List of criminal gangs in Brazil

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This is a list of criminal gangs in Brazil, of Brazilian or foreign origin.

Amigos dos Amigos (Friends of Friends) – operates in Rio de Janeiro. It began in 1998 when a member of § Red Command was expelled from the organization for ordering the murder of another member. The gang's main rivals are Red Command and § Pure Third Command. ADA controls many drug selling points in the North and West zones.^[1]

Comando Vermelho (Red Command) – engaged primarily in drug trafficking, arms trafficking, protection rackets, kidnapping-for-ransom, carjacking of armored trucks, loansharking, irregular warfare, narcoterrorism,^[2] and turf wars against rival criminal organizations, such as § First Capital Command and § Terceiro Comando Puro.^[3][4]

Crime Syndicate of Rio Grande do Norte ^[pt] (RN; SDC; 18.14) – the largest criminal organization operating within the prisons and drug trafficking strongholds of Rio Grande do Norte state. Like other organizations in the North and Northeast Region of the country, it was created in reaction to the control exercised by the § First Capital Command (PCC) over drug trafficking activities.^[5][6]

Escritório do Crime  ^{[pt; fr; es]} (Crime Office) – a criminal militia of gunmen and elite killers that operates in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro ^[pt] which grew out of land grabs and illegal real estate operations in construction, sale, and illegal rentals.^[7][8] Their chief activity is murder for hire.^[8] The group is composed of military police and former police.

Família do Norte (Northern Family) – a criminal faction that occupies northern Brazil and some regions in Colombia, Peru and Venezuela.^[9]

First Capital Command (First Capital Command ) – Latin America's largest drug gang, and one of the world's largest with 40,000 members and 60,000 "contractors", with links to other South American and European countries, including ties to § 'Ndrangheta in Italy, and expanding into West Africa.^[10]

Guardiões do Estado (Guardians of the State; GDE) – a Brazilian criminal gang operating in the state of Ceará. It is the 4th largest gang in Brazil and is made up mostly of teenagers and young adults.^[11]

'Ndrangheta – an Italian crime gang dating to the 19th century, operating in Brazil since the 1970s, and allied with § First Capital Command since the 2010s for supplying cocaine to the European market.^[12]

Terceiro Comando (Third Command) – founded in the early 1980s as a break-away faction of the § Red Command, Terceiro Comando dominated drug trafficking in Rio de Janeiro, and engaged in bank robbery and drug-trafficking.^[13]

Terceiro Comando Puro (Pure Third Command) – a Rio de Janeiro group that split off from § Terceiro Comando in 2002 due to disputes about TC's affiliations with the § Amigos dos Amigos gang. TC weakened while TCP strengthened and eventually absorbed its parent group's members. Primarily involved with drug trafficking.^[14]

Triad – a Chinese mafia group operating worldwide, including in Brazil. In São Paulo, they run protection money rackets, with shopkeepers in central Sao Paulo threatened with kidnapping and assassination if they fail to comply. They also have a presence in Recife and Pernambuco.^[15][16][17]

• Albuquerque, Ana Luiza (2019-01-22). "Flávio Bolsonaro supostamente empregou mãe e mulher de PM do Rio suspeito de comandar milícia" [Flávio Bolsonaro allegedly employed mother and wife of Rio MP suspected of running militia]. Folha de S.Paulo (in Brazilian Portuguese).

• Brasil 247 (22 January 2019). "Flávio Bolsonaro alegadamente empregou a mãe do chefe do Escritório do Crime" [Flávio Bolsonaro allegedly employed the mother of the head of the Crime Office gang]. Brasil 247. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019.

• "Brazil's biggest drug gang has gone global". The Economist. 23 November 2023. Archived from the original on 30 November 2023 – via Gale Academic OneFile.

• Feltran, Gabriel; Vianna Pinho, Isabela; Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo, Lucia Bird (August 2023). "Atlantic Connections: The PCC and the Brazil-West Africa cocaine trade" (PDF). Global Initiative. Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 October 2023.

• InSight Crime (March 30, 2018). "Amigos dos Amigos". InSight Crime. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2024.

• "Sindicato RN desafia poder do PCC e do governo" [RN union challenges power of PCC and government]. Istoé. 7 August 2016.

• Jozino, Josmar (18 October 2016). "Guerra no crime: PCC começou hoje a rastrear os membros do CV em São Paulo" [War on crime: PCC began tracking CV members in São Paulo today]. Ponte Jornalismo. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016.

• "Presos criam facção criminosa Sindicato do RN e dizem que "Estado está dominado"" [Prisoners create criminal faction Sindicato do RN and say "State is dominated"]. Portal BO. 20 September 2014.

• R7 (17 June 2022). "Comerciantes sofrem ameaças de máfia chinesa na região central de SP" [Shopkeepers suffer threats from Chinese mafia in central SP]. R7 (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on September 10, 2022.

• Segundo, iG Último (2021-10-07). "Saiba quais são as principais facções criminosas do Brasil" [Find out about the main criminal factions in Brazil]. Portal iG (in Brazilian Portuguese).

• Silva, Alessandro (14 November 2001). "Máfia chinesa: Grupo fatura US$ 50 mil em 2 meses" [Chinese mafia: Group earns USD $50,000 in 2 months]. Folha de S. Paolo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 2022-05-29.

• "Negado habeas corpus a acusado de integrar máfia chinesa em Pernambuco" [Habeas corpus denied to man accused of being part of Chinese mafia in Pernambuco]. STJ (in Brazilian Portuguese). 21 June 2016. Archived from the original on 2023-07-12.

• Schützer, Karolina, ed. (2024), Uppsala Conflict Data Program (v2.01 ed.)