NarcoFiles: The New Criminal Order

Published: November 6, 2023

Banner: James O'Brien/OCCRP

Drug trafficking is a globe-spanning business. Cocaine might start life at a plantation in Colombia before being repackaged in Mexico, processed in the Netherlands, and sold on to users as far away as Bulgaria. Markets are booming in Asia, Africa, and Australia, generating billions in illicit revenues that flow back across the world through bank wires, cash transfers, and other transactions.

But the harms are not felt equally. It is developing nations that are most often strangled by the drug trade’s tentacles of violence, corruption, environmental destruction, and economic instability. The borderless nature of these crimes — and the gangs and cartels behind them — requires cross-border cooperation by journalists trying to expose them.

NarcoFiles: The New Criminal Order, the largest investigative project of its kind to originate in Latin America, was launched with this in mind.

OCCRP, the Centro Latinoamericano de Investigación Periodística (CLIP), Vorágine, and Cerosetenta / 070 gained early access to the data from two organizations, Distributed Denial of Secrets and Enlace Hacktivista. They then shared the leak with more than 40 other media outlets. Journalists from over 23 countries worked on the investigation, chiefly in Latin America but also in Europe and the United States.

Using leads found in the leaked data, reporters produced dozens of stories revealing the myriad ways in which organized crime groups are evolving, expanding, and experimenting in the modern world — while leaving new victims along the way.

Read on to discover what OCCRP and its partners have uncovered.

01

The Big Picture

02

Stories

03

Opinions and Analysis

The Transnational Public Enemy

Law enforcement has struggled to cope with the globalized nature of drug trafficking. The NarcoFiles collaboration shows how...

04

From Our Partners Around the World

Over 40 media partners on three continents spent a year delving into the NarcoFiles. Here are the stories they found.

Criminal Empires

NarcoFiles stories from OCCRP’s partners showing how organized crime groups have spread across the globe — permeating economies, corrupting authorities, and expanding their reach across borders, from the Americas to Northern Europe.

Narcotics Inc

Coca fields in Guatemala, cocaine labs in Spain, and the narcos who infiltrated an African government: NarcoFiles stories from OCCRP’s partners showing how organized crime groups have developed innovative techniques and adapted to diverse contexts around the world.

Drowning in Drugs

From Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Gioia Tauro to Guayaquil, Santa Marta, and Limón: The world’s ports are vital to drug trafficking operations. These NarcoFiles stories from OCCRP’s partners cover the battle for their control.

Dark Money

NarcoFiles stories from OCCRP’s partners on underground flows of illicit drug profits, intricate money laundering schemes, and the financial enablers of organized crime.

Green Crimes

NarcoFiles stories from OCCRP’s partners on how the activities of organized crime groups have destroyed wildlife, polluted rivers, and threatened protected areas.

Mongabay Latam

From Colombia to Hong Kong: The Shark Fins' Secret Journey

NarcoFiles stories from OCCRP’s partners on how the activities of organized crime groups have destroyed wildlife, polluted rivers, and threatened protected areas.

Read the article (English)
Ojo Público

The fight for illegal gold that finances terrorism in Colombia

NarcoFiles stories from OCCRP’s partners on how the activities of organized crime groups have destroyed wildlife, polluted rivers, and threatened protected areas.

Read the article (English)

Police and Thieves

Law enforcement is on the front lines of the battle against organized crime. But sometimes they become part of the problem. NarcoFiles stories from OCCRP’s partners on corruption, lack of transparency, and dark alliances between authorities and organized crime.