Shops, discotheques, swimming pools, casinos…: inside the most important prison centers in Venezuela, left unsupervised, mafia bosses have built veritable autonomous cities. Notably thanks to racketeering inside and outside prisons. A striking survey of the Venezuelan site “Runrun” and “Connectas”.
The Tren de Aragua is the Venezuelan gang that has extended its tentacles the most to other countries in the region. In Tocorón, the prison controlled by the Tren, there are swimming pools, a discotheque and sports facilities, all facilities that have nothing to envy to certain Caribbean seaside resorts.
In this penitentiary center, it is the Tren who supervises the activities. This criminal organization is involved in human trafficking, migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, racketeering, as well as kidnappings and murders in Chile, Peru and Colombia.
Like other Venezuelan prisons, it is guarded on the outside by the national guard, but it is the mafia that oversees prison life and allocates resources to all sorts of trafficking taking place inside. establishment [avec la complicité du personnel pénitentiaire].
The Venezuelan investigation site Run run et Connect investigated several Venezuelan prisons controlled by mafia bosses: the pranes, pour “prisoners finished off born killers” [“tueurs nés toujours en taule”].
We discovered that a good dozen criminal activities were practiced there, activities that generate millions of dollars for these criminal organizations.
Power begins in the streets
For the purposes of the investigation, we visited prisons, interviewed prisoners and their relatives, consulted NGO reports. It shows that prisoners practice drug trafficking, kidnapping, scams, racketeering, arms trafficking, human trafficking and migrant smuggling, among others.
A study by the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons (OVP) concludes that more than half of the penal population of the country stays in prisons controlled by pranes.
One of the most incredible cases is that of Tocuyito, a prison located two hours from Caracas, which houses 5,000 prisoners. They practice pig farming and organize sports competitions. Once a week, the detainees close to the take have the right to leave prison to steal, like in the movie American Nightmare.
The brain of this vast enterprise is Néstor Richardi Sequera Campos, alias Richardi or Papa, sentenced to twenty years in prison for intentional homicide. He should have been free since May 2018, but like other praneshe decided to stay in prison.
Richardi’s power begins in the street: on visiting days, women have been queuing since the night before to get one of the 150 free admissions. Other visitors, by order of the takehave to pay 5 dollars.
Each week there are one or two visiting days, so visitors can leave at take no less than $37,000 per month. The price of 5 dollars dispenses with the search at the entrance and allows you to keep your mobile phone.
Small commercial districts
The team of Run run and of Connect arrived at between