A gang born in Brazil's brutal prison system is no longer just a domestic security threat. The Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, has evolved into a sprawling transnational criminal organization that prosecutors, U.S. officials, and recent international reporting say is reshaping cocaine routes from South America to Europe and making troubling inroads into the United States.
The group began in São Paulo's prison system in the 1990s and has since grown into what U.S. Treasury described in 2024 as "the most notorious organized crime group in Brazil and among the largest in Latin America." Treasury said the PCC has an "expanding global presence," while a recent Wall Street Journal investigation described it as operating in nearly 30 countries and counting roughly 40,000 members and affiliates behind bars and on the streets.
