In the last 17 years of his career, São Paulo District Attorney Lincoln Gakyia has specialized in investigations involving elements of the First Capital Command (PCC), which he considers to be the largest criminal organization in the world. South America. , confirms the presence of some operators in Portugal and warns of money laundering that can happen.
Since when have you been following Investigations from the First Command of the Capital (PCC) and why did you start?
I have been a prosecutor for the state of São Paulo for 31 years. My investigations focus on organized crime, especially the PCC since 2005, so 17 years ago.
I specifically started working for this criminal organization because I practice my profession in a region here in the state of São Paulo where there is a large concentration of prisons.
In this region alone there are 26 prison units, each with 1200/1300 prisoners. It’s a large prison population. In the specific case of the PCC, the most dangerous criminals in the state of São Paulo are taken to a maximum security prison, right next to the city where I work, about 50 kilometers away, a penitentiary that came to be known as “Penitentiary P2 de President Venceslau” .
Here were Marcola and other PCC leaders. I worked in that city of Presidente Venceslau in 2005, I started researching and never stopped.
What are the CCP’s capabilities, resources, areas of activity, and degree of power and danger at this time?
The PCC was founded in prisons in 1993 and only started as a movement of prisoners demanding improvements in the conditions for serving their sentences in prison. But it also gained supporters on the streets.
Mostly accomplices of criminals and those prisoners who were eventually “baptized” to join the PCC.
The organization started small and today has more than 40,000 members in Brazil alone. It is present in all states, but also all over South America, in the United States and there are also records of members in several European countries, still timid, but there are records of their presence, especially in those countries where the PCC it is interested that it is a country that receives the cocaine it sends.
We are already going to the PCC in Europe. Besides the cocaine trade, what are the other areas of activity of the PCC?
Being a criminal organization set up in prisons, working together to defend the rights of prisoners, drug trafficking was a means they found to fund lawyers, among other things, a form of transportation for family members. It expanded.
They practically dominate traffic here in the state of S. Paulo, as well as several other states in Brazil. But here is the largest port in South America, namely the Port of Santos, the largest outlet for cocaine to Europe.
What the PCC is funding today is mostly drug trafficking, especially international trafficking. The PCC has been involved in a few bank robberies, but that is not the main purpose of the organization. These other crimes only serve to fund human trafficking.
Where does this cocaine come from?
Mainly from Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. It is still bought in base paste and then turned into cocaine right here in São Paulo. A portion is distributed internally, with the state of São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, ranking first in its distribution hegemony. I remember that Brazil is considered the second largest consumer of cocaine in the world after the US. Another important part is intended for international traffic.
And how do you characterize the degree of danger of the PCC?
The PCC today, because it has expanded not only in Brazil – in all states – but also in South America and now in Europe, is classified by us as a criminal organization with a mafia character. Because it operates internationally, it uses methods very similar to those used by the Mafia, including corruption of public agents.
It also uses force to intimidate, either against competitors or against public agents forced to help – mainly port officials, who can be killed. In addition, there is the problem of money laundering that characterizes a mafia.
Today, the PCC already has a highly structured money laundering system, also outside Brazil. To me, the PCC is the largest criminal organization in South America today.
It is the fastest growing, I believe in the world, precisely because of the international traffic to Europe. It used to be just internal trade, but from 2010 they started sending drugs to Europe where the profit is very high.
You can buy a kilo of cocaine in Colombia for 1200/1300 dollars and sell it in Europe for 30/35 thousand euros or more. The estimate we made based on our 2020 repossessions, for example, already pointed to $500 million in annual revenue.
Is Portugal one of the expansion countries of PCC? What evidence/evidence is there to back this up?
I am a prosecutor, I have no federal jurisdiction. However, our research provides information that is of international importance.
The PCC sends this drug to Europe and what we normally do is share information with other authorities, namely with the Federal Police, the police responsible for liaising with the police in Portugal and in other countries.
A lot of information has been exchanged between the authorities. I mention Portugal and Spain, but also Belgium and the Netherlands, countries with large ports, and also Germany, a country whose authorities have looked to us with great concern. This is because Brazil has flooded Europe with cocaine.
But does it make sense that the PCC would want to use Portugal as a gateway for cocaine to Europe, right?
I do not doubt. The PCC is always looking for business opportunities. Portugal has several advantages, such as the ports and the language that favor the arrival of many Brazilians.
There were already intelligence documents here that indicated that there were 42 members of the PCC in Portugal at the end of 2021. Arrests have already been made, other connections are being investigated. There are already Brazilians imprisoned in prisons in Portugal.
What is the facility? Some of this drug lands in ports and airports in Portugal, Spain, but a very significant portion also passes through Africa with connections to these Iberian countries. One of the biggest drug dealers in South America, a Brazilian whose nickname was “Fuminho”, was arrested in Mozambique, where he lived.
For them, Africa is an important continent because it is less controlled and is a gateway to Europe. But I would like to point out that the PCC has not chosen Portugal as a market. It chose Europe as the preferred consumer market. Sometimes it only goes through Portugal to reach the destination country, where you can earn even more from that cocaine. However, some cargo is unloaded in Portuguese ports and there are several known cases of the use of small private aircraft.
What worries the authorities fighting these criminals the most?
The concern is that this type of criminal organization associates with others. For example, the PCC has worked extensively with the Italian mafia, especially the ‘Ndrangheta’, which distributes cocaine throughout Europe to Colombia for export.
On the other hand, in Europe there is a great demand, with increasing demand unfortunately, and we have the ports of Europe and Africa. 90% of cocaine is transported by ship. I often say that it is a path of no return.
The gain is such that when they lose a load, they only lose one, no more than 10%, because 90% always arrive at the destination. It is a very small risk and a very large profit.
The other difficulty is the boundaries. For example, a cargo that arrives in Portugal is destined for England, or France, or Germany. All this includes investigations with many police forces – even from here in Brazil, where each, state, federal, etc., has its powers and limitations – and criminals have no boundaries. They count on it. Sometimes the official channels are slow to exchange information.
We need to move towards a single police force with more competence in this area across Europe and South America, with a large capacity for synchronization.
About these PCC members who may be in Portugal, what kind of profile can we expect? Will they use the violence we are used to in Latin America, which is already starting to have serious repercussions in countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands? Will it be different in Portugal or should we prepare?
At first I don’t think so. The members who go to Europe and also to Portugal – many of them are unknown, we only know their nickname – whose main function is to promote the logistics of international traffic.
They usually won’t get involved in any other type of crime. For example, they do not have to finance the purchase of the drug. As they settle in Europe and get the connections they need, they eliminate another network of criminals who, in a different scenario, were forced to pay to distribute the drug.
That is why I think that the presence of the PCC will not initially lead to an increase in crime. They don’t care. They want the police out. To give you an idea, here in the state of São Paulo there are some favelas where they don’t allow crimes to be done inside, because that’s where they produce the drugs and they don’t want the police there.
But in a second moment, it is a global phenomenon, including in countries that have liberalized all kinds of drugs. There is an increase in crime associated with the growth of consumers who, in order to sustain their trade, are turning to petty theft and then to robberies and violent crimes.
It is still linked, but not directly, to the perpetrator of international human trafficking. He even punishes him when he sees a situation that could expose him, and even provides a degree of protection, typical of mafia organizations.
Taking into account the years of experience in the fight against the PCC, what is the strategy you recommend to the Portuguese authorities?
The first step is to know the criminals out there. Starting with drug seizures, the investigation should not stop with people who have been arrested.
They need to see all the connections they have in Portugal, who visits them in prison, their ramifications, so they can map the presence of the PCC and other international or Brazilian criminals on Portuguese territory. This way they can already have a basic knowledge to start investigations from Portugal, instead of just from Brazil or other countries, and to keep these criminals under control and prevent them from spreading.
They also need to be very careful about money laundering, in terms of the type of product they will buy with the profits from cocaine sales. Those who live there will end up living better and better lives, with a better financial situation, and this needs to be addressed from the ground up, not least to encourage other criminals to move there.
Article originally published in DN on January 19, 2023.
Source: DN
