Transcript Urban Gangs: Brazilian Case Study •

Urban
Gangs:
Brazilian
Case
•
Study
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
Socio-economic Causes of Brazil’s
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 country’s municipalities have no cultural or leisure
facilities
- 96% have no cinemas
- 86% have no theater
- 25% have no library
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
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
Demographic Groups
%Completely agree with "I don't feel safe when I walk the streets of
my town/city"
Geographical Region
Brasília (Federal district)
Belo Horizonte
Curitiba
Fortaleza
Porto Alegre
Recife
Rio de Janeiro
Salvador
São Paulo
São Paulo (interior)
South/Southeast (interior)
44%
53%
44%
54%
48%
58%
59%
44%
57%
46%
37%
Socio-economic Level
AB
C
DE
45%
52%
51%
Age/Sex
Males 12-19
Males 20-24
Males 25-34
Males 35-44
Males 45-54
Males 55-64
43%
43%
45%
47%
49%
46%
Females 12-19
Females 20-24
Females 25-34
Females 35-44
Females 45-54
Females 55-64
54%
51%
52%
52%
58%
53%
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
country’s prison system
– Overcrowded prisons
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
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
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
Comando Vermelho
(CV, Red Command)
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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
The favelas
of Rio de
Janeiro,
where the
Red
Command
is prevalent
in drug trade
Comando Vermelho
(CV, Red Command)
• Originally composed of members of the FalangeVermelha (Red
Phalanx)
• This militant group was strong in it’s fight against the Brazilian
military dictatorship (1964 to 1985)
• Urban areas known as territory of the Red Command are tagged
with the letters “CV”
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
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
Sao Paulo,
the home of
the PCC
PCC Motto is
“for liberty,
justice and
peace”
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
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
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
 Interaction with the
Government
-According to the Financial Times from 2002-2006 the PCC’s
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!!!
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
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.
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 state’s haulting efforts
to demonstrate to the public the PCC is “under
control” have actually increased the power of
the organization. Financial Times
FINANCIAL TIMES TRANSCRIPT OF PCC LEADER
INTERVIEW
-RADIO RECORD: So the PCC doesn’t 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 OK’d, and the lawyers.
RADIO RECORD: And what did the government do, what did the
government promise you so that there wouldn’t be any more attacks,
Macarrão?
MACARRÃO: We’re to be allowed out of our cells to the open areas,
and visits from lawyers
One picture is worth a thousand
words
President Dilma Rousseff
 Elected in 2010
 Stated that she would fix the
security problem associated
with urban gangs
 Rio de Janeiro’s hosting of
World Cup and Olympics has
focused attention on that
city’s gangs
 Electoral politics continues to
play a role on policy to
contain gang influence