
Venezuela's murderous 'Crazy Boys' gang who make their living by kidnapping in one of the world's most violent cities - Caracas - have given an astonishing interview shedding light on the reality of life inside the failing socialist state.

The gangsters make money by kidnapping ordinary citizens off the streets and demanding ransoms that can be as little as a car or fancy watch, but such meagre items still represent a tidy profit in the impoverished nation.

Venezuela has been ruled by Russian-backed Nicolás Maduro for five years, and the country was at the centre of a stand off between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump this year as the White House tried to support Juan Guadio who claimed to have won an election.

However Maduro clung to power and socialist rule continues in the nation amid soaring hyper inflation that is making many of Caracas' hardened criminals consider leaving the country.

Feared Caracas street gangster El Negrito, 24, sleeps with a silver revolver under his pillow and says he's lost track of his murder count.

El Negrito says the hyperinflation has disrupted his bloody track record and firing his gun has become an expensive luxury. Ten bolivars - now worth just $1 - used to get you a gun, now that doesn't even get you a pack of cigarettes.

'If you empty your clip, you're shooting off $15,' said El Negrito, speaking to The Associated Press on the condition he be identified only by his street name and photographed wearing a hoodie and face mask to avoid attracting unwelcome attention. 'You lose your pistol or the police take it and you're throwing away $800.'

He leads for-hire hoodlums called the Crazy Boys, a band that forms part of an intricate criminal network in Petare, one of Latin America's largest and most feared slums.

Feared street gangster El Negrito, 24, sleeps with a silver revolver under his pillow and says he's lost track of his murder count - pictured at his safe house in the notorious Petare slum in Caracas, Venezuela

A police investigator uses his foot to point to the head of a man with his arms and legs bound who was removed from the Guaire River in Caracas

Venezuela's crime rate: Venezuela still had the world’s highest murder rate in 2018, 81.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, but that figure was down from 89 in 2017 and 92 the year before. The total number of homicides fell to 23,047 from 26,616 in 2017, said the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV), whose researchers have access to police data. The OVV say this is partly down to the millions who have fled the failed state. Venezuela’s government has accused non-governmental organisations of inflating crime statistics to create paranoia and undermine Maduro’s socialist government. Even the most recent official national murder rate - 58 per 100,000 for 2015 - was among the world’s highest. World Bank data from 2016 put Venezuela’s murder rate at 56 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2016, third in the world behind El Salvador and Honduras. Robberies of farmers and food distribution trucks increased in 2018, according to the report, a sign of growing desperation and hunger as inflation topped 1 million percent. Reporting by Reuters Advertisement

The gangster, who agreed to an interview with two associates at their hillside hideout in Caracas, said his group now carries out roughly five kidnappings a year, down considerably from years past.

Such express abductions are big business. Typically, a victim is nabbed and held hostage for up to 48 hours while loved ones scramble to gather as much cash as they can find, with kidnappers focused on speed and a quick return rather than on the size of the payout.

El Negrito said the ransom they set depends on what a victim's car costs, and a deal can turn deadly if demands aren't met.

But like many of his associates, he has considered leaving the trade in Venezuela and emigrating.

He said some people have quit the world of crime and sought more honest work abroad, fearing stiff penalties in other countries where laws are more enforced.

While explaining that he struggles to support his wife and young daughter, El Negrito passed his silver pistol between his hands. A Bible lay open to Proverbs on a dresser as a breeze turned the pages.

Another Crazy Boy called Dog, said, 'A pistol used to cost one of these bills,' crumpling up a 10 bolivar ($1) note that can no longer be used to buy a single cigarette. 'Now, this is nothing.'

Bullets are expensive at $1 each and with less cash circulating on the street, he says robberies just don't pay like they used to.

Officials of Maduro's socialist administration stopped publishing statistics charting crime trends long ago.

Masked members the National Police Action Force (FAES), an elite commando unit created for anti-gang operations, patrol the Antimano slum of Caracas, Venezuela

Masked criminals who go by the name 'El Negrito,' (right), and 'Dog,' are members of the Crazy Boys gang, hold their guns at their safe-house in the Petare slum of Caracas - they say shooting their weapons has become a luxury due to inflation

Cinderblock homes fill the hills of the Petare slum in Caracas, Venezuela - one of Latin America's largest and most feared slums

The economic collapse and political tumult in the once-wealthy oil nation has plunged Venezuela into lawlessness.

As a result of the chaos, crime has morphed in form. Reports of theft and pilfering of everything from copper telephone wires to livestock are surging.

Meanwhile, drug trafficking and illegal gold mining have become default activities for organised crime.

When night falls, streets in Caracas clear as most residents abide by an undeclared curfew out of fear for their safety.

Venezuelans tend not to gaze at their cellphones in the streets and many leave gold and silver wedding rings in secure places at home, while others have grown accustomed to checking whether they are being followed.

'Venezuela remains one of the most violent countries in the world,' said Dorothy Kronick, who teaches political science at the University of Pennsylvania and has carried out extensive research in Caracas' slums. 'It has wartime levels of violence - but no war.'

But in something of an unexpected silver lining to the country's all-consuming economic crunch, experts say armed assaults and killings are plummeting in one of the world's most violent nations.

A woman dances with neighbors during a Mother's Day block party in the Petare slum of Caracas - most of the residents observe an unofficial curfew when darkness falls

A street goes dark as the sun sets in the Petare slum of Caracas, Venezuela - they tend not to gaze at their cellphones in the streets and many leave gold and silver wedding rings in secure places at home

At the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a Caracas-based nonprofit group, researchers estimate homicides have plunged up to 20% over the last three years based on tallies from media clippings and sources at local morgues.

The decline has a direct link to the economic tailspin that has helped spark a political battle for control of the once-wealthy oil nation.

Soaring inflation topped 1 million percent last year, making the local bolivar nearly useless even though ATM machines have been unable to dispense more than a dollar's worth of scrip anyway.

The severe scarcity of food and medicine has driven some 3.7 million to seek better prospects in places like Colombia, Panama and Peru - the majority of them young males from whom gangs recruit. And workdays are frequently curtailed due to nationwide strikes.

Critics blame 20 years of the socialist revolution launched by the late President Hugo Chavez, who expropriated once-thriving businesses that today produce a fraction of their potential under government management.

Earlier this year, opposition leader Guaido launched a bold campaign with the support of the U.S. and more than 50 nations to oust Maduro, who succeeded Chavez.

However, Guaido has yet to make good on his promises to restore democracy, spark a robust economy and make the streets safer.

A boy flies a kite in Caracas, Venezuela - the chaos brought by President Nicolas Maduro's socialist policies and refusal to stand down as leader has increased crimes like theft

Giancarlo Paredes, better known as 'El Mocho,' who uses a wheelchair after losing his leg in a shootout with police, holds his daughter in a squatter building in the Petare slum

Robert Briceno, director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, said the decline in homicides is a matter of basic economics: As cash becomes scarce in Venezuela, there is less to steal.

'These days, nobody is doing well - not honest citizens who produce wealth or the criminals who prey on them,' he said.

One associate of the Crazy Boys, who gave only his nickname, Dog, said he has no trouble finding ammunition for his guns on the black market. He said the challenge is paying for them in a country where the average person earns $6.50 a month.

'A pistol used to cost one of these bills,' he said, crumbling up a 10 bolivar bill that can no longer be used to buy a single cigarette. 'Now, this is nothing.'