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Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be a person, group, or organization. Contract killing has been associated with organized crime, government conspiracies, dictatorships, and vendettas. For example, in the United States, the Jewish-American organized crime gang Murder, Inc. committed hundreds of murders on behalf of the National Crime Syndicate during the 1930s and '40s.
Pedro Alonso López, also known as The Monster of the Andes, is a Colombian serial killer, child rapist and fugitive who murdered a minimum of 110 victims, mostly young women and girls, from 1969 to 1980 and claimed to have murdered over 300 victims across Colombia, Peru and Ecuador.
The Norte del Valle Cartel, or North Valley Cartel, was a drug cartel that operated principally in the north of the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia, most notably the coastal city of Buenaventura. It rose to prominence during the 1990s, after the Cali and Medellín Cartels fragmented, and it was known as one of the most powerful organizations in the illegal drug trade. The drug cartel was led by the brothers Luis Enrique and Javier Antonio Calle Serna, alias "Los Comba", until its takedown in 2008 by the authorities of the Colombia, Venezuela and with cooperation of the United States DEA.
José Vicente Castaño Gil aka El Profe is a former leader of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a right-wing Colombian paramilitary organization. After demobilizing, he was accused of murdering his brother and former AUC leader Carlos Castaño and of narcotics trafficking by both the Colombian government and the government of the United States. In August 2004, the United States formally requested his extradition. Castaño remains, however, a fugitive and is the presumed chief of the criminal organization Águilas Negras made up of former AUC paramilitary members.
The Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO), also known as the Beltrán Leyva Cartel; Spanish: Cártel de los Beltrán Leyva (CBL), was a Mexican drug cartel and organized crime syndicate, formerly headed by the five Beltrán Leyva brothers: Marcos Arturo, Carlos, Alfredo, Mario Alberto, and Héctor. Founded as a Sinaloa Cartel, the Beltrán Leyva cartel was responsible for transportation and wholesaling of cocaine, heroin and marijuana. It controlled numerous drug trafficking corridors, and engaged in human smuggling, money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, murder and gun-running.
La Línea is currently the leading faction of the Juárez Cartel originally designed to be one of the cartel's enforcer units set up by a number of former and active-duty policemen, heavily armed and extensively trained in urban warfare. Their corrupt "line" of policemen were set up to protect drug traffickers, but after forming an alliance with Barrio Azteca to fight off the forces of the Sinaloa Cartel in 2008, they established a foothold in Ciudad Juárez as the enforcement wing of the Juárez cartel. La Línea has also been involved in extortions and kidnappings. As of 2021, La Línea has formed an alliance with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Ciudad Juárez to fight off influence and incursions from the Sinaloa Cartel.
The South Pacific Cartel, is a Mexican organized crime group composed of the remnants of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. It is based in the Mexican state of Morelos. The gang has been significantly less active since mid-2011 when the group's leaders Julio de Jesus Radilla Hernandez and Victor Valdez were captured.
The Clan del Golfo, also known as Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and formerly called Los Urabeños and Clan Úsuga, is a prominent Colombian neo-paramilitary group and currently the country's largest drug cartel. It is based in the Urabá region of Antioquia, and is involved in the Colombian armed conflict. Los Urabeños is one of the organizations that appeared after the demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. In late 2011 Los Urabeños declared war on Los Rastrojos over the control of the drug trade in Medellín. Their main source of income is cocaine trafficking as they appear to be the largest distributors of cocaine in all of Colombia. As of late 2021, it is considered the most powerful criminal organization in Colombia, having some 3,000 members in the inner circle of the organization in 2016 with its current numbers unknown. Its rivals include the National Liberation Army. The Gulf Clan has recruited accomplices at the highest level of the military hierarchy, such as generals and colonels.
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Andrés Leonardo Achipiz is a Colombian serial killer, hired assassin, and psychopath. He is known by the alias The Fish, referring to his childhood where he sold fish in his neighborhood. According to his own confession, he claimed to have killed between 30 and 35 people in Bogotá, more specifically in Kennedy and Bosa, where he was hired to selectively kill in exchange for large sums of money, ranging from $600,000 to $4,000,000 worth of pesos. He was convicted of only 12 cases.
Diego Fernando Ramírez Hernández is a former Colombian cattle rancher, murderer and suspected serial killer. The authorities, who've investigated the mysterious disappearances of people in the town of Buga, believe that Ramírez has carried out several killings following the same pattern and modus operandi.
Óscar García Guzmán, known as The Monster of Toluca, is a Mexican serial killer. He was first identified as a suspect in the disappearance of a fellow Technological University of Mexico (UNITEC) student on October 30th, 2019, when, after searching his home in Villa Santin, Toluca, State of Mexico, police officers found the strangled bodies of three women, two of which were buried in his backyard and the other was hidden in his bathroom. Guzmán fled from the police and boasted that he would continue to kill women unless his pets' safety was guaranteed, though he was arrested in Mexico City on December 6th, 2019, by the Attorney General's Office. After his capture, he admitted to the killing of not only the three women found in his home, but also to the murders of a girl and her father in Otzolotepec in 2012 and to the murder of his own father in 2006, when he was just 16 years old; the prosecution has confirmed these three further confessions. Guzmán is currently held in prison and has begun trial proceedings.
Nelson Rodríguez Arévalo is a Colombian gang leader. He was involved in the murder of approximately 20 people in the locality of Ciudad Bolívar, Bogotá. Authorities believe he was involved in more murders, since he remained on the run for 13 years.
Héctor Orlando Bastidas aka "Bonito" is a Colombian criminal, gang member and hitman. According to the Colombian authorities, Bastidas is a "serial killer who spread terror in the south of the country, after putting himself at the service of criminal gangs and the FARC."
José William Aranguren, also known as William Ángel Aranguren, was a Colombian criminal, bandit, sex offender and a serial killer. He is known for a wave of ambushes, kidnappings and murders committed during and after the 1950s, the date when he is believed to have started his criminal activities after ambushing a truck from a tobacco company with his fellow gang members.
Jairo Alexander Beltrán Castañeda is a Colombian kidnapper, sex offender, murderer and suspected serial killer. The authorities accuse him of having committed at least 4 murders, although it is believed that he could have killed more people in Meta, an area where he and his family members were known to commit their crimes.
The Monster of the Mangones is the name given to an unidentified Colombian serial killer who, between the 1960s and 1970s, murdered between 30 to 38 preadolescent and teenage boys in Cali. Believed to be a native of the city, he would kidnap and later kill most of his victims in various remote vacant lots.
References
- ↑ The 'Black Widows of Gang' El Mundo. Accessed August 12, 2020. (in Spanish)
- ↑ Colombia: network of 'black widows' captured Infobae . Accessed August 12, 2020. (in Spanish)
- ↑ Kill to collect Tiempos de Seguros - Programa radial. Accessed August 12, 2020. (in Spanish)
- ↑ The boss of the 'Black Widows' Revista Semana. Accessed August 31, 2020. (in Spanish)
- ↑ "The gang of 'Black Widows' was captured in Antioquia" (in Spanish). Caracol Radio. 12 September 2011. Retrieved August 31, 2020.