O Red Command (CV) and the First Capital Command (PCC) they consolidated national dominance that reaches the 27 units of the federation and, together, they exercise hegemony in 13 states. This is the most recent scenario of faction expansion, described in a survey carried out by Brazilian Public Security Forum. The research points to unprecedented territorial consolidation, criminal diversification and internationalization.
In the last three years, CV and PCC have gone from being organizations restricted to the prison system to operating as transnational corporations.
O PCC maintains hegemony in seven states, MS, MG, PR, RO, RR, SP e PIsupported by strategic alliances, port control and structured logistics operations. Already the CV dominates six states, AC, AM, MT, PA, RJ e TOsupported by aggressive expansion in the North and advances along Amazon routes.
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The dispute is most visible in Legal Amazonwhere 344 municipalities, around 44.6% of the region, register the presence of factions, and 86 of them experience conflicts between two or more organizations.
O Red Command practically doubled its presence in the region, from 128 to 286 cities between 2023 and 2025, while the PCC maintains stable influence in around 90 municipalities, but with hegemonic control over strategic flow and supply areas.
According to the survey, the 10 most violent cities in the country are scenes of disputes between factions.
“Extreme violence is concentrated in municipalities in the Northeast, especially in metropolitan regions and in the interior of Bahia. Disputes between factions such as Comando Vermelho (CV), Guardians of the State (GDE) and Bonde dos Malucos (BDM) are the main driver of lethality in these areas.”, points out the study.
As for international escalation, the PCC already has links in at least 16 countries, on four continents, including partnerships with the Italian ‘Ndrangheta mafia, Dutch networks and groups from the Balkans. The CV, in turn, expands its influence across Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, focusing on the dispute over the Amazon.
Another indication is the change in the factions’ modus operandi, which made robberies more obsolete and began betting on cell phone fraud, which, according to the study, “has become a billion-dollar cog in organized crime”, with an impunity rate of 97%.
The study also reinforces the unequal cost of the State’s presence. In riverside areas, a policing operation can be 25 times more expensive than in the Southeast, which increases the territorial imbalance and favors criminal occupation in remote regions, especially in municipalities on the international border, where 82 cities already have active factions.
