Sudams

The Sudams (South Americans) are the criminal underworld consisting of the Colombian (and other South American) drug cartels and their offshoots in the West.

Sudams in South America
In the aftermath of the American drug wars of the late 20th and early 21st centuries in South America which ended up devastating and most of the Andean nations, the South American drug syndicates underwent a transformation. After the U.S. military forces withdrew, ending the decades long Vietnam War-like conflict, the cocaine cartels of South America broke up into factions.

They warred with each other nearly fracturing the Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, northern Ecuador, and western Venezuela into warlord states. Neighboring countries such as Brazil and corporations interceded to prevent further destabilization of South America. By 2020, most of the countries in South America had become brutal police states with a tiny minority of the very rich and a vast see of the poor. In this environment, the Colombian and Peruvian drug lords were still powers.

Sudams in the West
Due to the devastation of the Central American wars and its disruption of the drug trade that they were reliant on, Sudam drug gangs in the United States turned to more generalized organized crime. The same thing happened with the Sudam gangs operating in the European Community.

They are into protection rackets, drug dealing, robbery, prostitution, and so on. Unlike the Triads, when it comes to their communities the Sudams act like the Yakuza and some of the Mafia groups, being concerned only about making money and not the betterment of the community itself.

Their methods can be brutal and Sudams are prone to take higher risks for lower rewards than other organized crime networks. Many end up finding themselves in a no win situation and prefer to "go down in a blaze of glory", rather than do serious time. Generally speaking the Sudam hitters are neither as tough as their counterparts in the Triad nor as professional as those in the Mafia. On top of that their equipment are usually slightly out of date or has seen much wear and tear, but they are aggressive and with a belly full of fire.

Cartels in the Real World

 * Wikipedia: Cali Cartel
 * Wikipedia: Medellin Cartel
 * Wikipedia: North Coast Cartel