Startseite The Use of Social Media by Alleged Members of Mexican Cartels and Affiliated Drug Trafficking Organizations
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The Use of Social Media by Alleged Members of Mexican Cartels and Affiliated Drug Trafficking Organizations

  • Justin Nix , Michael R. Smith EMAIL logo , Matthew Petrocelli , Jeff Rojek und Victor M. Manjarrez
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 30. Juli 2016

Abstract

Focusing on Mexican cartels and affiliated drug trafficking organizations, this article examines how self-proclaimed cartel members use social media to further the criminal activities of their organizations. Employing an open-source, intelligence-driven methodology, the authors identified, followed, and mapped the connections between and among 75 alleged cartel members over a period of 4 months. Results indicated that cartel members actively use Facebook to plan, organize, and communicate in real-time. These findings provide tentative validation to the utility of using open-source social media platforms to study the social structure and operations of Mexican drug cartels. Implications for law enforcement, homeland security, and the intelligence enterprise are discussed.

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Published Online: 2016-7-30
Published in Print: 2016-9-1

©2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Heruntergeladen am 19.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/jhsem-2015-0084/html
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