The 'Marengo Trial' lasted years, finally resulting in multiple convictions of the so-called Mocro Mafia, including one of its most infamous leaders, Ridouan Taghi, who was convicted of murder among other things.

Who are the Mocro Mafia? They were born out of the Dutch-Moroccan community in the Netherlands during the 90s, starting with the smuggling of hashish before moving onto the much more profitable cocaine. Its estimated that they control up to a third of the cocaine market in Europe. But they have also left a trail of destruction in their wake, journalists and lawyers have been murdered, bombs have been detonated, many have been killed.

The Mocro Mafia have grown beyond the Netherlands and now operate transnationally, they are active in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, the UAE, Suriname, Colombia and Spain.

According to the Global Organized Crime Index, there has been an increase in the 'Criminal Actor' and 'Criminal Markets' score in Western Europe. Criminal markets have increased from 4.06 to 4.48 out of 10. All criminal markets have increased over the last few years in this region, but the largest increase was in the Mocro Mafia's prime market, the cocaine trade, now at 5.77 out of 10 - that is the highest regional score in Europe.

Presenter: Thin Lei Win

Speaker(s): Sarah Fares, Analyst, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime

OC Index Country profile(s):

Netherlands country profile

Germany country profile

Belgium country profile

Spain country profile

Suriname country profile

UAE country profile

Colombia country profile

Additional Links:

Violence without borders: Why is drug-related violence spilling over into Germany?

The Global Organized Crime Index

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

When we think about the global drugs trade – countries like Colombia and Mexico often come to mind. But according to the Global Organized Crime Index, the country that sits just behind those two is Paraguay. In fact, Paraguay sits 4th globally for levels of criminality, with 7.52 out of 10.

It has really high scores for illicit markets like arms trafficking (9), counterfeit goods (9), Cocaine (8.5), and Cannabis (9). But then if we look at Criminal Actors within the OC Index, again, Paraguay scores incredibly highly across the board, for example state-embedded actors are at 9 out of 10, alongside foreign criminal actors. Overall, its Criminal Actor score is 8.3 out of 10.

Since 2021, Paraguay has seen an increase of 0.82 in levels of criminality, which means it climbed 12 places to 4th globally.

In addition to this, levels of resilience have remained relatively low, at 3.42 out of 10.

Only four other countries have seen a larger increase in the gap between criminality and resilience.

In this episode Thin discusses the situation in Paraguay.

Presenter: Thin Lei Win

Speakers: Professor Alba Maria González Rolón, former Judge for the first and only court dealing with Organized Crime in Paraguay and member of the GI Network of Experts.

OC Index Country profile(s):

Paraguay Country Profile

Additional Links:

The Global Organized Crime Index

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Welcome to Underworlds with Mark Shaw.

Organized Crime is everywhere, hidden in plain sight. The stories from this world have been mythologised by Hollywood. But the reality can be even stranger and more exciting than fiction.

From the golden age of the American mafia (La Cosa Nostra), to the modern-day cocaine empires, and from the shadowy links between organized crime and terrorism, to the twilight of the Yakuza.

In this series Mark Shaw, the Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime delves into non-fiction books about organized crime and the illicit economy with the authors themselves. He asks questions about their background and investigations, but also the challenges associated in writing about this murky world.