Founding location | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
---|---|
Years active | 1998-present |
Territory | Rocinha, various neighborhoods of Rio |
Ethnicity | Brazilians |
Membership | 300 [1] |
Activities | Murder, drug trafficking, extortion, prostitution, illegal gambling, human trafficking, kidnapping |
Rivals | Comando Vermelho, Terceiro Comando Puro, Brazilian police militias |
Amigos dos Amigos (ADA, Friends of Friends) is a criminal organization that operates in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. It was started up in 1998 [1] when a member of Comando Vermelho was expelled from the organization for ordering the murder of another member. The gang's main rivals are Comando Vermelho and Terceiro Comando Puro. ADA controls many drug selling points in the North and West zones.
Between 2004 and 2017, ADA controlled Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro, [2] along with many other smaller favelas. With the assassination of the gang leader Bem-Te-Vi in 2005 by police, there was a renewed wave of violence as gangs fought for control over favelas previously controlled by ADA.
ADA are thought to wield significant social power in the communities they control, winning support through handouts, throwing parties, and providing some services, while their rivals, the Red Command, imposes itself more through violence.
The gang made global headlines in October 2009 when a police helicopter crashed over Morro dos Macacos favela, which is a major Amigos dos Amigos stronghold. The helicopter pilot was shot and lost control of his aircraft, killing two. [1]
Favela is an umbrella name for several types of impoverished neighborhoods in Brazil. The term, which means slum or ghetto, was first used in the Slum of Providência in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had lived under the favela trees in Bahia and had nowhere to live following the Canudos War. Some of the last settlements were called bairros africanos. Over the years, many former enslaved Africans moved in. Even before the first favela came into being, poor citizens were pushed away from the city and forced to live in the far suburbs.
Rocinha is a favela in Brazil, located in Rio de Janeiro's South Zone between the districts of São Conrado and Gávea. Rocinha is built on a steep hillside overlooking Rio de Janeiro, and is located about one kilometre from a nearby beach. Most of the favela is on a very steep hill, with many trees surrounding it. Around 200,000 people live in Rocinha, making it the most populous in Rio de Janeiro.
Erismar Rodrigues Moreira, also known as "Bem-Te-Vi", was a gang leader in the Brazilian slum Rocinha, in Rio de Janeiro. He was considered to be the most wanted criminal in Rio during his prime.
The Primeiro Comando da Capital is a Brazilian organized crime syndicate. According to a 2023 The Economist report, the PCC is Latin America's biggest drug gang, with a membership of 40,000 lifetime members plus 60,000 "contractors". Its name refers to the São Paulo state capital, the city of São Paulo.
Kátia Lund is a Brazilian film director and screenwriter. Her most notable work was as co-director of the film City of God.
In Brazil, the Federal Constitution establishes eight law enforcement institutions - seven titulars and one auxiliar. The titular institutions are: the Federal Police, the Federal Highway Police, the Federal Railroad Police, the Federal Penal Police, the State Military Police and Fire Brigade, the State Civil Police and the State Penal Police. Of these, the first four are affiliated to federal authorities and the latter three are subordinated to state governments. These public safety institutions are part of the Executive branch of either federal or state government. Apart from these eight institutions, there are others which affiliate to municipal authorities: the Municipal Guards. According to Minister Alexandre de Moraes of the Supreme Federal Court, "...the Municipal Guards are inserted in public safety as the auxiliary and related body of public security force..." Federal law 13,022 gave them de facto and de jure police attributions.
Comando Vermelho, also known as CV, is a Brazilian criminal organization engaged primarily in drug trafficking, arms trafficking, protection racketeering, kidnapping-for-ransom, hijacking of armored trucks, loansharking, irregular warfare, narco-terrorism, and turf wars against rival criminal organizations, such as Primeiro Comando da Capital and Terceiro Comando Puro. The gang formed in the early 1970s out of a prison alliance between common criminals and leftist guerrillas who were imprisoned together at Cândido Mendes, 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. In 1979, prison officials labeled the alliance "Comando Vermelho", a name which the prisoners eventually co-opted as their own. In the 1980s, the gang expanded beyond Ilha Grande into other prisons and the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and became involved in the rapidly growing cocaine industry. Meanwhile, Brazil's shift towards democracy and the eventual end of the military dictatorship in 1985 allowed the leftist guerrillas to re-enter society; thus, the CV largely abandoned its left-wing ideology.
Proibidão, which literally translates to "strongly prohibited", is a subgenre of funk carioca music originating from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro where it began in the early 1990s as a parallel phenomenon to the growth of drug gangs in the many slums of the city. The drug gangs sponsored DJs and baile funks in the favelas they controlled to spread respect and love for their gang as well as hate to the other gangs. The music that resulted is proibidão.
Brazil has one of the highest crime rates in the world, which involves an elevated incidence of violent and non-violent crimes. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Brazil had a homicide rate of 21.26 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021, up from 20.89 per 100,000 inhabitants with 43,073 murders in 2019; however, this was lower than in 2017, when Brazil had a homicide rate of 30.59 per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2018, Brazil had one of the highest number of intentional homicides in the world with 57,358. In addition, Brazil rates second in illegal drug trade in the world.
Vidigal is a neighborhood and a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State (PMERJ) like other military polices in Brazil is a reserve and ancillary force of the Brazilian Army, and part of the System of Public Security and Brazilian Social Protection. Its members are called "state military" personnel.
The Pacifying Police Unit, abbreviated UPP, is a law enforcement and social services program pioneered in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which aims to reclaim territories, most commonly favelas, controlled by gangs of drug dealers. The program was created and implemented by State Public Security Secretary José Mariano Beltrame, with the backing of Rio Governor Sérgio Cabral. The stated goal of Rio's government is to install 40 UPPs by 2014. By May 2013, 231 favelas had come under the UPP umbrella. The UPP program scored initial success expelling gangs, and won broad praise. But the expensive initiative expanded too far, too fast into dozens of favelas as state finances cratered, causing a devastating backslide that enabled gangs to recover some of their lost grip.
Terceiro Comando was a Brazilian criminal organization engaged in drug trafficking in Rio de Janeiro. It was founded in the early 1980s and is a break-away faction of the Comando Vermelho.
Terceiro Comando Puro is a Brazilian criminal organization in Rio de Janeiro that split off from the Terceiro Comando (TC) in 2002 due to disputes about TC's affiliations with the Amigos dos Amigos gang. TC weakened while TCP strengthened and eventually absorbed its parent group's members. TCP is primarily involved with drug trafficking.
The Santa Cruz Cartel is a Bolivian drug cartel and criminal organization, said to be one of the largest in the country, headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Brazilian militias, mainly in Rio de Janeiro, and some other cities of Brazil, are illegal mafia-like paramilitary groups made up of current and former police officers as well as Military Firefighters Corps officers, criminals, politicians, and military officers, operating also as a regular mafia by trade extortion and political influence.
Elias Pereira da Silva, also known as Elias Maluco, was one of Rio de Janeiro's most powerful drug traffickers. Maluco, a member of the criminal faction Comando Vermelho, commanded drug trafficking in thirty slums near Complexo do Alemão and Penha, Brazil. He was accused of killing over sixty people.
On 6 May 2021, at least 29 people were killed in a shootout between police and drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The raid occurred in Jacarezinho, Rio de Janeiro, a favela notable for its high crime rate. The raid occurred at approximately 11 a.m. local time, following reports that a local drug gang was recruiting children.
The armed conflict for control of the favelas in Greater Rio de Janeiro or simply Civil conflict for control of the favelas is an ongoing conflict between Brazilian militias, organized criminal groups Comando Vermelho, Amigos dos Amigos, Terceiro Comando Puro and the Brazilian state.