Cape Verdean organized crime

Cape Verdean gangs are active in the southeast of Belgium, namely in the province of Luxembourg. A well known power base is the town of Athus, where they conduct criminal activities such drug trafficking as well as prostitution.[4][5]

Cape Verdean communities exist in several Parisian suburbs. Some of them are home to their own local gangs.[6] Several of the gangs are active in the large-scale importation, as well as the wholesale and retail distribution of narcotics, as was the case with the infamous French-Cape Verdean crime boss named Arleto.[7]

In the Netherlands, Cape Verdeans have the biggest presence in the port city of Rotterdam. While the Dutch Cape Verdean community has a generally lesser street gang problem, some Cape Verdean criminals are active alongside established Dutch Antillean criminal organizations. Their criminal activities mostly concern large narcotics importations, local drug distribution, money laundering and murder.[8] Local gangs are also active in the extortion of alleged drug smugglers. A notable case led to the so-called Rotterdam cafe killings in 2005 when several people, including innocents, were killed by three local Cape Verdean career criminals. It was alleged that the motive was a dispute between the three killers and the owner of the bar over drugs and an unsanctioned murder back in Cape Verde.[9][10]

Cape Verdean gangs are one of the most important sources of drugs in Portugal.[11] The notorious Lisbon neighborhood Cova da Moura, with a large Cape Verdean community, is a known stage for local rival criminal organizations battling over the drug trade and illegal rackets in the city.[12]

The small Swiss city of Martigny is home to two main criminal organizations, one Albanian mafia gang and another gang composed of persons of Cape Verdean descent, which have traditionally rivalled each other over the monopoly in trafficking of narcotics and other criminal activities in the country's Valais region. This has occasionally led to shootings and murders between the two parties.[13][14]

The New England region in the United States, especially the cities of Boston and Brockton in Massachusetts and the Rhode Island state, is home to a sizeable Cape Verdean community. Several of the region's neighborhoods are home to street gangs. While larger and more structured gangs exist, a notable example is the gang named Cape Verdean Outlaws,[15] the vast majority of the Cape Verdean street gangs are based and named after their respective neighborhoods such as the Hendry Street Gang and the Woodward Avenue Gang.[16] These gangs sometimes cooperate, but also often rival with each other leading to murder and violent clashes over turf.[17][18][19]

The level of organization and sophistication is varying, with several gangs seldom extending beyond local crimes and drug dealing, while some others are involved in large-scale drug trafficking enterprises,[20] as well as extortion, money laundering and strong-arm jobs for locally active American Mafia crews.[21]

A smaller Cape verdean community had emerged in central North Carolina in the mid 2000s where the youngest of the Faial family currently resides. This gang or family brokers many of the deals between gangs and potentially has the largest outreach from racketeering to strong arm jobs to significant political influence.