The son of the late Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin and around 500 former mercenaries have built a major criminal empire in Africa. After Prigozhin’s death in 2023, most Wagner overseas assets were absorbed by the Russian Defense Ministry’s African Corps. However, Pavel Prigozhin and about 500 loyalists refused to integrate and went independent. They control illegal gold mining at the Ndassima mines in the Central African Republic, generating an estimated $500 million annually. The group has also established its own drug cartel, smuggling high-dose tramadol, known in Africa as “cocaine for the poor,” and distributing it to fighters, pro-Russian demonstrators, and miners. They use the profits to buy weapons and maintain independence. They have additionally set up the production of addictive alcoholic surrogates mixed with tramadol. Local authorities in the Central African Republic are unable to dismantle this autonomous narco-empire in remote regions.