The biggest gang you never heard of?
Aug 28, 2025
∙ Paid
PCC. Does that ring a bell?
I hadn’t heard of it until the other day.
I just counted 22 countries it operates in. Other reports say 28 countries. Its home base is Brazil.
It engages in fraud, bank robberies, kidnapping, murder, drug trafficking, car-jacking, money laundering, extortion, smuggling, bribery…
At the same time, it avoids turf wars with rival gangs. Instead it forms alliances with them, particularly involving drug routes and cocaine. It’s smart.
You could say it’s a corrupt government of its own, crossing national lines.
The Rio Times, October 20, 2024: “The Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), Brazil’s largest criminal organization, is expanding its operations into the United States. With approximately forty-two thousand members worldwide, including one thousand living abroad, the PCC has begun using illegal immigrants as ‘soldiers’ for their criminal activities.”
“PCC members are entering the United States to evade Brazilian justice, launder money, and facilitate arms trafficking back to Brazil. Police reports suggest the syndicate is also attempting to smuggle cocaine into the country on a small scale.”
“U.S. intelligence services have identified an increasing number of PCC members entering the country illegally.”
“Investigations have pinpointed Miami, Florida, as a preferred location for PCC operations. The syndicate’s presence has also been detected in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.”
“The U.S. government’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) unit has been reporting a high number of PCC members arrested in the Boston area, all of whom are being deported back to Brazil.”
“The PCC’s activities in the United States primarily focus on arms trafficking to Brazil, cocaine smuggling into the U.S., and money laundering. The syndicate also uses the U.S. as a safe haven for investments and to escape Brazilian authorities.”
Another report states the PCC is active in 12 US states.
It stands to reason that the PCC is reaching up into national governments, with bribes and extortion. Maybe right here at home.
—Let me take off and expand this piece a bit: