From Misdemeanors to World Domination: How Brazilian Faction PCC Threatens Global Security

One of the most predominant artistic expressions in Brazil is street art. From the outskirts of Bahia to São Paulo’s most metropolitan areas, sentences ranging from “Maria, I love you!” to “Free Lula!” are printed on all town surfaces. What was more noticed throughout the years, however, was the surging popularity of initials and enigmatic sentences. “Everything 3,” “CV,” and “PCC,” took over the sentimental and political declarations as street art. What these three terms have in common are their connections to Brazilian factions, which terrorize civilians inside and outside favelas and quickly wage wars in prisons, both defying police officers and provoking divisions within prisoners. The Primeiro Comando da Capital (translated to First Command of the Capital), or the PCC, is often considered Brazil’s most notable criminal faction, especially when considering its 29,400 member count and its overarching presence in 22 out of 29 Brazilian states. 

In the Brazilian context, a faction consists of a group of criminals with a set ideology and aims, driving their crimes and modus operandi, and they are usually formed inside prisons. Before the emergence of the PCC, factions were already rampant in the Brazilian carceral system. The first faction created was the Red Command (or CV, Comando Vermelho), which aimed to forge a union between different classifications of prisoners, such as ones convicted for political and federal crimes. CV, through their crimes, aims to promote prisoner’s rights and banish police officers and people in power. Factions in Brazil, for the most part, specialize in drug trafficking and crimes such as kidnapping and murder. The PCC, created after the CV, has similar ideologies and operational methods, but functions on a much greater scale.

PCC: Its Emergence and Crimes

The PCC was formed during a soccer match in São Paulo, Brazil at what is considered to be the safest detention center in the state: The Custody House of Taubaté. Eight members of the center expressed their anger at the Carandiru Massacre in another prison in São Paulo. The massacre began as an attempt to resolve an ongoing animosity between two groups of prisoners, and resulted in the killings of 111 prisoners at the hands of police officers with 87 more injured. No officers were hurt. Using the Chinese yin-yang symbol to represent their ideology, the PCC established that “good and evil will be balanced wisely,” according to the Brazilian International Police Association.

Ever since the PCC’s emergence, the faction was responsible for the rebellion of over 20 detention centers in 2001 due to the transferring of various faction leaders and members. The collective of rebellions inside these centers are called the Levantes, and PCC leaders got access to cell phones and organized simultaneous insurrections at detention centers, resulting in 16 dead and 77 injured, among those prisoners and police officers. In 2006, the PCC was responsible for another widespread insurrection, arguably due to the transferring of various faction members to other detention centers and the kidnapping of the PCC leader’s stepson. Over 500 people were executed only from May 12 to 21, 2006 across various detention centers in Sao Paulo. 

The organization of the PCC distinguishes it from other factions in Brazil since it divides itself into  political and economic branches. With their initial purpose of avenging a massacre committed against prisoners, the PCC establishes that crime is within their ideology as long as it defies the oppressive state. The faction’s economic branch acts by engaging in drug trafficking and other actions in the criminal market and, in return, provides the faction with everything from funding for armed robberies to food granted from the outside for the incarcerated. 

PCC soon migrated from paulista detention centers to being omnipresent in southeastern Brazilian favelas. Ever since their strengthened economic branch and the presence of narcotics in Brazil, the PCC soon transitioned into land domination. Rio de Janeiro’s favela Rocinha, which the Red Command previously controlled, was taken over by the PCC, motivated by the large drug trafficking market and the prospect of new alliances with smaller criminal groups to ensure even further expansion. The PCC formed alliances with factions in  Rio de Janeiro, which ensured them complete control of the inflow and outflow of drugs in the Rocinha favela, which has 70,000 inhabitants, according to a Brazilian census conducted in 2010. 

In the present day, the PCC is still rampant in Brazilian detention centers and favelas. They still largely engage in drug trade and trafficking, making close relationships of alliance or animosity with various factions in all of Brazil. Furthermore, the PCC today has an infamous blacklist that includes political officials that the faction aims to exterminate. One of the members of the blacklist is Sergio Moro, a federal judge that was responsible for impeaching Dilma Rousseff, the first Brazilian female president.

Despite the danger the diversity of factions poses to Brazilian states in different degrees, the PCC is still the most feared. This is not due to the large member count and aforementioned history of domination— it is due to their ability to have a presence all across South America and even in parts of Europe.

PCC and the International Sphere

Paraguay, which shares borders with some of the strongest South American economies, including Brazil, swiftly noticed a rising presence of the PCC in their drug and weapons trade markets. The Santos Port in Brazil, located in Sao Paulo and crucial for trade, became largely used by the PCC for drug transportation since their May 2006 insurrection. European mafias and organized crime factions consider the port as a hub for drugs and arms, which increased the PCC’s notoriety globally. According to Carolina Sampo for BBC, a researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, “baptisms” — rituals of entrance to the PCC followed by an admissions process — were increasingly noticed in Paraguayan prisons, enhancing the faction’s presence in a second country. 

Organized crime promoted by the PCC did not stop in Paraguay. Another South American nation with a notable PCC presence is Bolivia, in which there were also insurrections in detention centers similar to the ones during PCC’s genesis. According to Bolivian authorities also for BBC, an explosion in a Bolivian prison resulting in three prisoner deaths was attributed to a PCC member, but the authorities admittedly requested more investigation and information on the case before releasing an official statement. 

According to the Portuguese Intelligence Service for CNN, there are 1,000 PCC members in the country, more specifically in the Lisbon region. Portugal is considered to be a relevant drug passageway to Europe, considering the river Tejo’s accessibility. There are 20 PCC members imprisoned in Portugal, the majority of them due to drug trafficking. More than 100 members of Italian mafias are also connected to the PCC and have been imprisoned for trafficking cocaine to South America. 

The Future of PCC’s Influence and Actions

PCC’s expansionary character, spreading from detention centers to favelas with greater populations than some big cities, will only let it become a bigger threat to global security. Its current monopoly on drug trade in Rio’s largest favelas, alongside its undeniable impact in South American countries and prisons, reveals that PCC’s most prominent aim today is ascending their economic presence to continue to perpetuate their crime and fund greater criminal actions.  

Considering that the PCC functions as an organized group with political and economic branches, in addition to having clear rules, punishments, and ideologies, the faction is, unfortunately, likely to worsen drug trafficking and widespread violence in South America. Brazilian intelligence forces, namely police officers, often engage in operations in favelas and detention centers, disregarding that the PCCs profit largely comes from drug trade from the Santos Port and their overarching global presence. The PCC has undeniable hegemony in the south and southeast Brazil, but their presence in the north is not as noticeable as some of their other rival factions. Therefore, the faction aims to attempt domination in the Amazonian region, especially due to their possible easy access to other neighboring South American countries, such as Venezuela and Peru. 

To properly counter this security threat, Brazilian and international intelligence forces should recognize the economic presence of the PCC and its impact on security – not only their constant threats of insurrections in prisons and favelas. Due to the multimillion-dollar business of the drug trade, it is likely that the majority of PCC’s funding comes from drug trade. If intelligence forces worldwide recognized PCC and other worldwide factions, then Brazilian street art would illustrate more love declarations and less enigmatic initials that indicate faction domination and violence.