Rio - Gangsters in Paradise

Gangs in Rio have upped the ante of bloodthirsty. They used to kidnap people and dump their bodies in a flaming stack of tyres. Their new technique is to hijack a public bus, rob all the passengers and then set it ablaze. If the police ask any questions, the gangs lob grenades into their barracks. Yesterday the governor announced the deployment of military troops in order to wrest back control of the slums (favelas) from the gangs. We went to Rocinha, Brazil’s biggest favela, to find out how paradise became a gangster's paradise.

The reason Rio's gang problem got so bad was because the rich didn't give a shit about the poor. Soon enough the slums mushroomed into a gigantic maze of shacks so dense and impenetrable that they became unpoliceable. In the absence of the state, the gangs became the government of these shanty-cities. They "tax" residents in exchange for controlling violent crime, providing medical insurance, funding the local football club, and throwing massive Baile Funk block parties.

The Rocinha favela in the hills above Rio hosts regular sightseeing trips where tourists are led through the safe areas. We bribed a guy to take us to the most dangerous area. He took us to Get High Street (that's what it's called). The road was blocked with boulders to prevent cop cars from getting through. Snarling drug dealers lined the pavement and our guide warned us to hide our cameras. We sat down at a nearby café and talked to local resident Marceo over a plate of rice and black beans.

A cloudy day in Rocinha favela in the hills above Rio.

VICE: So who are the baddest gangs in Rio?
Marceo: There are 3 main gangs. Comando Vermelho (Red Command), Terceiro Comando Puro (Pure Third Command), and Amigos dos Amigos (Friends of Friends). This favela is run by Amigos dos Amigos.

Yeah, we noticed “A.D.A.” tagged on the walls everywhere. Why did the recent violence flare up?
In the past few weeks it has been very dangerous. But it started over a year ago. Ex-police and ex-firemen have formed militias. They want to take over the drug trade from the gangs so they started assassinating the known bosses.

The A.D.A. fund the local football teams.

Have they killed anyone from this favela?
In that house over there (he points to an empty cinderblock building pockmarked with bullet holes) the police did undercover surveillance for weeks. Don’t look, the gangsters may see you and suspect you are cops! They were waiting for Bem-Te-Vi (an A.D.A. gangster whose popularity in Rocinha earned him political influence). When he came by the police stormed out and killed him right there (he points to a mural cariacature of the late gang leader).

Do you think the police are corrupt?
The police will kill Amigos dos Amigos, take their guns and sell them to Vermelho Commando. When they get too strong, they kill them and sell the guns to Terceira Commando. They want power just so they can take the money themselves.

When did the gang violence start getting bad?
In the 1980s when the rich people in Rio started wanting cocaine.

It was raining and the sewers were overflowing and everywhere smelt like shit.

How much does a gram of cocaine cost?
A gram of good coke cost 50 Reals ($20). The best coke is pink coke from Peru. Pink, shiny crystals - fishscale. But you can’t get that often. Here they cut it with yeast, maize, baking soda, and I heard the other day about coke cut with granulated marble.

How deep does the drug trade run?
There are 200,000 people living in Rocinha. About $3 million worth of cocaine runs through here every week. There are around 2,000 soldiers, but tens of thousands are involved in the drug business – dealers, lookouts for the dealers, traffickers, users...

A makeshift roadside barbershop on Get High Street, complete with bullet holes in the wall.

See that kite flying over there? We heard that they were signals used by the gangs. Is that true?
No. The kids here like flying kites, that’s all. The lookouts let off fireworks to warn the dealers if police are in the area.

How tooled-up are these guys?
The have AK47s, 7.62 bullets, grenades, bazookas... Guns are everywhere. Four people died here on New Year’s Eve when the dealers starting shooting in the air.

* For more on the favela gangs watch “Surviving the Slums of Rio”

DOM TUNON

Comments

[Ronaldinho]

Despite the sad press, most of the people I met Rio were super friendly.

[FD9]

...the host is a twat, but this shit is fresh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eCc8cyLhWE

[dave]

very interesting. nice work

[dave]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eCc8cyLhWE

nice one for putting that up. ross kemp is a fool though. he seems to be mainly interested in guns

[Pyotr Mansbridge]

Good piece!

[DJ 2Lame]

Trace Crutchfield for Mayor - Rio '08.

'Like my pa always told me, "Don't be the last one."'
-TC

mayor?

[alex kaiser]

I'm going son.

[Squirrelbert]

Anyone watch the documentary included with City of God? Remember the -insane- amount of artillery the police confiscated?

[SM / AEIOU]

I was working last year on some stories on the drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro, but it was not possible at all to make photos. It was just too dangerous. I am very glad that I came out there alive, as there were a lot of situations that were so fucked up, that I counted with getting shot any moment. Actually I have some very good insider contacts, and it would be completely insane to do anything about it right now. I know about DJ Diplo that he has made it to film some material in the favelas and that he wants to publish that stuff...also I know that the israeli military is sending their special forces to Rio to get trained in urban guerilla warfare (in collaboration with the BOPE, the brazilian special forces...they have a very neat skull as their logo...they re the cleaners who enter the favelas with tanks and blindly shoot on anything that moves). Also I know that this year this whole town will blow up, because the highly organized PCC from Sao Paulo will try to take over the cocaine market in Rio de Janeiro. In Rio de Janeiro most of the gangs are ruled by kids on coke with Heckler & Koch machine guns. 90% of the kids in the gangs die before they're 25. It's 20 to 30 dead kids a day! That makes some 6000 kids a year, only in RJ... I love Rio and I highly respect the people living there and especially the poor people living in the favelas, but all that shit will blow up sooner or later. And the worst thing is that it is NOT FUNNY to go there and play the stupid american on a Baille Funk party (as seen in the Vice video)...what should this demonstrate to the people living there? Hey, we wear suits and are complete idiots? Those people do not need a demonstration of western arrogance but a real perspective on future. Besides the Rozinha is definetly not the most dangerous favela in RJ, actually it's the only one where you can go as a tourist when you have a guide, but have you even been to the "real thing" like the Favela Amarelinho on a saturday night? Where they are dancing with machine guns and when you go to toilet you have a muzzle in your face and get body-searched for microphones or hidden cameras? Ever been to a Boca da fumo, where you gotta go through an alley of heavily armed kids on coke who do not have anything to lose because they know they are more or less already dead? Go there and make fun and they will put you in the microonda... In my opinion it's probably more sane to have holidays in Iran, to be honest. Anyway: have fun... sorry for being pissed off...

[SM / AEIOU]

...actually I wanted to recommend Iraq for your next holidays, not Iran...

[Tessa]

SM / AEIOU I totally get you..i was kinda pissed off to when i saw the vice video with the Baille Funk party..its really not funny when you are hanging out in places where kids have guns three times the size of themselves and are tricky happy all coked up...I love Brazil and have been to the favelas mentioned above..yeah its fuckign dangerous but its also one of the most amazing places you could ever go...I respect the author of this piece and anyone that goes there but is it not time we stopped writing about all this stuff and maybe tried to help and sort it out?? i know this maay sound like I am some greenpeace trigger tree happy young lady...but nay i just think its time that someone did something...mayeb make a video about the shit government they have and challenge them for once...grr rage of the day..and no its not time of the month..grr!

When vice dude Trace Crutchfield is in the Rio favela he seems to be having a great time with the people. What the fuck did you want Vice to do go scold the police for being corrupt or kill the drug dealers? Maybe they should run for political office?

[Rocinhajj]

Rocinha is my home. I living there. For things bad there is things good too. Peoples do not know this Brazil goverment do not help anybody of favelas becase they keep the money for them only. Brazil is not justice country. Only rich can do everthing. Look in prisans only brown and black people, never white and 99 % from favelas. Problem come with Rich and alto medium class peoples have prejudge of us who live in favela. I go in job to get and asked where I am live. I tell the guy Rocinha, he tell me in my face that he do not like favelados and not give me the job. Rocinha I like becase is more safe to other favelas and I never be like asfaltos. Favela peoples need good education, eletricty, water adn proper living areia. Sorry my english is not verry good.

www.myspace.com/faveladorocinha
desculpe mas minha pagina no myspace so em portugues..

[EvilSamurai]

reminds me of "city of god"

[chroma]

I like Trace Crutchfield. He was making fun of himself as an american in that video, dressed as a caricature of a rich white man.