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A Criminal Culture: Extortion in Central America Extortion and Money Laundering: Growing Sophistication

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A Criminal Culture: Extortion in Central America Extortion and Money Laundering: Growing Sophistication An InSight Crime–Global Initiative Report A Criminal Culture EXTORTION IN CENTRAL AMERICA May 2019 A NETWORK TO COUNTER NETWORKS A CRIMINAL CULTURE Extortion in Central America AN INSIGHT CRIME–GLOBAL INITIATIVE REPORT May 2019 Photo credits: cover, Reuters/Edgard; page 3, Chris Babcock/iStock; page 7, Shane T McCoy; page 18, Joe Goa; page 21, Josue Decavele; page 34, Marco Verch; page 38, Christopher Alvarez; page 40, vichinterlang/iStock; page 47, Thomas Frost Jensen. © 2019 Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the Global Initiative. Please direct inquiries to: The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime WMO Building, 2nd Floor 7bis, Avenue de la Paix CH-1211 Geneva 1 Switzerland www.GlobalInitiative.net Contents Authors and acknowledgements .........................................................................................................................v Executive summary .............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction and background ................................................................................................................................ 3 Evolution of extortion and the rise of the street gangs .......................................................... 7 A history of criminality ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Growth of the street gangs and extortion ....................................................................................................... 9 An under-reported crime .............................................................................................................................................12 A primarily urban phenomenon.............................................................................................................................13 State actors: The most efficient extortionists? ...........................................................................................14 Drivers of extortion ............................................................................................................................................................18 Organized crime becomes more organized..................................................................................................18 Cellphone technology ....................................................................................................................................................19 Other players – criminal imitators ........................................................................................................................19 Copycat extortionists – Guatemala’s criminal chancers .....................................................................20 A typology of extortion ................................................................................................................................................21 Territorial-based gang extortion ...........................................................................................................................21 Markets: The real gold mines for extortionists .........................................................................................22 Virtual extortion ..................................................................................................................................................................23 Extortion of prison inmates .......................................................................................................................................23 Sexual violence and ‘sex-tortion’ ...........................................................................................................................24 Extortion and sexual violence: Women’s unspoken suffering ........................................................25 Non-monetary extortion ..............................................................................................................................................26 Extortion of – and by – state actors .....................................................................................................................26 Panama’s sex workers easy prey for extortionist cops .........................................................................27 Extortion and loan sharking ......................................................................................................................................27 Loan sharking: Colombia’s criminal export to Costa Rica ..................................................................28 Overlapping criminal economies ..........................................................................................................................29 Extortion and drug trafficking ............................................................................................................................29 Extortion and human trafficking ......................................................................................................................30 Extortion and corruption .......................................................................................................................................30 iii InSight Crime and Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime A Criminal Culture: Extortion in Central America Extortion and money laundering: Growing sophistication .............................................................30 Women’s growing role in extortion schemes ..............................................................................................32 Women in Guatemala: The new faces of extortion? .............................................................................32 The impact of extortion ................................................................................................................................................34 Extortion as a form of criminal governance ..................................................................................................35 Extortion and homicide ................................................................................................................................................35 Extortion, or protection from it, as a social tool ........................................................................................36 Economic impact of extortion .................................................................................................................................37 Extortion as a motor for displacement .............................................................................................................37 State responses to extortion ................................................................................................................................. 40 Telecommunications measures.............................................................................................................................. 40 Anti-money-laundering investigations targeting extortion proceeds ...................................41 A missed opportunity for rehabilitation interventions .......................................................................42 Better-paid, better-performing police? ............................................................................................................43 Municipal responses ....................................................................................................................................................... 44 Municipalities fight back in Guatemala’s gang-ridden neighbourhoods ................................45 Community responses to extortion ...............................................................................................................47 Outreach ................................................................................................................................................................................... 48 Armed resistance: Private security and armed resistance ................................................................49 An urban neighbourhood stands up to the MS13.................................................................................50 Public–private partnerships ......................................................................................................................................51 How the private sector helped counter rural extortion in El Salvador ..................................... 51 Conclusion and recommendations .................................................................................................................54 Addressing criminal groups and gangs ............................................................................................................55 Harnessing technology to counter extortion ..............................................................................................55 Copycat groups ....................................................................................................................................................................56 Early intervention for prevention ..........................................................................................................................57
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