Since 2019, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has smashed the country’s two main gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, throwing almost 80,000 people into megaprisons and implementing a harsh but effective “state of exception,” aka martial law. Murder rates have plummeted and, for the first time in years, Salvadorans can live without the fear of violence, extortion, or ... Show More
Oct 13
Cuba’s New Synthetic Drug Wave
How Cuba is Slipping into Drug Chaos Since the beginning of the year, the US has placed Cuba under an oil embargo, crippling its public services and throwing a society that was already on its knees into chaos. Blackouts roll for days, trash piles high and locals are getting sick ... Show More
59m 52s
Oct 6
Cuba: From Lansky’s Casinos to Castro’s Guns
Sean got beaten up in Cuba! To celebrate this, we’ve thrown together a biopoly of crime in the tropics, beginning with the story of how American organized crime flocked to Havana in the 1920s as a Prohibition rum-runner’s paradise. After World War II, mobsters then executed a tak ... Show More
59m 13s
Sep 29
Stash House: Cartel Wars, Coke Boats, and Gangs Gone Global
Danny and Sean take another lap around the criminal world, where somehow everything is getting bigger, stranger, and more international. Sinaloa’s cartel war grinds on, Romanian crews allegedly drain millions from American food-benefit accounts, and South Africa confronts organiz ... Show More
1h 3m
Aug 2023
El Salvador: The rise of the ‘world’s coolest dictator’
Not long ago, the tiny nation of El Salvador had the highest murder rate in the world. Now, it has the highest incarceration rate. President Nayib Bukele – who has described himself as “the world’s coolest dictator” – has detained 70,000 gang suspects without trial. His supporter ... Show More
28m 8s
Sep 2023
104 - El Salvador: The Price of Security
Once the murder capital of the world, El Salvador finds itself grappling with both gang violence and geopolitical shifts. Between 2013 and 2016, murder rates soared due to gang wars and systemic extortion. President Nayib Bukele, emerging from this tumult, removes the safety catc ... Show More
1h 3m
Feb 2024
El Salvador Decimated Gangs. But at What Cost?
<p>El Salvador has experienced a remarkable transformation. What had once been one of the most violent countries in the world has become incredibly safe.</p><p>Natalie Kitroeff, the New York Times bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, discusses the cost of t ... Show More
29m 7s
May 2024
#472 | Nayib Bukele | “The World’s Coolest Dictator”?
Nayib Bukele is the self-proclaimed "world's coolest dictator", and he has managed to do what many people thought was impossible in El Salvador. In this episode, we'll learn about his rise to power, his controversial treatment of gang members, and explore what comes next for the ... Show More
21m 40s