The Underworld Podcast

Pablo Acosta ruled Mexico's drug trade from a dusty border town, turning Ojinaga into a narco-empire that funneled billions in cocaine, weed and heroin into America during the 1980s. Known as the Fox of Ojinaga, he was a ruthless trafficker who taught the narco-world that it was better to buy the authorities than fight them. His dealings with the Colombian cartels changed the Mexican underworld as we know it...until a coke problem and a bloody FBI-backed raid in 1987 turned a remote Mexican village into a war zone. This is the story of the man who pioneered the border drug corridor, leaving a legacy that still shapes the cartel wars today. https://quince.com/underworld for all your clothing needs, use code Underworld at checkout! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nathan Southern is an investigative reporter in Phnom Penh specializing in organized crime, while Lindsey Kennedy is a journalist focusing on corruption and trafficking in Cambodia. They dive into the notorious Hun Toh, revealing his rise from illegal logging to running a vast criminal empire. The discussion covers scam industries, the geography of crime in Southeast Asia, and how Chinese investments inadvertently empower these activities. With insights into the evolution of drugs from heroin to meth and the challenges journalists face, this conversation uncovers the dark underbelly of Cambodian politics.

When a London couple were found dead in a lover’s lane, in 1987, evidence pointed quickly at some of the city’s most notorious gangland figures — both established and upcoming. But despite informants and wiretaps the trail ran cold.Then another body showed up. Then another. Before long, cops were connecting the dots between four different killings, all carried out in disturbing fashion across the British capital. And it looked a lot like the Metropolitan Police, London’s historic force, was directly involved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They say Semion Mogilevich is the most powerful gangster on the planet, the mastermind who rewrote the playbook for organized crime worldwide. Boss of bosses in the Russian Mafiya, with a hand in everything from trafficking nuclear material, arms dealing, narcotics trafficking, massive prostitution rings, multiple billion dollar frauds, hundreds of murders, controlling the gas and oil industry in entire countries and even art fraud. He's allegedly the closest thing there is to Keyser Soze...but is he REALLY who they say he is? We go deep on what's fact and fiction about a man wanted in half a dozen countries for pretty much every organized crime imaginable. DON'T FORGET TO BUY ASSET!!!: https://www.thatasset.com/underworld Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buried on the border of Thailand and Myanmar, Shwe Kokko is a shimmering city of skyscrapers, casinos and fresh-laid highways. But peek a little closer and you’ll see why it has become one of the world’s criminal capitals — from razor-wire fences to keep in thousands of enslaved scammers, to armed rebel guards and a theme park where Chinese high-rollers can shoot military-grade weapons.Shwe Kokko is a gangster’s paradise. But not any gangster: the brainchild of a Burmese warlord and his Triad kinpin partner, it is an emblem of Golden Triangle lawlessness — where drugs, scams and slaves are bartered like chickens, and where billions of dollars disappear into a gigantic dark market. And this year, it has even helped start an international conflict. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 1980's and 1990's, America's biggest outlaw motorcycle gangs were looking to expand all over Europe. Unfortunately, they set their sites on the same countries, and they weren't keen on sharing territory. The Great Nordic Biker War erupted in the 1990s as the Hells Angels and Bandidos clashed for control of drug routes and territory across Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. What began as turf disputes escalated into bombings, shootings, and even attacks with anti-tank weapons o, shocking a population that never expected their streets to resemble war zones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso was the Lucchese family’s brutal underboss, the brains behind boss Vic Amuso's reign, and architect of one of the Mafia’s bloodiest purges. Together they ruled the Luccheses with paranoia and brute force, wiping out rivals and even dozens of their own men if they sniffed disloyalty or simply didn't like them. Casso personally ordered or committed dozens of murders, turning the family into a machine of fear. But when the law finally closed in, the man who scared even the most toughest enforcers and hitmen shocked the underworld by flipping, becoming one of the highest-ranking mobsters ever to turn informant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1959, when Fidel Castro’s revolutionaries toppled Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, they wasted no time booting out American business owners, casinos and drug kingpins — much to the delight of US law enforcers. But as time passed, and Castro’s socialist regime sought ever-trickier income streams, the Caribbean island proved an irresistible  stepping stone for cartels getting product from the Andes through Central America into Florida. Ambassadors, generals, and madcap American financiers: they were all on the take. But was El Jefe? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Bill Richardson, a troubled oilman and pro pigeon shooter, was gunned down on his Corpus Christi doorstep in 1971, everybody assumed it was an open-and-shut organized crime hit. But when Richardson’s supposed killers walked free from court, and another body showed up in the Gulf of Mexico, investigators stumbled on a conspiracy that pitted millionaire gamblers and sharpshooters against the narcos, conmen and killers of the Dixie Mafia.For decades the case fell cold. But has a reporter just busted it open again? Sean spoke to Bellingcat investigator Peter Barth to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the ashes of Los Zetas rose the Cartel del Noreste or Northeast Cartel, a brutal splinter group led by the infamous Treviño Morales family and headquartered in the blood-soaked border city of Nuevo Laredo. Known for their military tactics, narco-tanks, and paramilitary wing “Tropa del Infierno” aka the Hell Troop, CDN wages war not only against rivals but against the Mexican state itself. This episode dives into their origins, their iron grip on smuggling routes, and the savage methods they use to maintain power. From public executions to armored convoys that look straight out of Mad Max, CDN represents the next evolution of cartel warfare. If you want to understand how modern Mexican cartels have evolved, start here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices