The World's Most Dangerous Neighborhoods

International true crime journalist Brett Forrest takes us on a journey to some places we don't actually want to go to. Trust, this is as close as you should get.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Brett Forrest has spent many years in Africa, Transdniestria,
Azerbaijan, Bogota, Brazil, and Moscow, working as a journalist and
international consultant on questions of war and organized crime. In short, he goes to the places you (and we) are far too shook to go to.

The world is full of places you’re better off avoiding, unless you’re willing to risk the danger for a good story to tell. Life at the margins has its excitements. Excluding active war zones, here are some of the most dangerous places in the world.

Solntsevo, Moscow

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If there is such a thing as the mafia in post-Soviet Russia—the Kremlin playing its own role as Godfather—it got its organizational start here. Solntsevo, a neighborhood in northwest Moscow, gives its name to one of the most dangerous criminal outfits in the world. Formed in the dying days of Communist power, the Solntsevskaya Brotherhood has ballooned into a powerful clan involved in arms trafficking, money laundering, prostitution, high-level fraud, and legitimate business. Hanging out in Moscow with these sorts of people has its thrills, but beware the price of adventure.

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Cite Soleil, Port-Au-Prince

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I first heard of Cité Soleil when a colleague of mine told me how he had recently felt the barrel of a gun pressed to his cheek there. This happened in the middle of a riot, a common occurrence in Haiti’s largest slum, located in Port-au-Prince, the capital. One of the largest shantytowns in the Northern Hemisphere, Cité Soleil suffers from many ills: a total lack of infrastructure and public services, uncontrolled crime, and a disturbing frequency of lynching. The UN has described the human rights situation here as catastrophic. Following last year’s magnitude 7.0 earthquake, aid was slow in reaching Cité Soleil, exacerbating all difficulties. Local gang members escaped from Haiti's damaged prison and have now returned to the slum, escalating crime.mapcite

Complexo do Alemao, Rio de Janeiro

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Rio de Janeiro sure is pretty, but things can quickly turn ugly. Alemão is one of Rio’s most violent favelas, an interlocking collection of shantytowns in the midst of the city. Several years ago, members of the Red Command, the gang that runs Alemão, dismembered the body of a Brazilian journalist here, stuffed his carcass in a gas-filled drum, and lit it on fire. As the city prepares to host the World Cup and the Olympics, the authorities are cracking down. It took several branches of the army and police to pacify Alemão late last year. But this favela is largely beyond control. When I visited Alemão for an illegal, open-air party, I watched teenage gang members brazenly peddle a bonanza of hard drugs as they smoked crack, their eyes glazing over, automatic rifles dangling from their shoulders.mapcomplexo

Ferghana Valley

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This region, originally settled around 500 BC, is a powder keg of Islamic terrorism, a haven for rebels who have fought beside the Taliban in Afghanistan and al Qaeda in Waziristan. Located at the confluence of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, the Ferghana is a roiling mass of 11 million people, the largest population center of Central Asia. Numerous recent uprisings have resulted in deadly clashes between rebels and government forces, fleeing refugees, humanitarian crises, and spiraling political conflict. Last year, ethnic violence in the valley spurred the overthrow of the Kyrgyz government. The Islamic Jihad Union and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan are strong here, cooperating in the pan-Islamic terrorist effort.mapfergana

Barrio Santa Fe, Bogota

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Pablo Escobar may be long gone, but Bogotá remains the main port for drugs and weapons going from Colombia to Panama and points north. According to the State Department, there is a greater risk of being kidnapped in Colombia than in any other country in the world. Located in downtown Bogotá, Barrio Santa Fe is as degenerate as it gets. Cocaine, crack, and heroin are available in every storefront. When I visited here recently, I saw runty whores piled in the darkness of the doorways. Poorly disguised transsexuals, painted in clown makeup, flashed their skirts. Ever-present here is the danger of burundanga, the Colombian criminal’s drug that makes you agreeable to all requests and wipes your memory.

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Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania

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The capital city of the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia-Alania and a combat center of a still-active independence movement, Vladikavkaz is a hotbed of terrorism. The State Department strongly cautions Americans to avoid this part of the world, and that if they do happen to be here to “depart immediately.” Vladikavkaz has been the target of numerous bombings and shootings over the years. Several mayors have been gunned down. The city is also the unofficial base of the Black Widows, a group of female suicide bombers who have terrorized Russia with deadly attacks on trains, subways, airplanes, concerts, and schools, blamed for roughly 1,000 deaths in the last decade. I have a good friend in Moscow who is from Vladikavkaz. He disappeared a few years ago.

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Iztapalapa, Mexico City

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Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, gets all the press. But Mexico City is a violent, unpredictable place of big money, greater poverty, drugs, guns, and greed. All but the money are on display in the city’s Iztapalapa slum. I rushed in there one evening past midnight. A man had just been gunned down fleeing his car. The body lay in a pool of blood in a taco stand. All along the rooftops and in the surrounding storefronts, bystanders looked on, whispers of the killers among them.

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Tiraspol, Moldova

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You will never sense any trouble in Tiraspol. You’ll just disappear. The capital of the outlaw enclave of Transdniester—which operates as its own government within Moldova proper, following a civil war—is the epicenter of the global trade in illegal weapons. I secretly visited a weapons depot here, and the cops arrested me. Not so secret, as it turned out. I refused to sign their confession, and I got away. Locals have to be on guard at all times, too. A Tiraspol girlfriend of mine once told me about the three men who tried to stuff her into the trunk of their car. She pulled a pistol out of her purse, shot them all in the face. She said she never saw them again.

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