Police operation against the PCC arrests 40 in São Paulo.

Elaine Patrícia Cruz - Reporter for Agência Brasil

Today (15) 40 people were arrested, two of them teenagers, in an operation launched by the Civil Police against a criminal organization that operates inside and outside São Paulo prisons: the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC). The operation, which aimed to target the financial and administrative sectors of the criminal organization, arrested PCC leaders, such as Amarildo Ribeiro da Silva, known as Júlio, who led the group's financial sector and was also responsible for releasing large sums for the purchase of drugs. Among those arrested are 15 mules, mostly women who transported the drugs to the points of sale.

"With the launch of the operation, we concluded that we effectively hit the financial arm of the organization. Obviously, we didn't hit the entire organization, which is very large, but this demonstrates that we are paying attention to what is happening and we will continue [the operation]," said Detective Ruy Ferraz Fontes, who led the police action.

The operation, led by the State Department of Criminal Investigations (Deic), began on February 19th with the arrest of a person who managed 51 PCC drug sales points in the capital, but intensified over the last weekend when most PCC members were arrested.

The operation was called Bate-Bola. "This is a term that criminals use to describe how they communicate, with small notes, letters, and little annotations on cell phones," explained Detective Wagner Giudice, director of the DEIC (Department of Criminal Investigations). The operation mobilized 200 police officers and involved wiretaps and interceptions of messages authorized by the courts. Hidden cameras were also used to capture meetings of members of the criminal organization.

During the investigation, police identified that Marco Willians Herbas Camacho, known as Marcola, continues to lead the PCC's operations, even while imprisoned in Presidente Venceslau, but now using the codename Russo, a reference to his Marxist discourse. "The scheme mainly functioned through the delivery of letters and notes to families," explained Fontes. "Marcola is perhaps the most intellectually prepared person and, due to his charisma, leads everyone. All decisions come from 15 people who are imprisoned there [in Presidente Venceslau], and the execution of the operation is carried out by Amarildo, from the outside," explained Fontes. Police estimate that the group moved an average of R$ 7 million per month.

Because of this, the Secretary of Public Security of São Paulo, Fernando Grella, said that he intends to ask the courts, once again, to send Marcola to the Special Disciplinary Regime (RDD), where he will be isolated for 22 hours a day. "We will analyze this evidence. If there is evidence of serious misconduct [by Marcola], we can petition the Judiciary to send the head of the faction to the RDD. The Public Prosecutor's Office can also do this, independently of the Secretary of Public Security or the Penitentiary Administration," he said.

In the operation, 31 cars (five of them luxury vehicles), two motorcycles, 102 kilograms (kg) of cocaine, 40 kg of marijuana, 300 bottles of poppers, ammunition, a rifle, a submachine gun, four pistols, computers, cell phones, and R$ 120,9 in cash were seized. Three bank accounts belonging to the organization were blocked and will be analyzed by the police. Two red alerts were also issued to the international agency Interpol for the arrest of two fugitives who are outside the country: Fabiano Alves de Souza, alias Paca - who is in Paraguay and is part of the PCC leadership - and Wilson José Lima de Oliveira, alias Neno, who is in the United States.

According to prosecutor Lafaiete Ramos, the charges that will be filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office will cover drug trafficking and conspiracy to traffic drugs, in addition to a criminal case for organized crime.

The participation of police officers in the criminal scheme is not ruled out, and will be investigated by the internal affairs departments of the Military and Civil Police. Although the Secretary of Public Security of São Paulo did not speak about the number of police officers to be investigated, he admitted that he received today (15) evidence relating to the "possible involvement" of police officers in the scheme, and said that he will forward the material to the internal affairs departments today.

"They [police officers] are not part of the criminal organization's scheme. There are no police officers working for criminals. What we collected from wiretaps and notes was that, occasionally, the police officer goes to the drug den, which is the point of sale for drugs, and collects the money that is available at that moment. Nothing more than that. It's not the police bringing in drugs or commanding the crime. It's much more a situation of extortion and bribery than anything else. We don't know how many [police officers] there are. They are not crime leaders. They take advantage of the crime," explained Giudice.

The operation identified 13 sectors of the PCC that operate independently. Monthly, representatives from each sector meet to finalize the overall accounting of the collections. The 13 sectors are: the bakery (which handles the acquisition, storage, and distribution of drugs), the FMs (which manages drugs at retail points of sale), production (which controls, coordinates, manages, stores, and distributes drugs to retailers), progress (which manages the sale of drugs and cigarettes in prisons and encourages drug sales in general), the onion (the sector that collects a monthly fee of R$ 600 from PCC members), registration (which controls PCC members), the raffle (which manages the sale of raffle tickets), the bus (which transports visitors to prisons), help (assistance for imprisoned members and their families), the tie (which brings together the faction's lawyers), support (responsible for managing resources in lawsuits against PCC members), the weapons depot (which stores weapons), and finally, other states (which handles operations outside of São Paulo).