The renegade Islamist group known as ISIS now controls swaths of Syria and Iraq, and it’s partly because the fighters are so rich. ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is known for having the biggest guns and paying the highest salaries. While kidnapping, oil smuggling and donations from sympathizers have been well-known sources of money, the groups also run complex and brutal protection rackets, according to analysts. Charles Lister of the Brookings Institution in Doha, Qatar, says Iraqi intelligence sources estimate that extremist militants take in more than $1 million a month in extortion from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. “Mosul seems to have acquired a very central role in terms of making money,” Lister says. “Certainly since late 2012, early 2013, I’ve seen a number of reports to suggest that ISIS’s activities in extortion and acquiring levies on transport and real estate having increased […]