| Last weekend, Brazilians living in the greater Sao Paulo | | | | and civilians that the security sector here has a long |
| metropolitan area witnessed one of the country's | | | | way to go before it has any significant control over |
| largest prison riots in the past five years, organized | | | | organized crime. These rebellions also highlight the |
| and orchestrated by Sao Paulo's largest criminal | | | | superior communication networks operated by |
| faction, the First Capital Command (PCC in | | | | Brazilian organized crime. Communication is |
| Portuguese).When Sao Paulo state authorities | | | | fundamental When Fernandinho Beira-Mar was |
| transferred some 756 PCC leaders, the PCC criminal | | | | transferred from his prison cell in Rio de Janeiro after |
| enterprise, led by Willians Herbas Camacho (a.k.a. | | | | he orchestrated a prison riot there in September 2002 |
| Marcola), implemented its plan to start riots in dozens | | | | to mask the assassination of rival gang leaders, |
| of prisons in Sao Paulo and around the country. They | | | | authorities found a number of luxury items including silk |
| took advantage of the unusually lax security | | | | pajamas. But what surprised them more was the |
| environment over the weekend when some 10,000 | | | | number of abandoned cell phones. Reports from Rio |
| prisoners were given a day pass to visit families on | | | | de Janeiro daily, O Globo, claim that Beira-Mar used up |
| the outside for Mother's Day, and thousands more | | | | to a dozen cell phones to communicate with |
| civilians entered prisons to visit inmates on the inside.As | | | | lieutenants and other subordinates in his black market |
| one prison after another fell under the control of rioting | | | | network of guns and drugs shipments and sales.In a |
| inmates, the hostage count rocketed into the hundreds. | | | | similar fashion, leaders of the PCC use cell phones to |
| Meanwhile, organized attacks on police stations around | | | | communicate with one another between prisons and |
| Sao Paulo kept security forces busy defending | | | | between prisoners and gang members on the outside. |
| themselves. At the same time, masked gunmen | | | | Both the Civil Police and the Federal Police operate |
| commandeered city buses, ordering them evacuated | | | | listening posts, which enable security officials to piece |
| before burning them to the ground.The weekend's total | | | | together actionable intelligence on plans for rebellions |
| included over 250 separate attacks on police stations, | | | | and other gang operations. However, the use of |
| stores, and other establishments. There were 115 | | | | two-way radios has made that task much more |
| people killed, including 32 policemen and prison guards | | | | difficult.In both Rio and Sao Paulo, two-way radios are |
| and 71 gang members. Another 49 people were | | | | used by criminals to relay messages to other |
| injured. Some 215 hostages were taken in 73 prison | | | | incarcerated gang members and members on the |
| riots that occurred in prisons across Sao Paulo, | | | | outside. In some cases, one prisoner calls via cell a |
| Parana, Matto Grosso do Sul, Brasilia, and Bahia, | | | | subordinate on the outside who uses a two-way radio |
| according to Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo. Over | | | | to transmit the message to a third individual who then |
| 80 public transport buses were burned and one metro | | | | uses another cell phone to pass along the message to |
| station was attacked, leaving over five million people | | | | its recipient in another prison, reports O Globo. Each |
| without public transport. On 15 May, as millions of | | | | node on the communications chain may use any |
| people fled home in the early afternoon, Sao Paulo | | | | number of cell phones or two-way radios, making |
| became a city of gridlock spanning 203 kilometers of | | | | tracking the signals very difficult.Attempts to block cell |
| roadways.Over the weekend, as the violence raged | | | | phone signals in Rio and Sao Paulo have been |
| on, Brazilian Justice Minister Marcio Thomas Bastos | | | | ineffective.In the middle of the Mother's Day weekend |
| offered the service of 4,000 soldiers, part of a National | | | | riots, requests to shut down cell phone towers used by |
| Force trained to help contain the security problems in | | | | criminals to relay signals were presented to Brazil's |
| Brazilian states. But Sao Paulo Governor Claudio | | | | telecommunications regulatory body when Marco |
| Lembo, filling in for presidential candidate Geraldo | | | | Antonio Desgualdo, the head of the Sao Paulo state |
| Alckmin, refused to accept federal help. Bastos made | | | | Civil Police, met with this body, called Anatel, on 15 May. |
| the trip from Brasilia to Sao Paulo to again offer | | | | The Folha de Sao Paulo reported that after the |
| federal assistance during a close-door meeting on | | | | meeting Desgualdo announced that authorities would |
| Monday, 15 May. But again it was refused.By 16 May, | | | | not be able to shut down cell towers without the |
| as quickly as the violence had started, it ended, and | | | | acquiescence of telecommunications companies.These |
| most prisons were back in the control of state | | | | same companies - Vivo, Tim, Telefonica, Embratel, and |
| authorities, and policemen were no longer the target of | | | | Nextel - complain that shutting down the towers would |
| random attacks. The Sao Paulo daily newspaper, O | | | | mean an unacceptable disruption of service for their |
| Estado de Sao Paulo, reported on 16 May that the | | | | law-abiding clients. Nothing short of a court order would |
| state government had reached an agreement with the | | | | shut down the towers, a legal instrument that takes |
| PCC. Government officials continue to deny that claim, | | | | too long to obtain.In some prison systems, cell phone |
| but it is possible such negotiations were a last-resort | | | | signal blockers are used, but they are quickly rendered |
| option for state officials clearly caught off guard by a | | | | obsolete by the rapid pace of technological |
| highly organized criminal network, one many believed | | | | advancement in cell phone systems.The battle |
| had been dismantled years ago. Brazilian organized | | | | between Sao Paulo authorities and the cell phone |
| crime The PCC began to take shape in 1993, when | | | | companies to shut down towers in the event of |
| prisoners incarcerated in Taubate state prison in Sao | | | | security needs began in February 2001, when PCC |
| Paulo organized themselves to fight against deplorable | | | | members used cell phones to orchestrate |
| living conditions and more rights within the prison | | | | simultaneous riots in 29 prisons across Sao Paulo. |
| system. Over the past 13 years, this organization has | | | | Security officials failed to win the battle then, too, but |
| grown into one of the country's most powerful prison | | | | no one knew that such decisions five years ago would |
| criminal networks, controlling activity within dozens of | | | | eventually facilitate the most violent uprising of Brazilian |
| prisons in Sao Paulo and around the country, as well | | | | organized crime in years. Corruption and politics Even |
| as important sales points and transport routes for | | | | as blocking cell signals and other methods to impede |
| drugs and guns flowing into Brazil from source | | | | communication between criminals evolves into what |
| countries such as Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, and | | | | may become a viable solution, many believe that such |
| Suriname.The PCC became more active outside | | | | time is wasted on treating a problem that is not central |
| prisons in 1999, when Rio's top criminal organization - | | | | to the real reason why the PCC was able to |
| the Red Command (CV in Portuguese) - formed an | | | | orchestrate such a widespread reign of disorder and |
| alliance with PCC members who lived in Heliopolis, a | | | | rebellion. Corruption and politics, two of the usual |
| shantytown located in the southeastern zone of Sao | | | | suspects behind systemic dysfunction in democracies, |
| Paulo, according to a Rio de Janeiro Federal Police | | | | are at the center of Brazil's security problems.Bribes |
| officer who asked to remain anonymous. Through this | | | | paid to security officials at all levels keep leaders of |
| alliance, the CV sought to shift some of its drug | | | | the PCC and the CV well informed of official planning. |
| trafficking activities from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo. | | | | When authorities planned to move over 700 of the |
| In Rio, CV leaders had been constantly harassed by | | | | PCC leaders to a more secure prison environment to |
| police who exacted an extortion tax for allowing | | | | avoid what they learned was a planned Mother's Day |
| favelas (shantytowns) to be used as drug sales | | | | rebellion, the PCC reacted by launching its rebellion two |
| centers and contraband transshipment points. | | | | days early, disrupting the prisoner transport and a host |
| Additionally, the PCC in 1999 was a large criminal | | | | of other activities planned to prevent the rebellion.Low |
| organization with more manpower than economic | | | | salaries exacerbate corruption because policemen and |
| activity. Its alliance with the CV increased earnings for | | | | some lower-ranking members of the military are more |
| the PCC in Sao Paulo, while opening a new pool of | | | | likely to sell weapons from poorly organized stock piles |
| man power for the CV to defend its turf from rival | | | | to make ends meet. Over 70 per cent of the |
| gangs in Rio de Janeiro.Together, the two gangs | | | | weapons used by Brazilian organized crime were |
| control the drug trade in Brazil's two largest cities. They | | | | made in Brazil. Many of them are sold to Paraguay |
| operate gun smuggling routes out of Paraguay and | | | | where they enter the black market before returning to |
| purchase weapons from corrupt policemen and military | | | | Brazil. Yet a significant amount are sold to criminals |
| soldiers in Sao Paulo and Rio. High-level members of | | | | directly from stockpiles of seized weapons.When |
| these gangs, especially the CV, continue to conduct a | | | | budgets must be prepared, politics dictate who gets |
| weapons-for-cocaine barter with members of the | | | | what slice of the pie. From 2004 to 2005, the Brazilian |
| leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia | | | | federal government reduced resources for the |
| (FARC) based in the Colombian Amazon.As recently | | | | country's Penitentiary Fund by 37 per cent. This fund |
| as 30 April, three Colombians opened fire on a Brazilian | | | | oversees the overall improvement and maintenance of |
| patrol on the Rio Negro, a branch of the Amazon river | | | | Brazil's prison system. Meanwhile, the government of |
| that begins in an area of the Colombian Amazon | | | | Sao Paulo state diverted from public security spending |
| reportedly controlled by the FARC. Brazilian authorities | | | | some US$81.3 million in the last five years. It was a |
| claim that the rifles were stamped with the Brazilian | | | | decision in the reduction of security spending at the |
| military coat of arms. The men were followed to the | | | | Sao Paulo state level that was likely made after the |
| Colombian city of San Felipe, where their arms were | | | | 2001 prison riots in that state.Commenting on the event, |
| confiscated. Brazilian Federal Police investigators told | | | | Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva |
| ISN Security Watch that they believe the arms were | | | | said it was a demonstration of the power of organized |
| part of a cache of weapons to be traded for cocaine | | | | crime in Brazil. His comments underline the fact that |
| that traffickers would transport to Sao Paulo and | | | | Brazilian organized crime is a force that has grown to |
| Rio.Red Command leader Fernandinho Beira-Mar is | | | | threaten Brazilian cities as well as the nation. With links |
| considered to have been one of the first Brazilian | | | | to organized crime in Paraguay and Suriname, and a |
| criminals to trade weapons for cocaine with the | | | | thriving barter system with Colombia's FARC soldiers, |
| FARC. He was arrested by Colombian authorities in | | | | the PCC and CV may soon become internationally |
| April 2001 and immediately extradited to Brazil. Yet the | | | | known as a criminal network that has grown too big |
| recent incident on the Brazilian-Colombian border in the | | | | for Brazil's security system to handle.Sam Logan ( is |
| Amazon indicates that five years later, this criminal | | | | an investigative journalist who has reported on security, |
| exchange program still continues to supply the CV and | | | | energy, politics, economics, organized crime, terrorism, |
| the PCC with pure, Colombian cocaine.Brazilian | | | | and black markets in Latin America since 1999. He is |
| organized crime is just as powerful within the prison | | | | currently completing his work on Nice Guys Die First, a |
| system as it is on the outside. And as the battle | | | | forthcoming non-fiction narrative about organized crime |
| continues to dismantle these criminal networks, the | | | | in Brazil. |
| occasional mega-rebellion reminds Brazilian authorities | | | | |