Seven leaders of Red Command, one of Brazil’s most powerful organized crime groups, were transferred on Wednesday from a state prison in Rio de Janeiro to the high-security federal prison of Catandovas, in the city of the same name in Paraná state. The transfer took place on a police plane and at the request of the Rio state government as part of a strategy to weaken communications between the gang leadership and gang members. The seven defendants are accused of issuing orders, on the twenty-eighth of this month, to close streets throughout the city of Rio de Janeiro to sow chaos in response to the police operation that killed 121 people that day, and is the bloodiest in Brazil.
These prisoners are serving prison sentences for crimes such as drug smuggling, murder, and organizing escapes… and between them, seven of them have a total sentence of more than 500 years.
The seven CV mid-commanders were transported from Rio’s Bangu prison to Rio’s international airport in a convoy under strong police guard. Aerial photos show them on the runway as they board the plane. Their hair is shaved, their hands are tied to their waists, and they wear a white shirt and blue pants. The government of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has criticized the Rio executive for publishing the announcement of the transfer before its completion, which, the former says, could have led to a rescue attempt.
First, they were transferred to the Catandova prison, which is precisely where Fernandinho Beira Mar, the oldest CV boss, is serving his two-decade sentence. From Catandova, these seven prisoners will be distributed to other federal prisons, located in the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rondonia in addition to Brasilia, according to the G1 website of the Globo group.
After the bloody security operation, Congress quickly discussed a draft law to combat organized crime. The author of the bill is Guillerme Dirit, known as Captain Dirit, a former military police officer in the Shock Troops who headed the Secretariat of Public Security in São Paulo at the beginning of this mandate, when the lethality of the security forces in São Paulo increased dramatically. Negotiations with the government to implement the base resulted in it refraining from declaring Red Command, First Capital Command, or other organized crime groups terrorist organizations, in line with US policy.
The seven transferred prisoners were imprisoned in a prison in Rio, its most powerful arena and the city where the group was born in the late 1970s. Two decades ago, Brazil created a network of maximum-security federal prisons to incarcerate the country’s most dangerous (and powerful) prisoners, given that organized crime factions dominate many state prison centers spread across the country. Ironically, a specialist in the prison system recently defined Brazilian prisons as a collaboration between the public and private sectors. Up to the door, state rules. Internally, management is a matter for armed groups.
The Red Command, which includes about 30,000 men, has expanded throughout almost all of Brazil in recent years. It dominates the so-called Solimos Route, which transports drugs from Colombia or Peru, along the Amazon River, to the Atlantic coast for internal consumption or for export to Europe.
The police operation, which culminated at the end of September in a bloody ambush in a forest between Rio’s favelas of Alemão and Peña, aimed to halt the expansion of the Vermelho commando and arrest its prominent street leader, Edgar Alves Andrade, but agents were unable to locate him. When the operation was not yet over, the Red Command activated its operatives, who immediately blocked the streets and roads throughout the city with buses and cars, which they set as barricades and set on fire. They left quiet only the southern area, a favorite among tourists, where the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema are located. By order of those who have now been transferred, according to the authorities, they created such chaos throughout the city that hundreds of thousands of people faced serious difficulties in returning to their homes.
Authorities said at least 80 of those killed in the police operation had serious police records. Four others were police officers. The Public Ministry in Rio submitted its report on the autopsies. He confirms that two of the bodies showed atypical injuries: one of them was hit by a bullet from close range; Other reports beheaded Or globe. It also indicates that all the bodies were men with gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen and back. Many of the deceased, according to the Public Ministry, were wearing camouflage clothing, bulletproof vests, shoes and gloves.
On the other hand, the Civil Police revealed that only 57 out of 128 elite corps agents deployed in the operation had unified cameras for operations. The body has alleged technical problems.
About The Author
