Primeiro Comando da Capital

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The Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) Portuguese - "First Command of the Capital" - is a Brazilian criminal organization operating nationwide from São Paulo .

The megalopolis with its stark contrasts between rich and poor, the immensely extensive slums in the periphery, the lax gun laws of Brazil and the lack of control by state organs is an ideal field of activity for criminal structures. In particular, the upper class of São Paulo is increasingly isolating itself from the outside world due to the threat on the city's streets.

Goals and Activities

The PCC is not just a city-wide street gang, but a terrorist organization with clear political goals. The PCC is aiming for control over the urban area of ​​São Paulo. The members are mainly recruited from the city's favelas , in which around 20% of the entire population of São Paulo live without any social support from the state.

Not only bank robberies, lightning kidnappings , drug crime , contract killings , street robberies and break-ins are part of the repertoire of the PCC. In the past, e.g. B. in May 2006, the PCC organized nationwide prison revolts and numerous riots in São Paulo, which put the city in a state of emergency for days .

History of origin

The Primeiro Comando da Capital was founded in 1993 and was initially a prison football team consisting of the eight founding members. Legend has it that the PCC team won every prison soccer tournament, simply because no other team dared to beat them. The team decided to start a criminal network; since then the PCC has been growing steadily. Membership numbers are based on estimates. 2006 was estimated to have around 100,000 members.

organization structure

The Primeiro Comando da Capital has a hierarchical organizational structure.

At the head of the criminal organization are currently (October 2006) Marcos "Marcola" Willians Herbas Camacho and Manuela de Carvalho, who report to eight area bosses. The favela bosses, an estimated 4,000, are subordinate to them. The bosses of the PCC control the concerted actions of the organization partly with cell phones from their prison cells.

Upon admission, each member is assigned two so-called sponsors who are responsible for help and problem solving. The PCC has developed a kind of social system: when you join the organization, you get waived rent, medical care in an emergency, better prison conditions through lubricated prison staff, other help such as school books for the children, and protection of the group. In return you have to carry out orders for the PCC and make contributions. In prisons in particular, the accession rate is very high, as inmates want to buy security from violence.

Riots

The PCC has organized and carried out concerted violent riots in the city on several occasions. The riots in May and July 2006 attracted international attention. The targets of the attacks were police stations, banks, courts, and numerous buses of the public transport company. The unrest lasted for five days and caused fear and panic among the population.

Chronology of the acts of violence ascribed to the PCC

April 23, 2017 : Around 50 heavily armed attackers stormed a police post in the border town of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay in a coordinated action and set fire to several cars in the city. They used this distraction to break into the premises of the Prosegur money transport company . Armored vehicles, several explosive devices and an anti-aircraft gun are used. They blew up the vault and stole between $ 30 million and $ 40 million. They then fled Paraguay back to Brazil by speedboat. One policeman was killed and five people injured.

January 14, 2017 : Clashes broke out in Alcaçuz detention center in Nísia Floresta ( Rio Grande do Norte ) for over 14 hours . Members of Sindicato do Norte penetrated into the territory of the Primeiro Comando da Capital within the prison one. The electricity was turned off before the conflict began. Therefore, the jammers that are supposed to prevent cell phone communication in and out of prison did not work. The fighting was supported by gang members outside the prison: Shortly before, men had approached the prison in a car and threw weapons over the wall, said the president of the prison officers' union. At least 27 people died in the fighting. Most of the bodies were beheaded and mutilated. The Polícia Militar moved after 72 hours heavily armed with armored vehicles to the prison one. Alcaçuz detention center is designed for 620 prisoners and had at least 1,083 inmates in 2017. While the government of the state of Rio Grande do Norte spoke of 27 fatalities, according to police investigators it could be over 30 dead.

August 16, 2006 : "Third wave of violence" in 2006, 100 attacks in 4 days against gas stations, public buildings, security officers and buses, as well as several failed attacks on a town hall; at the end a self-made bomb is placed in the town hall, the facade is damaged.

August 13, 2006 : After the kidnapping of two of its employees, journalist Guilherme Portanova and the broadcaster's cameraman Rede Globo Alexandre Calado, the television station Rede Globo broadcasts the “PCC Manifesto” (PCC statute, conditions of admission) in order to release them to reach.

August 9, 2006 : Bomb attack on the Ministerio Publico do Estado São Paulo (attributed to the organization, but there is no letter of confession from the PCC) (O Globo July 4, 2006)

June 29, 2006 : Da Silva, a prison warden, is killed

June 28, 2006 : Milton Seclestino (security guard) is killed outside the prison

July 2006 : Attacks on police stations in the state of São Paulo. 50 civil and military police establishments were affected, and seven people died. Over 100 attacks in public life were counted, including almost 70 attacks against buses with Molotov cocktails, and bus traffic almost came to a standstill. The trigger is said to have been the arrest of a gang leader of the PCC.

July 4, 2006 : O Globo reports on a planned attack on the Brazilian stock exchange, which is not carried out

July 2, 2006 : Do Conto (prison staff) is killed in a telephone booth, Da Silva (guard) is pushed off a viaduct by four men; he survives this first attack. Since Friday is executed by gunshots, he was one of the security forces involved in the rebellion in the prisons

July 1, 2006 : Eduardo Rodrigues is killed in a shop, Cavalcante (overseer) is killed near his house

May 12-16, 2006 : “The Week of Blood”, uprisings and attacks on public life / 41 dead police officers. In the days that followed, over 100 people died in confrontations with the police, and reprisals and police executions were denied by police spokesmen. When a list of the names of the victims was not available even after eight days, the public prosecutor gave the governor 72 hours under threat of custody. Altogether one speaks of more than 170 dead of the "blood week". Train and bus traffic in the city came to a complete standstill. 112 prison guards are held hostage (May 13, 2006) in 21 prisons, the majority in the high-security prisons Avaré (262 km E of São Paulo) and Iaras (282 km NE of São Paulo)

May 14, 2006 : Attack on a police station: 30 dead, 57 attacks in the state of São Paulo, car shots, police officers are injured and killed. Due to a bomb threat, the city's airport was completely closed on May 15, shops and schools remained closed, and there was a 212 km traffic jam as citizens tried to leave the city. A nocturnal ban on going out (curfew) brought life in the city to a standstill. The attacks had their center in the metropolitan area of ​​São Paulo, but there were also revolts in 5 other prisons of the state in solidarity with the struggle of the group.

Background to the May uprisings : The background to the revolts was the planned transfer of PCC leader Marcola and other high-ranking members of the organization to solitary confinement in a maximum security prison outside the capital. The information about the planned transfer came to the prisons via a bugged conversation in front of a government commission and a tape of this conversation sold to the PCC. The revolt was structured and coordinated via mobile phones.

Victims May / 2006 : According to the Conselho regional de Medicino de Medicina do Estado de São Paulo (Cremesp), 492 people died between May 12 and 20, 2006 as a result of the riots. The official number of victims is 188: 123 civilians, 23 detainees and 42 security officers. Cremesp charges that there were executions by so-called Grupos de exterminio , police execution squads, and that the victims are mainly poor and black.

End of 2005 : attacks on 3 police stations

6/7. August 2005 : The Banco Central in Fortaleza was broken into through a tunnel. The burglar team was not captured by any security systems. To this day, this robbery is considered to be one of the greatest. To date only part of the booty (approx. 8 million of 62 million euros) has been found. Likewise, only a few thieves were caught. There is no trace of the masterminds behind the robbery. It is also not clear whether this robbery can be attributed to the PCC. However, many of the robbers had close contacts to the organization and it was probably also a donor.

Up to June 2005 : 7 attacks together with the Vermelho Comando in response to plans to transfer prisoners, in the previous year 4 attacks with 9 deaths were counted in the same cooperation

January 2005 : Attack on the Policia Militar base in the luxury district of Morumbi

2003 : Judge Prudente is murdered, the PCC confesses

2002 : Bomb in the secretariat of the prison administration of the Carumba Moto Grosso institution on the anniversary of the 2001 uprisings, three assassinations in one week, uprisings in several prisons, at least 15 deaths, bomb explodes in the IPRUM (Institute for Social Security)

2001 : Again and again attacks on prison officers with knives and sticks

February 18, 2001 - February 21, 2001 : 68-hour, largest prison revolt in South America with at least 20 prisoners dead (3 beheaded) and 80 injured. A child taken hostage burns to death in a tear gas canister explosion. 28,000 prisoners took 5,000–7,000 hostages, 29 of the 73 prisons in Sao Paulo were involved. In the Carumba Moto Grosso uprising allegedly due to dissatisfaction with the management. Readaptcao prison is under complete inmate control

background

Two days earlier, 10 leaders from Carandiru were supposed to be relocated; a 'war' over control of the internal drug market had already claimed 5 lives of a rival gang. As early as 1998, 6 PCC leaders from Taubate Prison, where the gang was founded in 1993, were secretly transferred to the neighboring state of Parana in order to weaken the group. However, the positions of power that had become vacant were filled again within a very short time. Another relocation from Carandiru to Taubate resulted in an uprising with 9 dead, and the prison's high-security wing was devastated. Some of the leaders have now been transferred back to Carandiru, whose planned relocation was the trigger for the uprising.

Organization: uprising during the Sunday rounds, taking prisoners hostage

2000 : Uprising with 9 dead on the side of the CRBC

1999 : Carumba prison riot, 11 dead. 13 prisoners officially killed by fellow prisoners

In 1998 the organization gave itself a statute. Offshoots are appearing in other states, facilitated by networks of police officers and criminals

1993 : The PCC was founded in response to the Carandiru mass executions

1992 : Carandiru massacre: the police storm the maximum security prison, the balance sheet is 111 dead prisoners and a destroyed maximum security wing

The statute

The Primeiro Comando da Capital has a statute with the basic rules of organization. The death penalty is said to be imposed on disregarding the rules. On May 16, 2006, a couple was arrested with a copy of the statute on them. This is the translation of the Statute (from the translation into English):

  1. Loyalty, respect and solidarity towards the organization are paramount
  2. The struggle for freedom, justice and peace
  3. The unity of the fight against injustice and oppression in prisons
  4. Those who are at liberty help their brothers in the prisons through lawyers, money, family aid, and prison break operations.
  5. Respect and solidarity towards all members of the organization so that there are no internal conflicts. Because anyone who instigates conflicts within the organization and tries to split the brotherhood will be excluded from the organization and avoided.
  6. Never abuse the organization to resolve your personal conflicts with outsiders, because the ideals of the organization take precedence over personal conflicts. However, the organization will always be loyal and supportive to all of its members so that they do not suffer inequality or injustice from external conflict.
  7. He who is free and enjoying a good life but fails to help his brothers in prison is sentenced to death without mercy.
  8. The members of the organization must set a good example. Therefore, the organization does not allow attacks, rape or extortion within its own system.
  9. The organization does not tolerate lies, betrayal, envy, greed, deception, selfishness and the pursuit of contrary personal interests, but values ​​honesty, loyalty, manliness, solidarity and the pursuit of the common good, because we are one for all and all for one.
  10. Each member must follow the hierarchy and rules of the organization. Everyone will be paid according to their performance. Everyone's opinion will be heard and respected, but the ultimate decisions will be made by the founders of the organization.
  11. The Primeiro Comando da Capital PCC was founded in 1993, from a tireless fight against oppression and injustice in the concentration camp "Casa de Custódia" and Treatment of Taubaté, with the irrefutable motto "Freedom, Justice and Peace".
  12. The organization does not tolerate internal rivalries or discussions about the leadership of the command, because every member of the organization knows their role, which corresponds to their skills.
  13. We must remain united and organized to prevent a similar or worse massacre than on October 2nd, 1992, when 111 prisoners were cowardly murdered, a massacre that will forever remain in the consciousness of Brazilian society. Because we in the command will abolish prison practices that are inhuman, full of injustice, oppressive and associated with torture or prison massacres.
  14. It is an important goal of the PCC to put pressure on the state government to close the House of Custody and Treatment of Taubaté prisons, in whose inglorious and cruel conditions the PCC came into being.
  15. The simultaneous actions emanating from the PCC in all prisons of the state will continue in a cross-border war without a truce until victory is achieved.
  16. The most important thing is that no one will stop us in this fight, because the seeds of the PCC have spread to all prisons in the state and we have managed to structure ourselves outside of them, through many sacrifices and irretrievable losses, but we have each other entrenched in the state and will take hold across the country in the medium or long term. In an alliance with Comando Vermelho we - CV and PCC - will revolutionize the country out of the prisons and our armed wing will be the terror of the powerful oppressors and tyrants who use the Taubaté Annex and the Bangú I in Rio de Janeiro as an instrument the revenge of society through the creation of monsters.

We know our strength and the strength of our mighty opponents, but we are ready and standing united, and united people will never be defeated.

Freedom! Justice! And peace!

Through this politicization, the PCC increases the zeal and loyalty of its members. However, leaving the organization is not possible without great difficulties.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ (Der Spiegel, 40/2006, p. 65 ff.)
  2. ↑ Matthias Rüb: "A robbery that is reminiscent of war" FAZ.de of April 25, 2017
  3. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): 27 prisoners die in a revolt in Brazil. In: DW.COM. January 15, 2007, accessed January 16, 2017 .
  4. ↑ www1.folha.uol.com.br