Until about a year ago, X, 14, had never set foot in Bina, in Rio’s northern region. He was also not aware of the combinations between her and Alemao. The first contact came via a cell phone screen: through “likes” on profile pictures of members of the Tropa do Urso – a group associated with the drug trafficker Edgar Alves de Andrade, alias Doca, the head of the Comando Vermelho (CV) in the two favela groups – X became a follower and began frequenting some of the 26 communities in the area. On at least three occasions, his relatives, who live with him in the city of Baixada Fluminense, saw him riding the motorcycle of a man who was coming to pick him up from home.
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The teenager was one of 117 suspects killed during the massive operation carried out by Rio police. Through posts on the platforms, the civil police concluded that the boy and eight other people killed in the operation were linked to the CV. Faction-related posts took over social media: photos and videos of men carrying guns, drugs, and threats of robbery circulated widely.
The day after the massive operation, residents take the bodies to Complexo da Peña Square
The forest dwellers among them removed more bodies
With thousands of followers and views, the drug trade now has another window to influence young people and attract new members. For the Secretariat of Security’s intelligence agent, Delegate Pablo Sartori, the CV serves to develop a coordinated marketing action to win supporters beyond the slums it dominates. This phenomenon appeared, according to him, five years ago:
Criminal organizations such as Comando Vermelho seek to project a positive image of freedom and a comfortable life outside their territories. Posing with expensive stolen motorbikes and cars, criminals promote the false idea that drug smuggling is the only way to change your life. When they die, they receive tributes such as “eternal longing,” to reinforce the narrative that they have not been forgotten and that drug dealers care about their dead, who will not be bad people. It is marketing targeting society.
The delegate says that his team, as well as the intelligence sub-secretariats of the civil and military police, monitor the networks used by the factions, especially through the CV organization, which tends to show off more. According to him, when he identifies posts apologizing for the crime, he sends reports to the civil and federal police to start an investigation.
On social media, minors use the nickname “Bible” to share scenes from a life of crime, showing off stolen cell phones and jewelry. Often, the username includes the numbers “55” or “57”, referring to the theft (155) and burglary (157) articles of the Penal Code.
Last year, police officers arrested two adults and a minor accused of stealing mobile phones in Pará. Upon their arrival at the police station, the civil police officers realized that they were the target of an investigation that identified the thieves who were bragging about their crimes on social media.
The group took advantage of drivers and passengers stopping with windows open to steal cell phones or threaten victims with stones and other objects. When arrested, 18-year-old Kevin Natham Domingos admitted he and his accomplices maintained profiles – one with the name “Bible” – where they would show off “to get more followers”.
According to investigations, one of them, who was not arrested, complained in a blog post about the arrest of his partners, saying that they formed a “hate trio.” Kevin was sentenced last year to an open year in prison for conspiracy.
GLOBO has identified several Instagram and TikTok accounts showcasing daily crimes in Rio. In one of them, with 26.5 thousand followers and nearly half a million likes, the videos have received hundreds of thousands of views. One of the most viewed clips – 356,000 clicks – shows a man from behind, in a slum, holding a rifle.
To circumvent platform moderation, which can lead to accounts being suspended, drug traffickers avoid fully displaying their weapons. When they do, they resort to editing: they obliterate the gun or place child figurines on top of it.
Another popular hashtag among CV traffickers is “tropa do urso,” a reference to Doca, commonly known as Urso. In these posts, the criminals appear armed, often wearing camouflage clothing.
Posts are also used to encourage the death of competitors. One profile posts a photo of three men holding rifles. The image is accompanied by a fire emoji – symbolizing violence – along with a rabbit and a crocodile, in reference to drug traffickers Wallace de Brito Trinidad, also known as Lacoste, and William Ivins da Silva, also known as Coelhão, bosses of the Third Pure Command (TCP).
With 34 years of experience working with minors in conflict with the law, the Prosecutor of the Second Offenses Prosecutor’s Office, Marcio Muthé, explains that there are people who devote their efforts to recruiting young people into crime through social media.
– The beginning of a life of crime occurs in adolescence, and is on the rise. The idea is fascinating: women, money, power. We have seen that the majority of those killed in the huge operation were police. This shows how justice has failed, as the opportunity to reintegrate them into society was lost. He says access to justice is because many people fail.
Alessandro Vizacro, a security and defense analyst and author of War in the Information Age, explains that factions create ideologies and appropriate digital platforms as a dissemination tool:
— Any young man who wants to have more followers on social media. Crime has taken advantage of this cyberspace. There are those who use it to carry out fraudulent operations, but others exploit it based on the criminal culture.
X. began living with his father, in a simple house in Baixada Fluminense, after complaints from his mother about her son’s behaviour. X. took pictures outside of school, pretending to go to class. Complaints of absence soon reached the family.
The father, a public services assistant, got along well with the youngest of the five children. The rest is created.
– He was always calm. But a month ago, when he was in the bathroom, he left WhatsApp open. I felt afraid. There was a picture of him holding a gun. I offered advice, and took him for advice from church pastors. I sat with him and said: Son, you have to understand that this road is the road to prison. Prison is being in prison handcuffed. Your father goes wherever he wants. He remembers that the best thing is to have freedom.
The son had left the house on the 24th without warning. The two spoke daily until Tuesday the 28th, the date of the major operation. The teen did not answer the phone.
-I knew something had happened. I saw pictures on social media of the dead in Banha. I recognized his body by the black shorts and coat he was wearing. They think the world is the real world. My son chose this path.
The mother of an 18-year-old drug dealer, who was arrested last year and sentenced to 12 years in prison, and who asked to remain anonymous, says she tried to prevent her son from entering crime. Despite financial difficulties, he says the young man never lacked for anything. Now, he uses his ordeal to warn the children of friends and relatives:
— It is not enough to leave them with their mobile phones or not look at what they are watching on the networks.
When contacted, Tik Tok removed the profiles found by GLOBO because it realized they “violated our community guidelines.” The company said it combines technology with human review to identify and remove posts that violate the platform’s rules. Meta, which owns Instagram, said its policies do not allow use to promote criminal activities or content that glorifies, supports or represents dangerous organizations and individuals. He said in a statement: “We remove this type of content whenever we discover violations and are constantly improving our technology to detect and address suspicious activity. We also encourage people to report any content that they believe goes against our community standards, which helps us keep our platforms safe for everyone.” Meta says the profiles sent by the report have been removed.
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