Since 2019, Brazil’s largest criminal factions—Red Command (CV) and First Capital Command (PCC)—have been negotiating a truce, now expanding nationwide under their leaders, Marcinho VP and Marcola. The agreement aims to consolidate their power in federal prisons, share key drug trafficking routes, and pressure authorities for concessions. Internal PCC notices (salves) banning violence between factions have surfaced across the country, especially in CV-dominated regions. Authorities fear this alliance could strengthen organized crime, with speculation that the PCC may assume a more strategic role while using the CV as its armed wing.
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“Salves“
Known as “salves“, internal PCC notices declaring that killing members of the rival faction or invading their territory is now forbidden have begun circulating across Brazil, particularly in the North and Northeast, where CV predominates. According to prosecutor Lincoln Gakiya, from the Special Task Force for the Repression of Organized Crime (Gaeco) of the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office, this truce has, in practice, been in effect in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo since Marcola’s imprisonment in August 2023. Now, it has extended to other states.
Objective
The agreement aims to consolidate the factions’ power within federal prisons, where their key leaders are held, and to pressure authorities for measures benefiting incarcerated members, such as reinstating intimate visits. Federal prison inmates face even stricter conditions than those in state facilities. Another key element of the pact is the sharing of Brazil’s two main drug trafficking routes: the Caipira, controlled by the PCC, which moves cocaine from Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru through São Paulo’s interior and the Triângulo Mineiro to Africa and Europe; and the Solimões, in Amazonas, dominated by the CV.
Concerns Among Authorities
The news of the truce has raised concerns among security officials. Marcus Vinícius Oliveira de Almeida, Secretary of Public Security of Amazonas, fears that the alliance may have negative consequences for the state. Meanwhile, Rio de Janeiro’s Secretary of Security, Victor Santos, stated that a potential collaboration between the factions was discussed in a meeting attended by Minister of Justice Ricardo Lewandowski. It was speculated that the PCC might use the CV as an armed wing while the São Paulo-based gang would assume a more sophisticated role, forming a kind of criminal joint venture.
Partnership
Prosecutor Lincoln Gakiya previously reported that the truce negotiations began in 2019. That year, after Marcola was transferred to the stricter federal prison system, he was approached by lawyers representing the CV to discuss an agreement. At the time, CV leaders were also being held under the same rigorous regime, which had become even stricter following the arrival of PCC members. When informed of the peace proposal, Marcola reportedly stated that their true enemy was the State, not organized crime and that they should unite once again.
Key Player in the Truce
At the same time, criminal Emílio Carlos Gongorra Castilho, known as Cigarreira, has resurfaced in Complexo da Penha, in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone. A known PCC member, Cigarreira is identified by São Paulo’s Civil Police as the mastermind behind the murder of Vinícius Gritzbach at Guarulhos Airport. He played a crucial role in the truce negotiations, acting as a key intermediary between the two factions. Following Gritzbach’s death, he reportedly sought refuge in Vila Cruzeiro, a community within Complexo da Penha—one of the CV’s main strongholds in Rio —where Edgar Alves de Andrade, known as Doca or Urso, one of the faction’s leaders, is based.
Bloody War
For many years, the two factions maintained a strategic alliance, sharing influence and drug trafficking routes. However, this peace was shattered in 2016 due to internal disputes and conflicts over drug trafficking routes, leading to a violent rupture. The result was an unprecedented surge in violence, with prison riots and massacres. The most notorious incident occurred in Manaus on 1 January 2017, when 56 inmates—26 of them PCC members—were brutally murdered by members of the Família do Norte (FDN), then an ally of the Red Command.
Analysis:
The recent truce between Brazil’s two largest criminal factions, the PCC and the CV, represents a significant shift in the dynamics of organized crime in the country. While faction rivalries have historically been a major driver of urban and prison violence, this agreement suggests a strategic repositioning rather than a genuine de-escalation of criminal activities. By consolidating their power within federal prisons and coordinating their operations on the outside, both groups stand to benefit.
However, this alignment raises serious concerns for public security. If the PCC does, in fact, adopt a more structured and strategic role while utilizing the CV as an operational arm, the impact could be profound. Such a model would resemble the evolution of transnational criminal organizations that separate leadership from violent enforcement, allowing them to operate with greater sophistication and resilience. For the state, the challenge now is twofold: first, to assess how this new arrangement will impact ongoing security policies, particularly those targeting organized crime; and second, to prevent this truce from evolving into an even more entrenched criminal network that could prove more difficult to dismantle.
Sources: Metrópoles [1], [2], [3]; G1 [1], [2]; O Globo; UOL.
