Inside Brazil's Comando Vermelho: The Powerful Gang Behind Rio's Deadly Police Raids

A law enforcement official displays confiscated weapons bearing gang markings in Rio De Janeiro.

Rio De Janeiro:

Brazil's deadliest police operation in history resulted in at least 121 fatalities this week in Rio de Janeiro. The raids targeted Comando Vermelho, also known as Red Command, one of Brazil's oldest and most influential criminal organizations that controls drug trafficking across multiple cities.

This intense crackdown occurs just before the United Nations COP30 climate summit in northern Brazil next week, with Rio simultaneously hosting the C40 global mayors meeting and the Earthshot Prize ceremony led by Britain's Prince William.

Understanding Comando Vermelho

Comando Vermelho (CV) ranks among Brazil's largest and oldest criminal groups, specializing in drug and weapons trafficking while engaging in brutal territorial conflicts with competing gangs.

The organization's power has waxed and waned amid rivalry from other criminal enterprises, particularly the First Capital Command (PCC), Brazil's predominant crime syndicate that originated in Sao Paulo and has established a transnational drug network.

Despite challenges, CV maintains its central position in Rio's narcotics trade and has been implicated in numerous incidents of extreme violence.

The Origins of Comando Vermelho

The gang emerged in the early 1970s when political prisoners and ordinary criminals formed an alliance within a maximum-security facility in Rio state during Brazil's military dictatorship era.

Political detainees introduced principles of hierarchy, discipline, and mutual solidarity – values that eventually formed the foundation of the gang's organizational structure.

Initially established to safeguard inmates, CV began recruiting from other correctional facilities before expanding to Rio's streets. Today, it controls extensive areas of Rio's outskirts and favelas by dominating drug sales and imposing its own governance through violence.

Beyond narcotics trafficking, CV engages in extortion and robbery within its territories, including exploitation of public utilities such as internet access.

Insight Crime estimates its membership at approximately 30,000 individuals.

Geographical Expansion

CV has recently expanded into other Brazilian states, including regions in the Amazon, pursuing new drug and weapons trafficking routes.

According to authorities, CV leaders from states including Amazonas, Bahia, Goias, and Espirito Santo were killed during this week's police operation.

A study published this year by the Brazilian Public Security Forum, a research organization, revealed that crime rates are increasing dramatically in the Amazon, largely due to violent disputes between gangs, including CV, over control of key routes connecting South American cocaine producers to global markets.

Motivations Behind Police Action

State police reported that the raids targeting the gang had been meticulously planned over more than two months. The strategy aimed to drive suspects from Rio's densely populated favelas into a forested hillside where special operations units waited in ambush.

Since 2022, CV has recaptured – through brutal territorial conflicts – neighborhoods of Rio previously controlled by rival criminal groups. In February, it established a truce with the larger PCC, which proved short-lived, lasting only weeks.

CV primarily competes with PCC for trafficking routes and prison control, frequently resulting in violent confrontations.

The organization also faces competition from paramilitary groups formed by current and former security personnel and local gangs such as the Terceiro Comando, or Third Command.