Comando Vermelho

The gang formed in the 1970s out of a prison alliance between common criminals and leftist guerrillas imprisoned together at Cândido Mendes Penal Institute, a maximum-security prison on the island of Ilha Grande. The prisoners formed the alliance to protect themselves from prison violence and guard-inflicted brutality. As the group coalesced, the common criminals were infused with leftist social justice ideals by the guerrillas. The CV established trading relationships with Colombian cartels. The group's decentralized leadership structure and disputes over profits prompted infighting, causing splinter groups such as the Terceiro Comando and Amigos dos Amigos to emerge. Conflicts with these splinters, as well as fierce resistance to state crackdowns on their operations, drove an uptick in violence throughout Brazil in the late 1980s, and into the 2000s. Violence escalated until 2008, when the state government implemented a policy called Pacification, which used permanent proximity-policing units (Unidade de Policia Pacificadora, UPPs) to "maintain state control and provide social order" in favelas. A sharp decline in violence between the state and CV followed implementation. In 2013, Pacification efforts eroded, and conflict between the CV and state forces returned. While not as powerful as its peak, the CV remains significant throughout Brazil; estimated as the second-largest criminal organization behind the PCC. The CV may boast as many as 30,000 members. The gang continues to traffic drugs, arms, and fight turf wars with rival gangs. A struggle has intensified between the CV, the PCC, and other rival gangs over control of trade routes and territory in the Amazon region. == History ==

Origins (1971–1979) The exact year that the Comando Vermelho was founded remains disputed, but sources agree the gang formed out of a prison alliance between leftist guerrillas and common criminals housed together during the 1970s by Brazil's military dictatorship at Cândido Mendes, a maximum security Brazilian prison. To protect themselves, Figueiredo "manipulated a grassroots movement demanding amnesty for thousands of political prisoners and exiles to insulate himself and his colleagues from potential indictments," and passed the sweeping 1979 Amnesty Law, protecting political prisoners and their government captors from prosecution. In exchange for the cooperation of favela residents, the CV prohibited theft, robbery, and rape, and provided public goods like school supplies, medical equipment, and food distribution for the poor. The strategy, which proceeds in stages, begins with state occupation of a target favela using overwhelming military force, followed by the installation of a proximity-policing unit (Unidade de Policia Pacificadora, UPP), which remains in the favela after military withdrawal. Rather than eliminating the drug trade, the UPPs were primarily tasked with securing the favela communities from gang-related violence. In 2023, sources consistently reported frequent violent clashes between the CV and the PCC as well as other rival gang groups. Additionally, an emerging struggle for control of the Amazon region has intensified between rival gangs including the CV. For example, in July and August 2022, the CV clashed frequently with the Campinho police militia for "control of the Morro do Fuba community in the North Zone." == Structure ==

The Comando Vermelho's structure is loosely hierarchical yet allows significant autonomy throughout the organization. While there is no one single boss, imprisoned senior leaders exercise authority over favela leaders, known as donos, who deliver rents to the prison leaders as a form of "insurance scheme." In 2025, Rio de Janeiro state representative TH Joias was preventively arrested for having ties to the Comando Vermelho, acting as an arm of the criminal group in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj). == Conflict with government ==

A defining characteristic of the CV is their willingness to openly engage the state in armed confrontation. Since the mid-1980s, as state forces steadily increased the severity of their crackdowns, the CV has responded with frequent violent clashes. Lessing writes that "nowhere else in Brazil, or in much of the world for that matter," have Rio cartels, and primarily the CV, "systematically engaged the state in armed confrontation for so long." In June 2018, the CV launched attacks on a Bolivian Army base in Porvenir and a Brazilian police station in Epitaciolandia, in both instances stealing weapons and ammunition. Operation Containment Operation Containment () was a large-scale law-enforcement operation launched on 28 October 2025 by the state government against the CV. Approximately 2,500 police agents participated and executed hundreds of police warrants to arrest gang leaders in 26 communities in the North Zone of Rio, mainly in the Penha and Alemão neighborhoods. Launched just before dawn, intense confrontations occurred all day. Gangs set barricades ablaze and used drone-dropped bombs on special forces teams. The operation seized 93 rifles, and resulted in 133 arrests, according to police. State governor Cláudio Castro stated the casualties were criminals and called the operation "a success"; some local residents The operation was the deadliest police action in the state's history in a favela, surpassing the 2021 Jacarezinho shootout that killed 28 people, and was also, overall, the deadliest in Brazilian history, exceeding the Carandiru massacre, where 111 inmates were killed in a prison riot in 1992. == Comando Vermelho and funk carioca ==

The Comando Vermelho continue to attract new Brazilian youth and bring them into their ranks. In addition to sponsoring groups like neighborhood associations and special interest clubs, and organizing sporting events, one of the most common ways in which the criminal organization is able to catch the youth's attention is through the popular musical style of funk carioca, a form of Brazilian music derived from Miami bass. Due to the genre's popularity with young Brazilians, the group "is known to have subsidized funk parties to recruit young kids for drug dealing". In addition to these funk parties (), "where drugs and sex attract even bourgeois or petty-bourgeois youth", held regularly by the organization every Sunday, funk artists are also sponsored by the CV to record songs and even entire CDs that promote the group and eulogize the group's dead members. Because the CV pays for the production and recording of the funk songs, they "are often well recorded and of a high technical quality, and are being played on pirate radio stations and sold by hundreds of street vendors in Rio de Janeiro and in São Paulo." Thus the funk artists that are in league with the CV sometimes garner significant sales and airplay despite making a type of music that is , or 'extremely prohibited', in terms of where it can be sold and who can play it. In addition to promoting the crime group, the funk sponsored by the CV also challenges the ideas and laws of the Division of the Repression Against Drugs. == Notable members ==

• William da Silva Lima, "O Professor ('The Professor'; deceased): One of the founders of the movement, he arrived at Cândido Mendes prison in 1971. The Professor took part in several bank robberies and was a major figure during the Commando's initial rise to power. He later wrote the memoir Four Hundred Against One, which describes his experience during the early years of the organisation. Despite being called "The Professor" or "The Teacher" (), William left school at 12 years old. Being first arrested at 17 years old, he would educated himself behind bars and acted as a representative for the prisoners, drafting petitions and letters to the authorities. Being "the brain" of the Commando, The Professor saw himself as a "social bandit". • Luiz Fernando da Costa, "Fernandinho Beira-Mar" ('Seaside Freddy'; incarcerated): Beira-Mar is an imprisoned senior leader who led the CV's business dealings with the FARC, the Colombian guerrilla group that entered the cocaine trade following the death of Pablo Escobar. In 2001, he was captured by the Colombian military following a shootout, and was extradited to Brazil. • Rogério Lemgruber, "Bagulhão", "Marechal" (Marshal) or "RL" (deceased): Although now unknown to the general public, he was one of the most idolized leaders of the faction, his name being engraved in acronyms, letters and on the walls of hundreds of favelas. He grew up in the favela of Rebu, in Senador Camará, in the western zone, and committed bank robberies with his brother, Sebastião Lemgruber, nicknamed Tiguel. In 1972, he was incarcerated in the Ilha Grande prison, where he spent most of his life. It was there that he met the Professor and became involved in organizing the faction. In January 1980, he managed to leave the island by boat. After several prison sentences, he died of liver failure and diabetes on 29 May 1992. • Elias Pereira da Silva, Elias Maluco ('Crazy Elias'; deceased): He was one of the most powerful drug dealers in Rio de Janeiro and one of the most dangerous members of the Comando Vermelho, until he was arrested for the murder of famous Brazilian journalist Tim Lopes in 2002. His death is unsolved: he was found dead, hanged in his cell on 22 September 2020, but it is unknown if he committed suicide or if someone inside the prison killed him and made it look like a suicide. • Roni Peixoto, "Gordo" ('Fat Man'; deceased): He was known by the nickname Gordo because he was overweight during his leadership of the CV in Minas Gerais. Considered one of the biggest drug lords in the state during the 2000s, he was Beira-Mar's right-hand man, responsible for controlling drug trafficking throughout Minas Gerais and the introducer of crack in Belo Horizonte (the capital of Minas Gerais), which may have led to his brutal murder in 2022. • Cláudio Augusto da Silva Duarte, "Mano C" ('Brother C'; incarcerated): CV leader in the state of Pará in northern Brazil. • Ocimar Prado Junior, "Coquinho" (incarcerated): CV leader in the state of Amazonas in northern Brazil. == Designation as a terrorist group ==

In 2025, the Government of Argentina, led by Javier Milei, declared the Command Vermelho (CV) and the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) as narcoterrorist organizations. In October 2025, the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, announced that both groups had been included in the Registry of Persons and Entities Linked to Acts of Terrorism (RePET), which gathers groups and individuals considered a threat to national security. Due to the use of weapons of war and violent tactics that threaten public safety, the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro has sent a report to the United States government requesting that the criminal factions be classified as narco-terrorist organizations. Subsequently, Paraguay also designated Comando Vermelho as a narco-terrorist organization. Both countries have reinforced their borders with Brazil in response to the actions of the Comando Vermelho. == In popular culture ==

One of the founders of the faction, William da Silva Lima, known as the Professor, wrote the autobiographical book Four Hundred Against One: A History of the Red Commando (), which has been adapted twice by director Caco Souza: first time in the documentary Senhora Liberdade, in 2004, followed by the feature film 400 against 1 - A History of Organized Crime, in 2010. The role of the Professor was played by Daniel de Oliveira, who had already played Cazuza in his biopic. The film also starred Daniela Escobar and featured a special appearance by singer Negra Li. The union between common law prisoners and political prisoners was depicted in the film Quase Dois Irmãos (2004), starring Caco Ciocler and Flávio Bauraqui. In 2006, Ross Kemp's docuseries Ross Kemp on Gangs included an episode titled "Rio De Janeiro", which investigated the Comando Vermelho and their police adversaries. The film City of God is an adaptation of the eponymous fiction novel, which deals with the rise of organized crime in Rio de Janeiro. Although the faction in question is never mentioned in the story, the setting of the plot, Cidade de Deus, is controlled by Comando Vermelho in real life. The DVD release of the film contains an extra documentary, News from a Personal War, which features interviews with the police and local children from the favelas. In the 2009 documentary Dancing with the Devil, director Jon Blair investigates criminal organizations in Rio's favelas, including the Red Commando. == See also ==