Brazil’s biggest slum no longer under drug cartel controlIt took 3000 members of Brazil’s security forces to take control back of the Rocinha slum in Rio de Janiero from drug cartels. The favela “pacification” is part of preparations for the 2014 World Cup.
Drug cartels
interactive map 
Drug trafficking routes in Mexico
Drug cartels in Mexico, which ruthlessly fight each other for a share of the market, also battle to control drug trafficking routes to the US worth billions of dollars. The Economist depicts the routes on an interactive map.
Mexican drug lords’ narco-bling
When Mexican drug cartels are busted up, what happens to their leopard-skin Rolexes, pet gorillas, and diamond-encrusted pistols? The WSJ investigates.
Mexican drug cartels recruit young men for murder-for-hire rings
In the minds of many Americans, the Rio Grande divides Mexico, a corrupt land where drug cartels have the upper hand, from the US, a nation of law and order, where the authorities keep criminal gangs in check. But in reality, the border is much more blurred.
