The combination of common criminals and guerrilla fighters gave rise to one of Brazil's bloodiest criminal groups
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In recent hours, police operations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have brought Comando Vermelho (Comando Rojo in Portuguese), abbreviated as CV, the largest criminal organization in Brazil, into the public spotlight.
Dedicated to drug trafficking, extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and contract killing, it was founded in 1979 by Rogério Lemgruber inside the Instituto Penal Cândido Mendes, in the Ilha Grande prison. There, a mix of common criminals and far-left terrorists imprisoned by the military dictatorship at that time gave rise to one of the bloodiest criminal groups in the country's history.
The Brazilian dictatorship, through decree-law No. 898 of 1969, had modified the National Security Law to allow "political prisoners" and criminals to share the same prison space.
Narcoterroristas detenidos del Comando Vermelho.
This decision turned into an experiment that combined the violence of the criminals with the organization and ideological discourse of the leftist terrorists. From that coexistence, the so-called Falange Vermelha (Red Phalanx) was born, which over time would become the feared Comando Vermelho.
By the late 1960s, the military regime intensified repression and sent leftist activists accused of ideological robberies and kidnappings to Ilha Grande. According to the newspaper O Globo, the prison originally housed 51 inmates, but that number doubled after Institutional Act No. 5 and a mass escape at the Lemos Brito Penitentiary.
In that environment, the left-wing extremists, mostly young people, created self-management structures together with the criminals as a form of resistance to the Brazilian military regime.
Narcoterroristas detenidos del Comando Vermelho.
One of the founders, William da Silva Lima, known as "Professor," stated that the initial goal was "to combat torture and mistreatment in the penitentiaries." However, after the leftist activists left around 1975, the common criminals adopted the organizational and ideological teachings and applied them for their own benefit, using the knowledge acquired for criminal strategy. The Falange Vermelha was the direct result of that fusion between leftist ideology and crime.
On September 17, 1979, a brutal massacre inside the prison sealed the group's dominance and marked the official birth of Comando Vermelho (Comando Rojo). From then on, every inmate had to swear loyalty or die. During the 1980s, the group extended its control over the favelas of Rio, organized mass escapes, and monopolized drug trafficking. In 1985, according to Estadão, it controlled 70% of the narcotics market in the city.
From a prison experiment born during the dictatorship, a criminal monster emerged that today imposes its law through blood and fire. Comando Vermelho, conceived by the union of common criminals and left-wing extremists, became the most violent symbol of organized crime in Brazil.
