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Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
@OCCRP
Sep 1, 2020 • 11 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
NEW: Meet #GroupAmerica, one of the most pervasive and violent drug-trafficking gangs you’ve never heard of.

Some say its name stems from rumored ties between the gang's leaders and the US government — maybe even the CIA. 1/
occrp.org/en/group-ameri…
In the 1980s, a Serb took control of the Westies, a New York Irish-American gang that became Group America.

Decades later, police around the world are impressed by the gang's global scope — and stunned that it remains active. 2/
occrp.org/en/group-ameri…
Unlike the cartels that control the whole cocaine supply chain, Group America specializes in being the middleman between sellers in Europe and producers in South America — where the gang’s second-in-command may be in prison for life. 3/
occrp.org/en/group-ameri…
OCCRP journalist Pavla Holcová (@pafak) had to pose as a prostitute to interview this notorious gangster in Peruvian prison.

Read her first-hand account of the conversation. 4/
occrp.org/en/group-ameri…
As the founder and editor of @investigacecz, our Czech member center, Holcová also investigated Group America’s influence in Slovakia — a coveted EU jurisdiction for traffickers in part because of lax residency laws. 5/
occrp.org/en/group-ameri…
Group America has operations in several countries, but much of its money is invested in Serbia, the gang’s center of operations since the fall of Yugoslavia. 6/ occrp.org/en/group-ameri…
But Group America’s influence in Serbia extends beyond drug money investments.

Its members were linked to acts of terrorism and assassinations against reformist politicians after the ouster of Slobodan Milošević.

Story reported by @StevanOCCRP 7/ occrp.org/en/group-ameri…
As Group America’s second-in-command sits in Peruvian prison, its leader continues to live comfortably in Queens, NY despite a drug trafficking indictment that has languished since 2003.

Federal officials declined comment on the unusual case. 8/ Miljanić’s row house in Que...
Despite his criminal reputation in Europe, Group America's leader Mileta Miljanić lives in the open in New York and in Serbia.

Here he is with Serbia’s foreign minister during a 2016 televised event in Manhattan. 9/ Image
More than one senior police source has attributed Group America’s success to ties with security and intelligence agencies.

Our reporting indicates that the gang may indeed have an "in" with the U.S. government. 10/
From terrorism in Belgrade to cocaine-trafficking on four continents.

Use this timeline for a tick-tock into Group America’s decades-long history of organized crime, which starts in New York in the 1970s. 11/
occrp.org/en/group-ameri…

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More from @OCCRP

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Jun 20
The International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) continues today with various panels and a plenary with our Co-Founder, Paul Radu (@Idashboard), and leaders from across the anti-corruption space. #IACC2024 Image
Paul Radu(@Idashboard) will join @PublicEyeSuisse’s @AngelaMattli, @HenriThulliez of @PPLAAF, @FPCThinkTank’s @skcoughtrie & @eleanorrose of @TBIJ, for the session "Tackling SLAPPs: A Critical Frontier in The Global Fight against Corruption" #IACC2024
@IDashboard @PublicEyeSuisse @AngelaMattli @HenriThulliez @PPLAAF @FPCThinkTank @skcoughtrie @eleanorrose @TBIJ OCCRP Sr Investigator Tom Stocks (@TREStocks) will moderate “How to Catch an Enabler: Routes to Accountability for Corruption’s Professional Helpers” panel with @anticorruption's @ERostomashvili, @RUSI_org's Justyna Gudzowska, and others. #IACC2024 app.swapcard.com/widget/event/2…
Read 6 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Jun 18
Authorities in Moscow issued arrest warrants against two investigative journalists with Important Stories (IStories), accusing them of spreading fake news about the Russian army.

#PressFreedom #russia #moscow occrp.org/en/daily/18815…
Image
Both journalists –– editor-in-chief Roman Anin, and reporter Ekaterina Fomina – fled Russia after the government cracked down on free media, following the invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Russian authorities launched a case against Fomina for disseminating fake news after she published an interview with a corporal of the Russian Armed Forces who confessed to murdering a civilian in Ukraine.
Read 4 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Jun 13
Mining magnate Beny Steinmetz has faced negative headlines, outwitted business foes & confronted lawsuits.

OCCRP found that when he came under pressure, companies controlled by a Greek businessman struck deals that ended up helping him out. Image
Reporters used thousands of documents — including leaks and court filings from around the world — to uncover a paper trail of the deals between firms owned by Greek businessman Sabby Mionis and Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz.
OCCRP found that on at least five occasions, Mionis’s Bahamas-registerered GSOL — or other of his firms — took actions that ended up helping Steinmetz protect assets from creditors, fight corruption charges, and tackle rivals in business disputes.

Examples include:
Read 10 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 22
🇮🇳Documents obtained by reporters at OCCRP and the @FT suggest that the politically powerful Adani Group – one of India’s biggest conglomerates – sold more than two dozen shipments of coal to a state power company for 3x its original price. 👇

occrp.org/en/investigati…
The politically powerful Adani Group is a massive conglomerate with interests in everything from airports to television stations.

Led by billionaire Gautam Adani, it is perceived as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Nearly 10 years ago, an Indian regulator opened an investigation into whether Adani Group had used offshore intermediaries to inflate the price of coal it supplied to utilities.

But Adani legally challenged regulators’ attempts to collect evidence.

The case has not progressed. Image
Read 8 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 14
Drug lords.
Notorious politicians.
Terrorism financiers.

In the gleaming cityscape of Dubai, some of the world’s wealthy + most wanted have taken advantage of secrecy, lax regulations & a hot property market.

Who are they? Come see.

Welcome to #DubaiUnlocked.
Using leaked data obtained by @C4ADS, we worked with @e24 to lead an investigative project involving 140 journalists from 74 media outlets to compile a global picture of who owns what in Dubai.

occrp.org/en/dubai-unloc…
Among Dubai property owners, reporters found alleged Australian cocaine traffickers, relatives of African dictators & sanctioned Hezbollah financiers.

We profiled 150+ real estate owners whose property ownership we believe to be in the public interest: cdn.occrp.org/projects/dubai…
Read 9 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 12
NEW: Since 2016, Azerbaijan’s electricity exports to Georgia have skyrocketed.

The market is worth hundreds of millions. Some of the electricity is used in Georgia, the rest is transited to Turkey.

So why is the trade handled by offshore companies? And who's behind them? occrp.org/en/investigati…
We found out. His name is Sulkhan Papashvili, one of Georgia’s richest businessmen. And the offshores are his.

But our reporters, along with @ifactgeorgia and @MikroskopEng, also found much more. Image
After he secured his deal to buy electricity from Azerbaijan’s state energy company, Papashvili went into business with the wife of its president.

And after that man was dismissed, the son of his replacement started making deals with Papashvili too.
Read 4 tweets

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