Comando Vermelho (, Red Command or Red Commando), also known as CV, is a Brazilian criminal organization engaged in drug trafficking, arms trafficking, truckjacking, and turf wars. The group, originally known as Falange Vermelha ("Red Phalanx"), was formed in 1979 as an alliance between ordinary convicts and left-wing urban guerrillas who were imprisoned together during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship. They created codes of conduct and hierarchy, and employed urban guerrilla tactics for Bank robbery; with their leaders controlling the organisation from inside the prison. In the early 1980s, the group changed its name to Comando Vermelho, and veered towards drug trafficking and territory control.
The Comando controls parts of Rio de Janeiro and has expanded to other states and into neighbouring countries. It has fought in several small-scale conflicts with rival gangs such as Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), Amigos dos Amigos (ADA) and Terceiro Comando (TC), the latter itself the result of a power struggle between Comando Vermelho leaders in the mid-1980s.
Overview
The gang formed in the 1970s out of a prison alliance between common criminals and leftist guerrillas imprisoned together at Cândido Mendes Penal Institute, a maximum-security prison on the island of
Ilha Grande.
The prisoners formed the alliance to protect themselves from prison violence and guard-inflicted brutality. As the group coalesced, the common criminals were infused with leftist social justice ideals by the guerrillas.
In 1979, prison officials labeled the alliance "Comando Vermelho", which the prisoners co-opted as their own.
In the 1980s, the gang expanded beyond Ilha Grande into other prisons and the
of Rio de Janeiro, and became involved in cocaine. Brazil's shift towards democracy and the end of the military dictatorship in 1985, allowed the leftist guerrillas to re-enter society; thus, the CV largely abandoned its left-wing ideology.
Cocaine brought the CV massive profits and growth; by 1986 the gang controlled 70% of the cocaine trade in Rio's favelas.
While not as powerful as its peak, the CV remains significant throughout Brazil; estimated as the second-largest criminal organization behind the PCC.
History
Origins (1971–1979)
The exact year that the Comando Vermelho was founded remains disputed, but sources agree the gang formed out of a prison alliance between leftist guerrillas and common criminals housed together during the 1970s by Brazil's military dictatorship at Cândido Mendes, a maximum security Brazilian prison.
Soon after their regime began in 1964, Brazil's military dictatorship faced a persistent challenge from leftist guerrilla rebels, made up largely of "middle-class intellectuals". In hopes of delegitimizing the rebels, in the early 1970s the Brazilian government began placing those they captured in prison alongside common criminals. One such prison, Candido Mendes, located on Ilha Grande, housed a mix of violent criminals and guerrillas in its notoriously brutal "Block B", or "The Pit".
In attempts to break up the alliance, prison officials moved inmate leaders to different wings and prisons, but this instead helped the group spread throughout the prison system.
Split with the guerrillas and the cocaine boom (1979late 1980s)
In 1979, sensing an impending democratization movement, newly-installed President João Figueiredo and his military regime began to fear that they and members of their armed forces could face trial for human rights violations in a democratic system.
To protect themselves, Figueiredo "manipulated a grassroots movement demanding amnesty for thousands of political prisoners and exiles to insulate himself and his colleagues from potential indictments," and passed the sweeping 1979 Amnesty Law, protecting political prisoners and their government captors from prosecution.
As a result, the leftist guerrilla elements of the CV were released from prison, weakening the group's ideological bent.
Meanwhile, the CV began to spread beyond prison gates. While many of its original members were bank robbers, the group quickly became involved in the burgeoning cocaine market. CV members helped traffic drugs overseas for Colombian cartels and distributed cocaine into the local Rio de Janeiro market. The cocaine trade proved incredibly lucrative and the CV grew rapidly: "by the end of 1985, the gang already controlled 70% of the drug market in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro."
During this period, the CV became increasingly involved in the provision of social services and administration of justice for the favela communities which it controlled.
The official end of the military dictatorship in 1985 marked the end of all remaining ties between the leftist guerrillas and the CV. Many of the guerrillas re-entered society and "rose inside political parties;" some would go on to hold elected office.
Infighting and growing cartel-state violence (late 1980s2008)
Massive profits created incentives for different CV factions to splinter off as local leaders sought larger profit shares. Notable break-away groups which emerged during this period include Terceiro Comando and Amigos dos Amigos. As these groups clashed over territory in Rio, violence rapidly increased throughout the city.
After Pablo Escobar's death, the CV established a working relationship with the FARC, a Colombian guerrilla group which moved into the cocaine trade. Led by Luiz Fernando da Costa ( or Seaside Freddy) the CV procured arms and ammunition, which they delivered to the FARC in exchange for their supply of cocaine.
Pacification (2008–2013)
Beginning in 2008, in an effort to combat the widespread gang-related violence, Rio state police forces implemented a new "Pacification" strategy, "inspired by notions of community-oriented policing."
The strategy, which proceeds in stages, begins with state occupation of a target favela using overwhelming military force, followed by the installation of a proximity-policing unit (Unidade de Policia Pacificadora, UPP), which remains in the favela after military withdrawal. Rather than eliminating the drug trade, the UPPs were primarily tasked with securing the favela communities from gang-related violence.
The early period of Pacification (2008–2010) saw 40 UPP battalions installed across 200 communities, and was largely successful for the state. The CV, which suddenly ceased their violent confrontation with state forces, ceded significant territory to the state; one UPP effort left "the CV's principal stronghold firmly in the hand of the state for the first time in more than a generation."
Resurgence in violence (2013–present)
Despite its initial success for the state, corruption and over-expansion caused erosion of the Pacification system, and by 2013 the program began to break down. Since then, violent clashes between the CV and state forces have surged.
In 2016, following the collapse of a 20-year truce between the CV and the PCC, violence surged further.
In 2023, sources consistently reported frequent violent clashes between the CV and the PCC as well as other rival gang groups.
Additionally, an emerging struggle for control of the Amazon region has intensified between rival gangs including the CV.
Armed militia groups in Rio represent another growing challenge for the CV. Militia groups, formed by former and current police officers purporting to fight crime, have grown to control substantial territory throughout Rio. In recent years, violence between militias and gangs has intensified; in 2020 and 2021, "clashes between gangs and militias were responsible for 28% of reported fatalities" in Rio.
Structure
The Comando Vermelho's structure is loosely hierarchical yet allows significant autonomy throughout the organization. While there is no one single boss, imprisoned senior leaders exercise authority over favela leaders, known as
donos, who deliver rents to the prison leaders as a form of "insurance scheme."
Essentially, non-imprisoned members provide financial support and carry out instructions from imprisoned leaders, thus protecting themselves from retribution in the event that they are captured themselves. Beneath the favela
donos, there are gerentes de boca ('drug-selling point managers') who carry out drug trafficking,
soldados ('soldiers') who protect the favela's turf, and
vapors, the lowest-level gang members, who are often young teens.
Within this structure, there is significant freedom for gang members to run operations as they see fit. According to Penglase, the "CV is most accurately described as a loose association of drug traffickers who come together for reciprocal assistance yet who act with great degrees of autonomy."
Inside prisons with a strong CV presence, senior leaders practice internal criminal governance. These leaders "rule prison life, settle internal faction disputes that occur outside of prison and make the final decision on any matters of mutual interest for faction affiliates."
In 2025, Rio de Janeiro state representative TH Joias was preventively arrested for having ties to the Comando Vermelho, acting as an arm of the criminal group in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj).
Conflict with government
A defining characteristic of the CV is their willingness to openly engage the state in armed confrontation. Since the mid-1980s, as state forces steadily increased the severity of their crackdowns, the CV has responded with frequent violent clashes. Lessing writes that "nowhere else in Brazil, or in much of the world for that matter," have Rio cartels, and primarily the CV, "systematically engaged the state in armed confrontation for so long."
Currently, the CV continues to violently fight with state forces, and the ACLED reports that state violence represents a disproportionate share of reported fatalities in Rio de Janeiro.
One suggested explanation for the CV's violent conflict with the state is the varying levels of conditionality in state crackdowns––whether the state cracks down harder on violent cartel behavior. In 2008, after the highly-conditional Pacification policy was implemented, cartel-state violence declined, only to see a resurgence after the policy eroded.
Examples of CV–state conflict
On 19 November 2016, a Rio de Janeiro police helicopter was shot down by small arms fire during a clash with CV gang members and crashed in a ditch. All four police officers on board were killed.
In June 2018, the CV launched attacks on a Bolivian Army base in Porvenir and a Brazilian police station in
Epitaciolandia, in both instances stealing weapons and ammunition.
Operation Containment
Operation Containment () was a large-scale law-enforcement operation launched on 28 October 2025 by the state government against the CV. Approximately 2,500 police agents participated and executed hundreds of
to arrest gang leaders in 26 communities in the North Zone of Rio, mainly in the Penha and Alemão neighborhoods.
Launched just before dawn,
The operation was the deadliest police action in the state's history in a favela,
Comando Vermelho and funk carioca
The Comando Vermelho continue to attract new Brazilian youth and bring them into their
Social status.
In addition to sponsoring groups like neighborhood associations and special interest clubs, and organizing sporting events, one of the most common ways in which the criminal organization is able to catch the youth's attention is through the popular musical style of
funk carioca, a form of Brazilian music derived from
Miami bass. Due to the genre's popularity with young Brazilians, the group "is known to have subsidized funk parties to recruit young kids for drug dealing".
[Behague, Gerard (Spring-Summer 2006). "Rap, Reggae, Rock, or Samba: The Local and the Global in Brazilian Popular Music, 1985-1995." Latin American Music Review. 27 (1): 79-90]
In addition to these funk parties (bailes funk), "where drugs and sex attract even bourgeois or petty-bourgeois youth",
Notable members
-
William da Silva Lima, "The Professor" (deceased): One of the founders of the movement, he arrived at Cândido Mendes prison in 1971.
-
Luiz Fernando da Costa, a.k.a. "Fernandinho Beira-Mar", a.k.a. "Seaside Freddy" (incarcerated): Beira-Mar is an imprisoned senior leader who led the CV's business dealings with the FARC, the Colombian guerrilla group that entered the cocaine trade following the death of Pablo Escobar. In 2001, he was captured by the Colombian military following a shootout, and was extradited to Brazil.
-
Rogério Lemgruber, nicknamed "Bagulhão" or "Marechal" (Marshal), was known by the acronym RL (deceased): Although now unknown to the general public, he was one of the most idolized leaders of the faction, his name being Engraving in acronyms, letters and on the walls of hundreds of favelas.
-
Márcio dos Santos Nepomuceno, a.k.a. "Marcinho VP" (incarcerated): Considered the most powerful drug lord in Rio de Janeiro, he is currently the top leader of the CV, having taken control of this crime syndicate following the arrest of Fernandinho Beira-Mar in 2002, after Beira-Mar brutally killed Ernaldo Pinto Medeiros (a.k.a. UÉ), who was the founder and top leader of Amigos dos Amigos in retaliation for the murder of Orlando Jogador, one of the original leaders of the CV (which would have been ordered by UÉ).
-
Elias Pereira da Silva, a.k.a. Elias Maluco ('Crazy Elias'; deceased): He was one of the most powerful drug dealers in Rio de Janeiro and one of the most dangerous members of the Comando Vermelho, until he was arrested for the murder of famous Brazilian journalist Tim Lopes in 2002. His death is unsolved: he was found dead, hanged in his cell on September 22, 2020, but it is unknown if he committed suicide or if someone inside the prison Murder and Cover-up.
-
Roni Peixoto, a.k.a. "Gordo" ('Fat Man'; deceased): He was known by the nickname Gordo because he was overweight during his leadership of the CV in Minas Gerais. Considered one of the biggest drug lords in the state during the 2000s, he was Beira-Mar's right-hand man, responsible for controlling drug trafficking throughout Minas Gerais and the introducer of Crack cocaine in Belo Horizonte (the capital of Minas Gerais), which may have led to his brutal murder in 2022.
-
Cláudio Augusto da Silva Duarte, a.k.a. "Mano C" (incarcerated): CV leader in the state of Pará in northern Brazil.
-
Ocimar Prado Junior, a.k.a. "Coquinho" (incarcerated): CV leader in the state of Amazonas in northern Brazil .
Designation as a terrorist group
In 2025, the Government of Argentina, led by
Javier Milei, declared the Comand Vermelho (CV) and the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) as
Narcoterrorism. In October 2025, the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, announced that both groups had been included in the Registry of Persons and Entities Linked to Acts of Terrorism (RePET), which gathers groups and individuals considered a threat to national security.
Due to the use of weapons of war and violent tactics that threaten public safety, the government of the State of Rio de Janeiro has sent a report to the United States government requesting that the criminal factions be classified as narco-terrorist organizations.
Subsequently,
Paraguay also designated Comando Vermelho as a narco-terrorist organization.
Both countries have reinforced their
Border with Brazil in response to the actions of the Comando Vermelho.
In popular culture
One of the founders of the faction, William da Silva Lima, known as the Professor, wrote the
Autobiography book
Four Hundred Against One: A History of the Red Commando (Quatrocentos contra um: uma história do Comando Vermelho),
which has been
Film adaptation twice by director Caco Souza: first time in the documentary
Senhora Liberdade, in 2004,
followed by the feature film
400 against 1 - A History of Organized Crime, in 2010.
The role of the Professor was played by Daniel de Oliveira, who had already played
Cazuza in his .
The film also starred
Daniela Escobar and featured a special appearance by singer
Negra Li.
The union between common law prisoners and political prisoners was depicted in the film
Quase Dois Irmãos (2004), starring
Caco Ciocler and Flávio Bauraqui.
In 2006, Ross Kemp's docuseries Ross Kemp on Gangs included an episode titled "Rio De Janeiro", which investigated the Comando Vermelho and their police adversaries.
See also
-
Armed conflict for control of the favelas
-
Crime in Brazil
-
List of criminal gangs in Brazil
Bibliography
