20 years ago, in May 2006, the state of São Paulo experienced the worst public security crisis in its history. The trigger for the episodes, which left 564 dead and 110 injured in nine dayswas a state government operation that, on May 11, transferred 765 inmates to the Presidente Venceslau Penitentiary, in the interior of São Paulo.
Among those transferred was Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, known as Marcolaappointed by the authorities as the top leader of the PCC (First Command of the Capital).
Born on January 25, 1968, in Osasco, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Marcos Willians is the son of a Bolivian father and a Brazilian mother. His mother died when he was just nine years old, which led him to live on the streets and begin his career in crime by committing petty thefts in the Baixada do Glicério region and Praça da Sé, in the center of São Paulo.
The nickname “Marcola” came about at that time, with the combination of his name and his addiction to inhaling shoe glue during his childhood. Later, he would also earn the nickname “Playboy” in the São Paulo underworld, due to his taste for imported luxury cars, expensive watches and designer clothes.
Rise in the world of crime and leadership of the PCC
Marcola’s criminal activities escalated from petty theft to major theft, resulting in his first arrest in 1986 for bank robbery. He served his sentence in the Carandiru prison and, in 1993, was transferred to the Casa de Custódia de Taubaté.
At that time, a group of inmates, including José Márcio Felício (Geleião) and Dionísio César Leite (Cesinha), began to form the organization that would give rise to the PCC.
Described as an intellectual individual and “bookworm”, Marcola was baptized into the faction and quickly rose through the group’s hierarchy, becoming second in command.
In July 1999, the PCC carried out the biggest bank robbery in the history of São Paulo, stealing more than R$32 million. Days later, on July 19, 1999, police officers from Depatri (Department for the Repression of Property Crimes) recognized Marcola using a public telephone on Marginal Tietê and arrested him. He hasn’t been out of prison since.
From 2002 onwards, after internal conflicts, betrayals and the murder of allies, including the death of his ex-wife and lawyer Ana Maria Olivatto, he assumed total control and became the maximum leader of the PCC.
Under his management, the faction expanded beyond prisons, consolidating itself in drug and weapons trafficking throughout Brazil and neighboring countries, even developing ties with the Italian mafia. Marcola, however, has already declared himself an agnostic and usually denies before the courts that he is the leader of the faction, attributing the title to an “exaggeration” by the State.
The Crimes of May 2006
In response to the transfer of Marcola and other leaders to Presidente Venceslau, in the interior of São Paulo, in 2006, the PCC ordered a “general salute” on May 12, the eve of Mother’s Day. The order, transmitted by cell phones from inside cells, triggered simultaneous riots in 74 state prisons.
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In addition to the transfers, investigative reports, including studies from Harvard University, indicate that the violence was also triggered by extortion carried out by civil police officers against the faction, such as the kidnapping of Marcola’s stepson by investigators from Suzano, in Greater São Paulo, who demanded R$300,000 in ransom.
On the streets, the faction began attacks against bases, vehicles and police stations. The state came to a standstill with the burning of buses and the interruption of public transport.
The offensive by organized crime was followed by action by security forces, affecting hundreds of civilians, many of them young people with no criminal record who lived in the outskirts.
The escalation of terror resulted in 564 deaths in just over a week – 59 public agents and 505 civilians. On May 14, after meetings between representatives of the São Paulo government and Marcola, the attacks and rebellions ceased in a coordinated manner.
The current prison situation
Today, at 58 years old, Marcola has accumulated convictions for homicides, drug trafficking, criminal association and bank robbery, with sentences totaling more than 300 years in prison.
In February 2019, he was transferred to the Federal Penitentiary System and, since 2023, he has been isolated in the Brasília Federal Penitentiary, a maximum security unit.
In June 2025, when he needed to undergo an MRI on his knee at the Brasília Base Hospital, his movement included a strong security scheme, which mobilized dozens of Federal Penal Police vehicles and tactical helicopter escort.
Despite dozens of convictions, Marcola obtained a recent technical victory. At the beginning of December 2025, judge Gabriel Medeiros, of the São Paulo Court, recognized the extinction of punishment in the well-known “case of the 175 defendants”, the largest criminal action in history against the PCC.
The defendants had been indicted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for conspiracy in September 2013. By law, when the maximum sentence is more than four years and does not exceed eight, the State has a period of 12 years to conclude the process and punish the accused.
As the process was paralyzed without a conviction until the end of September 2025, it expired. The closure of this case did not grant freedom to the faction leader, as his other sentences remain in force.
Money laundering and the family
On the other hand, legal offensives targeting the faction’s assets continue to generate setbacks for Marcola and his family. The 5th Chamber of Criminal Law of the São Paulo Court of Justice sentenced the PCC leader to 6 years and 4 months in prison under a closed regime for the crime of money laundering arising from drug trafficking.
In the same process, his wife, Cynthia Giglioli Herbas Camacho, whom he married in 2007, was sentenced to four years in open prison.
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The court confirmed that the couple used a beauty salon, Diva’s Hair, to conceal illicit values.
Marcola’s in-laws were also sentenced to three years in prison; According to investigations, they acted as “swindlers” in the acquisition, paid in cash, of a house valued at more than R$3 million in a luxury condominium in Granja Viana, in Greater São Paulo.
The dispute over confidentiality during visits
Currently, Marcola and the State are locked in a legal dispute regarding the rules in federal prisons. The defense of the head of the PCC went to court with a request that his meetings with lawyers in face-to-face discussions take place without audio and video recording.
The defense’s request is based on the “Vorcaro precedent”, a decision by Minister André Mendonça, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), which exempted former banker Daniel Vorcaro from this type of monitoring under the prerogative of professional secrecy.
The Federal Criminal Police, however, argues that the recordings are essential intelligence resources to prevent leaders of violent factions from issuing orders to commit crimes and structure rebellions outside the walls. The case is now awaiting analysis by the Judiciary.
*Under the supervision of Carolina Figueiredo
