The fifth edition of Lecuca (Survey of Scenes of Drug Use in Capital Cities), made by Unifesp (Federal University of São Paulo) under request of the National Secretariat for Drug Care and Prevention, with data collected during 2021, revealed that more than 39% of the drug users of Cracolândia, in downtown São Paulo, have been living there for more than 10 years. The survey shows an increasing trend in the number of people in Cracolândia. In 2019, 47,6% of the total of people in the survey stated that they had been frequenting the area for five years or more. In 2021, the number increased to 57,4%. In contrast, the flow of new frequenters – those who have been in the scene for less than a year – has been declining over the past five years. In 2021, 15,6% of respondents had been in Cracolândia for a period between one month and one year. In comparison, in 2016, the number was 30,8%. Most addicts, according to the survey, are men (73,8%), brown (47,7%), and single (75,8%). More than half of the people (56,8%) live and sleep in the area most nights, while about 9% of the users only use the region to buy drugs. 21,1% of the surveyed stated that they do not use crack. Among the 78,9% who consume it, 22% use it exclusively. 65% of the users use more than one type of drug or alcohol.
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According to reports made by the population to R7 news portal and to the police, criminals are committing mass robberies in São Paulo’s Central Zone in broad daylight. Usually, they attack drivers stopped in traffic lights or in traffic jams, break their vehicles’ windows using rocks or other objects and then proceed to steal their cell phones. In January three criminals that operated in the area were caught with 28 devices.
According to investigators from the Civil Police of São Paulo, the increase in homicides in Campo Limpo, in the Capital’s South Zone, registered in 2022, is linked to the dispute between the groups Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and a rival group known as Pé de Pato (Duckfoot) for the control of illegal distribution of clandestine television, locally called gatonet. The police claims that the PCC exerts less influence in the neighborhood than in other peripheral areas of São Paulo, which opened space for rival groups to act. Data from the SSP (São Paulo’s Secretariat of Public Security) revealed that from January to November 2022, 35 homicides were registered in the area of the 37th Police District (Campo Limpo). In both 2021 and 2019 (before the Covid-19 pandemic) there were 24 in the same period, which represents a 46% increase. Despite the local increase, there was a reduction of murders in the rest of the city, which reached the lowest number of homicides in the current historical series, which began in 2002 – there were 520 deaths from January to November 2022 against 560 in the same period in 2021.
19/01/2023 – Armed criminals stole 105 cell phones from a store in a shopping center Tamboré, on Avenida Piracema, in Barueri, Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. According to the police, the estimated loss is $ 1 million.
19/01/2023 – Fifteen people living in situations analogous to slavery were rescued from a Japanese restaurant located in Vila Formosa, in the East Zone of São Paulo. Most of them came from states in the Northeast. A woman was arrested but she was released after a custody hearing.
19/01/2023 – Criminals armed with assault rifles shot and killed a security guard in a store in Grajaú. In São Paulo’s South Zone, at 19:00. Two other people were also harmed. The murderers did not steal anything.
20/01/2023 – Three armed criminals tried to rob an off-duty police officer as he arrived in a veterinary clinic in Vila Maria, in São Paulo’s North Zone, at 02:30. He reacted and shot against the criminals, who fled. One criminal was shot dead.
20/01/2023 – Two criminals on a motorcycle committed a robbery in Paraisópolis, in São Paulo’s South Zone, at night, but were chased by police officers, who shot at them. One criminal died and the other was arrested.
20/01/2023 – Two criminals escaped from Provisional Detention Center II, in Chácara Belém, in São Paulo’s East Zone, but were recaptured moments later by an off-duty police officer.
20/01/2023 – A criminal robbed a woman as soon as she was entering her building in São Paulo’s West Zone, at 06:00. The external door of her building’s airlock had an automatic closing system, but it was not quick enough to close the door before the criminal could reach the victim. Once inside the airlock, he robbed the woman. He got trapped inside the airlock, but another criminal helped him to climb the fences and escape.
22/01/2023 – Drug addicts that live in the region known as Cracolândia, in República, in São Paulo’s Central Zone, provoked a fire and caused turmoil, at 21:30.
22/01/2023 – An Italian businessman was killed and his body was burned inside a car in Jardim Ângela, in São Paulo’s South Zone. His house was also burgled. The police suspects that the murderer is an employee that had a discussion with him.
23/01/2023 – A reporter from Balanço Geral Manhã, on Record TV, suffered a robbery attempt while waiting to go live to the channel on Rua Barão de Itapetininga, downtown São Paulo, at 6:30. The criminal was on bicycle and approached the victim at high speed. When he got close to the victim, the criminal slowed down and reached out to snatch the cell phone. The reporter, however, was quick and managed to protect himself from the crime.
24/01/2023 – An off-duty police chief was shot twice by two criminals on a motorcycle during a supposed robbery attempt in Vila Mariana, in São Paulo’s South Zone, next to the crossing of Rua Domingos de Morais and Rua Francisco Cruz.
24/01/2023 – A criminal on a motorcycle shot an off-duty police officer in front of his house in Casa Verde, in São Paulo’s North Zone.
25/01/2023 – An armed criminal tried to rob a family inside a house in Cidade Líder, in São Paulo’s East Zone, but one of the victim’s reacted and fought with the criminal. The criminal fell from the stairs and died.
