At least 17 states record the actions of factions PCC (First Command of the Capital), CV (Red Command) and TCP (Third Pure Command) in alliances with each other or with regional groups.
Survey of Sheetbased on investigations by Federal Police and civil police, in addition to data from the Brazilian Public Security Forum, points out that this articulation has a pragmatic character, aimed at territorial expansion and the strengthening of illicit markets, with a focus on maximizing profits.
One of the movements that attracts the most attention is the advance of TCP, which expanded its presence beyond the Rio de Janeiro and signed alliances in at least ten states. In some cases, the faction approaches the PCC to confront Comando Vermelho, its historical rival.
The survey only considers alliances involving these three factions, leaving out only regional articulations, such as in Rio Grande do Sul where there are alliances between local groups. It also does not seek to map all organizations in each state.
As already shown by Sheetthe PCC and CV are present throughout the country, although they exercise hegemony in 13 units of the federation. Due to this perspective, states in which a faction acts in an isolated and hegemonic manner, such as São Paulo, do not appear.
According to David Marques, program manager at the Brazilian Public Security Forum, the organized crime It stopped being local and began to operate on a national and transnational scale.
This expansion process is marked by the break between PCC and CV, in 2016 and 2017, after the São Paulo faction murdered Jorge Rafaat, a drug intermediary on the border with Paraguay for both organizations.
From this episode onwards, the PCC began to control the Rota Caipira and the CV intensified its expansion to the North and Northeast and relied on alliances with local groups. However, the two organizations adopted different strategies.
The CV maintained its focus on armed territorial control and the exploitation of local activities. The PCC has consolidated a model focused on wholesale and trafficking logistics, prioritizing partnerships to guarantee the flow of drugs and expanding its operations in formal markets for money laundering.
“The two main factions, PCC and Comando Vermelho, operate with a focus on the drug business from a transnational perspective. Brazil is used as a logistics hub to circulate merchandise and access highly profitable markets in Europe, Asia and Africa”, he assesses.
For Marques, the TCP is an expanding force similar to that of the CV, its direct competitor, although it is still far behind the two largest factions in the country.
Bruno Paes Manso, researcher at the Center for Studies of Violence from USP, assesses that the configuration of alliances is influenced by historical rivalries. The TCP has grown as a natural ally for groups that oppose the expansion of CV in the states.
He adds that there is currently a reduction in the total number of factions in the country, a phenomenon that he describes as a process of forming alliances. This reduction is motivated by a market strategy. Factions are becoming increasingly rational from the point of view of competing for profit.
“The groups realized that the less war, the less cost. This change reflects a search for profit and competitive advantages in the drug market and crime in general, which resulted in a reduction in violence and homicides in Brazil,” he said.
In Espírito Santo, organized crime is structured through alliances between national factions and local groups. The main organization is the PCV (First Command of Vitória), allied with the Red Command.
As PCC and CV control international routes, regional factions depend on these organizations for supplies. In this arrangement, the CV provides drugs and logistics, while the PCV maintains local autonomy.
However, some drug traffickers had historical feuds with PCV leaders and, therefore, did not want to ally themselves with the CV. In this context, the PCC began to operate in a more structured way in the state from 2017 onwards, offering cheaper and more stable routes and trying to co-opt leaders, including within prisons.
“Some people did not want to join the PCC because membership implies loss of autonomy, part of these groups approached the TCP, which works as an intermediary to access the PCC’s drugs without submitting fully to its hierarchy”, said delegate Guilherme Eugênio, who works at the Center for Intelligence and Telematic Analysis of Espírito Santo.
Ages Macedo, coordinator of the Center for Intelligence and Telematic Analysis, to try to combat these groups in the state, investigations focus not only on the executors, but mainly on the leaders of organized crime, with an emphasis on money laundering schemes and attacks on assets and family structures used to hide assets.
Furthermore, it maintains an exchange of information with other states to strengthen the fight against these groups that no longer operate only locally.
In this context, Bruno Paes Manso adds that the creation and performance of Ficcos (Integrated Forces to Combat Organized Crime), which bring together, for example, Police Federal, Civil Police and Federal Highway Policein addition to the work of the Gaecos (Special Action Groups to Combat Organized Crime) of the Public Ministry, represent a step forward in combating organized crime.
He breaks with the traditional model centered on overt patrolling and arrests in the act that was used 30 years ago, which, according to him, contributed to the growth of the prison system and the expansion of factions across the country.
For the researcher, these structures mark a change by allowing greater national coordination and integration between security forces, with the Union taking a more active role.
He highlights that the exchange of information between agencies is today the main strategy for confronting organized crime and that this joint action has elevated the debate on public security to a more strategic and national level.
Understand the factions
PCC becomes a multinational holding company, while CV focuses its expansion on South America to control Amazon routes
Red Command
- Range: Four countries in South America (Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Suriname). PF data also mentions Argentina, Paraguay and Venezuela
- Model: Amazon regional expansion
- Main activity: Control of river routes in the Amazon (Alto Solimões, Vale do Juruá) for cocaine flow
First Capital Command
- Range: 16 countries (Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Uruguay, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam)
- Model: Multinational holding company
- Main activity: Cocaine export via ports (Santos) and global money laundering
Main routes that feed Brazilian trafficking
Caipira Route: MT/MS – GO – MG – SP (Port of Santos)
Alto Solimões Route: Colombia – Rio Solimões – Amazonas – national distribution
Bolivia Route (MT): Bolivia – 21 MT border municipalities – Rota Caipira
Juruá Valley Route: Peru (Ucayali) – Acre – BR-364 – national distribution
Source: Brazilian Public Security Forum
