According to Gaeco (Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime) of the São Paulo State Ministry, the capital’s First Command, the PCC, had revenues of R$4.9 billion per year. The growth and complexity of the operations of the country’s largest criminal organization have worried authorities even on the other side of the Atlantic.
What happened
According to Gaeco’s prosecutor Lincoln Gakiya, the PCC has earned around $1 billion a year since 2020 which is more than R$4.9 billion at current levels. The income relates to the drug trade in São Paulo and the profits primarily from cocaine sales to European countries.
Related
According to research, twothirds of the PCC’s revenue comes exclusively from international trade. The sector of the criminal organization responsible for the activity was given the name “Tomato”. This is because, according to prosecutors, cocaine left the country in tomato shipments.
The rest of the profit comes from the drug trade in São Paulo revenues in other states remain local and do not go to this account. “There is not a single PCC fund in the country. Members from São Paulo send money to interested states,” says Gakiya.
The amount of cocaine leaving the country’s ports has increased in recent years. According to the prosecutor’s office, in 2016 and 2017, 200 to 300 kilograms of drugs per month were transported in cargoes for export from the country. In 2021, investigations revealed that the faction was shipping at least a ton of cocaine per month.
The faction has become a problem in several European countries. As they joined forces with Eastern European mafia organizations, they began laundering money and gained sophistication.
Gaeco Prosecutor Lincoln Gakiya of MPSP
Other forms of fundraising
Today, other forms of money collection used by the criminal faction have lost strength, according to authorities investigating the organization.
Since 2002 and with greater intensity since 2008 the PCC has collected R$5 million per year. The money came from the “Progresso” sector, which is responsible for drug trafficking, raffles and “onion”, the monthly fee charged to free members.
As of 2018, the PCC in São Paulo has eliminated raffles, monthly fees and other ways to generate profits. Since then, revenue has been focused exclusively on trade within and outside the country.
Between 2010 and 2012, the faction used the practice of storing money in safe houses. The valuables were buried in a safe in a house managed by members of the organization.
Concern among Europeans
The Europol (European Police Agency) website classifies the PCC as a “notorious criminal group”. “Five years ago, this worry [com a facção] she was more shy. “Today I am asked almost weekly by authorities and police in Europe for information about the PCC,” reports Gakiya.
The Portuguese criminal police have begun investigating the number of prisoners involved in drug trafficking, says Ivana David, judge at the São Paulo Court of Justice. “The number of Brazilians imprisoned in this country has caused a stir in the last five years. During the investigation, it was determined that they were gang prisoners.” According to the judge, in many cases these are prisoners who are wanted by the courts, have an arrest warrant or are cited in cases involving the faction in Brazil .
The judge also says that the main concern in Europe and the US today is the expansion of PCC in these countries. According to Ivana, research shows that the collection is not just financial. “Brazil sends drugs and receives weapons. Drugs are not only sold for money. The drugs are exchanged for gold and diamonds.”
On the trail of drugs and money
Members of the São Paulo criminal organization buy the drug manufactured in Bolivia and Peru. Part of the substance enters the national territory through the border with Paraguay and the final product is transported mainly through the port of Santos in São Paulo. “Santos has an intense daily movement, which encourages crime related to drug transport and makes police control difficult,” says Ivana.
April 13, 2020 Gilberto Aparecido dos Santos, known as Fuminho, during his arrest in Mozambique Image: Personal archive
In Europe there are no PCC heads, but rather members of the organization responsible for financial transactions. In European countries there are operators and money changers who work for the faction and receive a percentage of the sales price.
Traffic flows and profits from the illegal drug trade have also become increasingly sophisticated over the criminal organization’s threedecade history.. The drug arrives in European countries through various ports.
If import points through Europe are subject to greater monitoring, the order will be that the substances first pass through African and Asian countries. In April 2020, one of the faction’s main representatives, Gilberto Aparecido dos Santos, 49, Fuminho, was arrested in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. According to the investigation, he planned to control crime in southern Africa.
According to Gakiya, money transported as part of international trade also flows through China. “It searches dozens of Chinese accounts, making it difficult to track,” he says. One of the PCC members Gaeco was investigating for involvement in a bank robbery had received the money in the Netherlands; The amount then flowed via China, arrived in Brazil and flew on to Paraguay, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
Tracking depends on international cooperation and agreements between countries. “We have to count on the cooperation of other countries to track down the money, because crime no longer knows borders,” says the prosecutor.