01:01:37

Crossing the Line: India and Myanmar

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2021/09/27

In this episode we tell the story of a region, the "Seven Sisters", otherwise known as the Indian Northeast and one town in particular, Moreh, and the relationship with neighbouring Myanmar.Moreh sits just on the Indian side of the border and has become a hub for multiple illicit flows that pass through - timber, gold, firearms, wildlife, counterfeits, people, and illicit drugs.The Indian Northeast is undeveloped and has suffered multiple insurgencies over the decades. Often forgotten by governments

en

50:21

Fishy Business

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2021/09/06

This is a story of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, complex corporate structures, human trafficking, arms smuggling, corruption and the capture of state institutions.In this collaborative episode with Africa and the Global Illicit Economy, we travel to the rich fishing grounds off Puntland in Somalia and a fleet of vessels known as the "Somali 7", before looking into a politically connected company that has an uncanny ability to operate either outside or just on the fringes of the

en

25:42

Guinea-Bissau Part 2: Pau de Sangue (Blood Timber)

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2021/06/24

In the wake of the 2012 'Cocaine Coup' in Guinea-Bissau the illegal logging trade exploded, largely driven by huge demand for rosewood logs in China - a species protected under international law.By 2014, such was the extent of this illicit trade, civil society pressured the new government to introduce a five-year moratorium on timber exports. Now, in 2021, as the government seems poised to lift the moratorium, there is fear that there could be a resurgence in illegal logging causing irreparable

en

49:59

Cabo Delgado: Africa’s Forgotten Insurgency

Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime ·

2021/04/28

On March 24th 2021, Islamist insurgents carried out an attack on the coastal town of Palma in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado. The days of fighting, looting, massacres, private military contractors, and dramatic rescues led to thousands more people fleeing to escape the violence.The attack took place just a few kilometres from Total’s $20 billion-dollar natural gas project on the Afungi peninsula and in the same province as the huge ruby fields of Montepuez.Last year the Global

en

47 results

Similar Podcasts

Australian True Crime

Bravecasting

True Crime Podcast 2025 - Police Interrogations, 911 Calls and True Police Stories Podcast

True Crime Podcast 2025

Ontario Cold Cases - The Podcast

Jay Nicoll

The Conspiracy Files

Bloody FM

Crime at Bedtime

Jack Laurence