Mike LaSusa
Journalist reporting on things legal and illegal
- The biggest organized crime story this year will almost certainly be the aftermath of Maduro's arrest and how it will affect the so-called "Cartel of the Suns." I'll be joining my colleagues for a discussion panel about it on Feb 27. Sign up here: insightcrime.org/event/cocain...
- My local police department @lakewoodpdco.bsky.social bought a $40,000 forensic camera called the "BlindSite Scene," made by a UK company called Smytec. No other US police use it, and I see little info beyond the company's marketing materials. Why choose this over established alternatives?
- ICE's flouting of judicial checks and balances has gotten so bad that DOJ lawyers tasked with representing the government are expressing frustration - on the record, in open court - and saying they've never seen anything like it www.politico.com/news/2026/02...
- Brazil’s PCC once cast itself as a defender of the poor. But as it’s grown from a prison gang into a global criminal powerhouse, it’s abandoning those communities and forging ties with Brazil’s economic and political elites insightcrime.org/news/as-braz...
- Lots of talk today about Chile’s election and how fears of crime are boosting right-wing candidates and movements across Latin America. I wrote last year about the political consequences of organized crime: insightcrime.org/news/gamecha...
- Chaves' apparent victory in Costa Rica underscores the electoral appeal of hardline security policies. But here's the thing: when these policies don't work -- and they often don't -- there can be a backlash, like Noboa is seeing right now in Ecuador www.bbc.com/news/article...
