The Useless Arrests

Several members of the Riviera Maya gang have been arrested with cloned cards, skimmers and cash. But these were mostly low-level operatives who got away with light sentences, fines, or deportations. In 2016, two Romanians were captured in Paraguay while driving the car of Julio Cesar Belmonte do Amaral, Florian Tudor’s brother in law. Last year the gang faced more problems with the law: In February two different teams were caught in the Caribbean islands of Grenada and Barbados. A month later, Sorin Velcu, one of Tudor’s men, was busted in Bali, Indonesia, along with three of the gang’s pullers, including his civil partner, Alisa Sardaru.