Coverage of extortion schemes in Mexico, including cobro de piso (street tax), business protection rackets, and digital extortion. Reports on how organized crime targets businesses, tourists, and ordinary citizens.
Cancún
Two of them just got fired for doing the exact opposite — caught on their own body cameras carrying portable card terminals and shaking tourists down for cash.
Puebla
Every time a public bus completes a route through the streets of Puebla, the driver forks over 10 to 15 pesos to a young man on the corner. Do that dozens of times a day, and the math adds up to 1,500 pesos a month in protection payments.
Mexico
The stolen Chevrolet carried two men and a trunk full of something the highway patrol did not want to open. When they did, they found more than drugs. They found a phone with names.
Crime
Colima, one of Mexico's smallest states by population, ranks in the national top five for four of seven high-impact crime categories, according to new data from the Executive Secretariat of the Nation.
Crime
He ran two unions, extorted water wells, held a 60-year-old woman at gunpoint, and operated across a dozen municipalities. This week, the law finally caught up with him.
Extortion
Merchants in Mexicali receive up to 3 extortion calls per week and many have stopped answering their phones, the local chamber of commerce says.
Virtual Kidnapping
Extortion scammers are flooding Baja California Sur with fake kidnapping calls. Here's how the scheme works and what travelers to Los Cabos and La Paz need to know.
Organized Crime
A 33-year-old Colombian was picked up in Tenango del Valle, State of Mexico, after allegedly threatening a shopkeeper and trying to bribe police. Authorities suspect he is part of a "gota a gota" network tied to the CJNG.