‘The elite troops of trafficking’. An assessment of the phenomenon of military-trained gang members in Rio de Janeiro

Andrea Varsori

Small Wars and Insurgencies, 2021, vol. 32, issue 1, 80-102

Abstract: In recent years, scholars and practitioners alike have acknowledged the threat posed by Military-Trained Gang Members (MTGMs). These individuals have the training, know-how, and expertise necessary to significantly increase the effectiveness and lethality of the armed group they belong to. Even though this threat is present in several criminal insurgencies, usage of the MTGM concept is limited to studies regarding the United States. This paper broadens this scope by assessing the presence and characters of the MTGM phenomenon in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Through a review of media output on the topic, spanning over more than 21 years, the paper exposes the roots and extent of this trend, as well as the roles played by MTGMs.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09592318.2020.1804721 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:fswixx:v:32:y:2021:i:1:p:80-102

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/fswi20

DOI: 10.1080/09592318.2020.1804721

Access Statistics for this article

Small Wars and Insurgencies is currently edited by Paul Rich

More articles in Small Wars and Insurgencies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().