Abstract
This article aims to analyze the evolution of Brazilian criminal organization Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC—First Command of the Capital), especially its transformation from a group advocating human rights to a transnational violent non-state actor. Created in the late 1990s by inmates at Taubate Prison, PCC is currently a key trigger of violence in South America. Since a massive attack performed in 2006 against security forces, the group continues to be highly operative, also coordinating drugs and arms smuggling in Brazil and abroad. A combination of sources supported this analysis of PCC’s evolution, mainly Brazilian official judicial minutes, NGOs reports, and news released from reputable sources. The article shows that PCC has gained strength in the 2010s, expanding illicit business operations in cooperation with other criminal groups. The results suggest that PCC’s expansion has changed significantly since their beginnings, into an actor that poses a challenge for the building of peaceful society in all of South America.
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Notes
As can be seen throughout the article and as indicated in the references, while more than 40 articles and books were consulted and are referenced for the analysis of PCC evolution, I also made extensive use of news sources in some arguments. Given the novelty of the topic and the lack of studies on PCC expansion beyond Brazilian borders, the use of news reports was important for our analysis. These sources were carefully chosen under strict criteria. First, only news from reputable Brazilian and international news agencies were used, such as O Estado de São Paulo, BBC Brazil, Folha de São Paulo, ABC Digital (Paraguay), UOL and El País. News from InSight Crime, a think-tank linked to an important academic institution, the American University (USA), was also an important source. Second, each piece of news cited was compared with other news, as well as analyzed in light of literature on PCC. News that seemed sensationalist or that provided questionable data/information was discarded. Lastly, to confirm some information, phone interviews were conducted with three journalists from reputable news agencies that have covered PCC in the last 5 years. They kindly clarified some data reported in their news and explained how they got some key information. Moreover, on condition of anonymity, they provided some important data to be used in research in progress about PCC governance.
Courts can use this rule in the Brazilian criminal law for very dangerous and undisciplined detainees. It lasts up to 360 days and permits the prisoner to have only two daily hours outside the solitary confinement. It also only permits two visits a week. These visits were key to allowing PCC leaders in solitary confinement to give orders to members outside prisons to attack security forces in 2006 and 2012, as well as to organize the rebellions in 2001. Specifically, the lawyers and wives were used to give the orders, known as salve geral (general save) in the slang of prisons dominated by PCC.
This event is depicted in the movie Time for Fear (directed by Sergio Rezende, Brazil, 120 min).
“Favelas are geographically well delimitated areas of precarious urban dwellings normally – but not always – characterized by the lack of formal property rights over real estate, absence of basic public infrastructure (...) and, more generally, lack of the state presence” (Biderman et al. 2014: 4).
Mauricio H. Norambuena was head of the Chilean leftist group Front Patriotic Manuel Rodrigues (FPMR). He fled to Brazil in 1996 and was the leader of the kidnapping of the businessman Washington Olivetto in 2001. He is currently jailed in Campo Grande, Brazil.
Furthermore, Paraguay is key for PCC arms supply, as demonstrated by justice investigations in recent years by the Public Prosecution Office (Procuradoria Regional da República 2011).
Appointed to the Brazilian Supreme Court in February 2017, Moraes served also as Secretary of Public Security of São Paulo state (2015–2016). As a lawyer, he defended Transcooper, a cooperative of public transportation accused to be a front company to PCC’s money laundering. Although there is an ethical discussion about a Minister of Supreme Court that has served as lawyer of a criminal company, there are no proven links between Moraes and PCC. For an analysis of this topic, see Miranda (2017).
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This research was funded by NewtonGrant/British Academy (United Kingdom), Grant # NMG2R2\100064. The author is very grateful to the reviewers for the suggestions and comments for improving the article.
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Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira declares that he has no conflict of interest.
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Ferreira, M.A.S.V. Brazilian criminal organizations as transnational violent non-state actors: a case study of the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC). Trends Organ Crim 22, 148–165 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-018-9354-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-018-9354-7