According to a report released by the Brazilian news channel Infobae on Thursday, the First Capital Command (PCC), Brazil’s largest international organized crime gang and Latin America’s largest drug smuggling group, has managed to firmly establish itself in Sydney, Australia.
According to information provided by the news outlet and reports from the Australian Federal Police ( AFP), PCC has established two cells in Sydney that work in collaboration with a neighborhood motorcycle gang led by Italy’s Ndrangheta mafia, one of the country’s oldest mafia organizations and a PCC business partner in Brazil.
Following a bloody football match between individuals that ended with at least two dying, a group of individuals from Sao Paulo’s Taubaté Penitentiary in 1993 founded the PCC, which the U.S. Department of the Treasury called” the most effective organized crime group in Brazil and among the most effective in the world” in 2021.
Over the past 30 times, PCC has significantly grown into a whole- fledged international crime and drug trafficking gang boasting over 40, 000 people and some 60, 000″ companies”. The PCC has expanded its actions beyond Brazil to the United States, as well as other South American, African, and Western governments.
People of the Bolivarian National Police police on a triple vehicle at the Tocoron jail in Tocoron, Aragua State, Venezuela, on September 23, 2023. The leaders of the Tren de Aragua group, which used Tocoron jail as a foundation for their foreign offense operations, escaped. ( YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images )
PCC is believed to have formed alliances with other Southern American drug trafficking companies, including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, which also has an effective presence in the United States.
The criminal activities conducted by PCC— which range from death, prison riots, substance and human trafficking, banks and bridge robberies, kidnappings and compensation, money laundering, corruption, mortgage sharking, and obstruction of justice — apparently have generated income of at least$ 1 billion since 2020.
The Brazilian crime syndicate’s partnership with the Italian” Ndrangheta mafia,” according to Infobae, is what allowed the Brazilian crime syndicate to establish its Australian cells in recent years, in addition to accounting for roughly 50 % of Brazilian cocaine exports to Europe.
Ndrangheta has been present in Australia since at least the start of the 20th century. The Australian branch of the” Ndrangheta organization” is “much more aggressive and violent” than its original Italian parent group, according to experts.
A report from the Australian Federal Police reportedly states that” the Ndrangheta is flooding Australia with drugs and rising through the ranks of Australian biker gangs.” Members of the” Ndrangheta” now have such sway over some of these neighborhood biker gangs that sell drugs to them or commit violent crimes against them.
A view of a specially constructed bunker for the first hearing of a maxi- trial against more than 300 defendants of the’ ndrangheta crime syndicate, near the Calabrian town of Lamezia Terme, southern Italy, on Jan. 13, 2021. ( Valeria Ferraro/LaPresse via AP, File )
According to Infobae, the PCC’s strategy has evolved over the past few years from simply supplying drugs from Brazil to local traffickers, to becoming a” stronger and more direct” vehicle for shipping because of its presence in Australia. According to reports, the PCC has been able to transfer workers from one continent to another and provide “logistical services” to Australian customers.
One such example, the Argentine outlet explained, is the case of Brazilian repair diver Bruno Borges, who was found dead in 2022 near the Australian Newcastle harbor. Boorges, 31, was reportedly flown to Australia after being hired by PCC drug smugglers to retrieve$ 20 million in cocaine from a cargo ship.
Authorities reportedly learned the location of the hidden drugs in the ship because they believed Borges to have been the one who concealed the cocaine in Brazil.
The outlet claimed that the trade routes between Australia and the Pacific Islands are being” strategic in terms of their location from a criminal standpoint as well.”
The Pacific Islands are located along the trade routes that connect Australia and New Zealand, which have some of the world’s richest drug consumer markets, according to Virginia Comolli, the head of the Pacific Program for the Geneva-based non-government organization Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime ( GI-TOC), an organization with a Geneva-based headquarters.
Comolli highlighted how” Asian syndicates, Central and South American cartels, biker gangs and criminals of various kinds use the islands as transit points for cocaine, synthetic drugs and, to a lesser extent, heroin”.
Journalists attend a press conference on a seizure of some 200 kilograms of cocaine, at the Federal Police East Flanders station, in Dendermonde, on June 25, 2021. Federal Judicial Police ( FGP ) East Flanders checked a ship carrying orange juice from Santos, Brazil, to the Ghent harbor. As part of a ongoing investigation, the Australian federal police had shared important information with the FGP East Flanders. ( NICOLAS MAETERLINCK/Belga/AFP via Getty Images )
Infobae claimed that PCC is attempting to expand its supply of drugs in addition to the country’s already-existing cocaine and marijuana trade and has long been interested in expanding to synthetic substances like methamphetamines and fentanyl.
The outlet emphasized that Vanuatu and Brazil recently opened a new trade route. According to Infobae, the route, which has received tons of chicken since last year, could be used to create new routes for drug trafficking.
The Pacific islands have some flaws that could make them very appealing to Brazilian drug traffickers, according to Infobae, and organized crime frequently exploits them to transport illicit goods.
Comolli noted that there are two categories of factors that contribute to the islands ‘ prostitution.
Comolli cited, “on the one hand, the existence of competitive tax regimes and corporate law structures, open maritime registries and golden passport schemes, which Pacific administrations purposefully implemented to attract foreign companies and investors.”
” On the other hand, vulnerabilities range from limited oversight and enforcement capacities to inadequate technical expertise, to weak due diligence processes and, in some cases, corruption of public administration”, she continued.
Venezuelan author Christian K. Caruzo documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter , here.
