Urban Gangs: Brazilian Case Study

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Urban Gangs Brazilian Case Study

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Crime in Brazil Statistics

• One of the highest crime rates in Latin America
• Five Brazilian cities rank among the 15 most
  violent in Latin America
• Murder rate in comparative perspective (2004)
• Brazil 26.9/100,000
• United States 5.5/100,000
• Overcrowding and dire prison conditions
• Prison population (360,000) 4th in world
• Posing a wider threat to public safety?
• Brazil comes in 2nd in highest gun-related deaths
  

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Socio-economic Causes of Brazils high rate of
crime?

• Unequal income distribution combined with
  widespread poverty
• Out of population of 190 million, roughly 50
  million live in poverty
• Poverty in favelas
• Social deprivation
• 75 of countrys municipalities have no cultural
  or leisure facilities
• 96 have no cinemas
• 86 have no theater
• 25 have no library

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Characteristics of urban crime

• Street crime remains a major problem for visitors
  and local residents alike
• Majority of crimes are not solved
• Foreign tourists are often targeted
• Rio de Janeiro
• Salvador
• Gold Coast of Sao Paulo

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More on Crime in Urban Brazil

• Robbery and quicknapping outside of banks and
  ATMs common
• Theft on city buses
• Carjacking
• Corrupt policeman
• Inter-city roads widely recognized among the most
  dangerous in the world

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Shantytown Gangs the premier institution in
urban crime

• Gangs in the favelas
• Function like statelets (mini-states)
• Exercise of political power in statelets
  arbitrary
• Drugs common source of wealth/power
• not patrolled by police
• Prison gangs
• Do criminals run the countrys prison system
• Overcrowded prisons

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Gang Recruitment

• Target young children- 8 yrs old to teens
• Get out of jail sooner because minor
• Three main jobs
• Look-outs
• Dealers
• Soldiers
• 7 days a week, 10 hours a day

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Why join a gang?

• Gain status (levels of inequality high in
  Brazilian cities)
• Social, physical and economical
• Feeling of empowerment
• Sense of identity and belonging
• Money
• Protection

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Major Gangs and Organized Crime Brazil

• Five major gangs in Brazil
• Red Command CV
• First Capital Command PCC
• Pure Third Command
• Amigos dos Amigos
• Capixaba Mafia

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Comando Vermelho (CV, Red Command)

• Largest and oldest organized gang in Brazil
• Established in Rio de Janeiro in 1970's
• Major trafficker of weapons and drugs
• Began as a gang in Cândido Mendes prison
• Had very strict code of conduct for members
• Punishments (such as death) for violators
• Maintain control this way

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The favelas of Rio de Janeiro, where the Red
Command is prevalent in drug trade
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Comando Vermelho (CV, Red Command)

• Originally composed of members of the Falange
  Vermelha (Red Phalanx)
• This militant group was strong in its fight
  against the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964
  to 1985)
• Urban areas known as territory of the Red Command
  are tagged with the letters CV

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Primeiro Comando da Capital(PCC, First Capital
Command)

• Founded August 31, 1993
• In Taubate Prison in Sao Paulo
• Group of eight prisoners initially
• Has grown into a major threat to Sao Paulo and
  region

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Primeiro Comando da Capital(PCC, First Capital
Command)

• Began as prison gang, but transformed into a
  terrorist criminal organization
• Members utilize a baptism ritual as means of
  induction into the gang, similar to the Mafia
  organizations within the U.S.
• Goals of the PCC were outlined in the group's
  sixteen point manifesto written in 1993
• To fight injustice and oppression in the prison
  system
• To maintain strict discipline among members
• To expand beyond Sao Paulo prisons to national
  spotlight

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Sao Paulo, the home of the PCC PCC Motto is for
liberty, justice and peace
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Terceiro Comando Puro (TCP, Pure Third Command)

• Originally founded by dissidents of the Red
  Command, therefore these two gangs are major
  rivals
• Fighting between gangs often occurs for supremacy
  in the slums and throughout the extensive prison
  system in Brazil
• 360,000 prisoners (4th largest in the world)
• 922 prisons

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Amigos dos Amigos (ADA, Friends of Friends)

• Grew out of conflict between the Red Command and
  the Pure Third Command
• Controls North and West zones of Rio de Janeiro
  (Rocinha)
• Drugs critical source of power wealth

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Capixaba Mafia

• Criminal organization from the Espírito Santo
  state of Brazil
• A person born in this state is known as a
  Capixaba which literally translates to Holy
  Spirit
• Specializes generally in money-laundering
  endeavors

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Primeiro Comando da Capital
(PCC)
? Interaction with the Government
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How Powerful is the PCC?
-According to the Financial Times from 2002-2006
the PCCs membership increased to an estimated 90
per cent of inmates in São Paulo state prisons,
or about 125,000 prisoners and roughly 10,000 at
liberty. -From May 12-16, 2006 the PCC orders
rebellions in São Paulo state prisons and attacks
on security forces in the state capital.
-Reporter Dante Rodrigues made contact with
Orlando Mota Junior, known as Macarrão, the
imprisoned leader of the PCC, that orchestrated
the riots and attacks. - Macarrão, WAS ON A CELL
PHONE FROM PRISON!!!
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May, 2006 attacks showcased the complex problem
of gang related violence, and deeply disturbed
Sao Paulo.

• Gang leaders get cell phones by bribing guards

• Run criminal activities and issue orders from the
  safety of their cells

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Efforts to Control the Gangs

• Attempts to re-shuffle prisoners so as to
  disrupt gang activity (ineffective - led to the
  05/06 riots
• Incarcerated known PCC members (increased its
  membership and further pressured the Sao Paulo
  state prison system)
• Federal government has been unable to fruitfully
  invest in the overcrowded state prison systems.

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To what extent is the Brazilian state influenced
by the power of the PCC?

• Walter Maierovitch, a former senior security
  official in Brazil, says the states haulting
  efforts to demonstrate to the public the PCC is
  under control have actually increased the power
  of the organization. Financial Times

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FINANCIAL TIMES TRANSCRIPT OF PCC LEADER INTERVIEW

• RADIO RECORD So the PCC doesnt plan any more
  attacks in the state for the time being?
• MACARRÃO Not for the time being or until further
  orders, understand?
• RADIO RECORD And was there any negotiation with
  the state government?
• MACARRÃO There was, there was, there was, there
  was, there was. Time in the open air was OKd,
  and the lawyers.
• RADIO RECORD And what did the government do,
  what did the government promise you so that there
  wouldnt be any more attacks, Macarrão?
• MACARRÃO Were to be allowed out of our cells to
  the open areas, and visits from lawyers

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One picture is worth a thousand words
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President Dilma Rousseff

• Elected in 2010
• Stated that she would fix the security problem
  associated with urban gangs
• Rio de Janeiros hosting of World Cup and
  Olympics has focused attention on that citys
  gangs
• Electoral politics continues to play a role on
  policy to contain gang influence