On November 16, 2020, a 16-year criminal career came to an end for Emiliano Alcides Osorio, alias Caín, top leader of Los Caparros criminal group. Colombian authorities neutralized him after a confrontation in the town of La Unión, Tarazá municipality, Antioquia. The Colombian government was offering a $130,000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts.
“Alias Caín was wanted for the crimes of narcotrafficking, aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime, homicide, trafficking, carrying and possession of firearms, forced displacement, and illegal extraction of minerals in lower Cauca, Antioquia,” Colombian Minister of Defense Carlos Holmes Trujillo told the press on November 17.
Also known as Pilatos, Holmes noted, Caín was accused of murdering social leaders and extorting businesses and transportation companies in Antioquia department, in addition to forcefully displacing residents in the region.
An intelligence officer who took part in the operation told the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo on November 17 that “[he] earned his alias, Caín, for murdering several first-degree family members.” With this capture, the officer said, one of the country’s most dangerous criminals is off the map. “He used torture and dismemberment as a method for criminal coercion,” El Tiempo reported.
On November 17, Army General Juan Carlos Ramírez Trujillo, commander of the Colombian Army Seventh Division, told the media that operations against Los Caparros in 2020 have been significant. “We have captured 117 of its members, 20 bandits have been brought to justice, and 10 have died in military operations,” Gen. Ramírez said.