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Japanese Gangs Vie for Power Amid Pandemic

Japan’s government has been criticized for its slow and inadequate response to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Japanese organized crime, meanwhile, has moved to take advantage of the crisis.

Carabinieri officers patrol outside the town of Castiglione D'Adda, which has been closed by the Italian government due to a coronavirus outbreak, Italy, February 23, 2020. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

Crime & Quarantine: How the Pandemic is Squeezing Italian Crime Groups

It was a glimpse of a glow of a cigarette behind the shutters of an abandoned house that led Italian police to the crime boss they had been tracking for more than a week.

Carabinieri officers patrol outside the town of Castiglione D'Adda, which has been closed by the Italian government due to a coronavirus outbreak, Italy, February 23, 2020. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane.

Men kidnapped by drug hitmen are seen at a ranch near the municipality of Sabinas Hidalgo, some 100 km away from Monterrey April 27, 2010 (REUTERS/Tomas Bravo).

Mexico’s Cartel Wars: Living in a War Zone

Nancy Garcia’s 16-year-old cousin was picking fruit with his father at a ranch in rural Michoacan when armed gunmen upended his and his family’s life.

Men kidnapped by drug hitmen are seen at a ranch near the municipality of Sabinas Hidalgo, some 100 km away from Monterrey April 27, 2010 (REUTERS/Tomas Bravo).

Memorial to Mariano Abarca Roblero (Credit: Dawn Paley)

Mining, Murder, and Impunity

A Mexican activist’s family has been looking for answers for a decade, even in Canadian courts. A memorial to Mariano Abarca Roblero. 2010. (Credit: Dawn Paley)