SUMMARY

Amigos dos Amigos (Friends of Friends) was founded in 1998 and during the first years of the 2000s the gang became one of the dominating gangs in Rio de Janeiro. The gang was formed by former members of the Comando Vermelho, and later started cooperating with the Terceiro Comando in order to fight the Comando Vermelho. However members of Terceiro Comando who did not consent with the alliance created the new faction Terceiro Comando Puro and became enemies of the Amigos dos Amigos.

The main activity of the gang is drug trafficking. Gangs occupy favelas in the city and control the distribution of drugs. Shootouts with the police are common, yet there is no political incompatibility and the violence is therefore not included in UCDP state-based conflict data.

Like in other dominating gangs of Rio de Janeiro, the power of the organisation is decentralised and generally there is one leader for each favela. The founding leaders of the gang and former Comando Vermelho members were Celso Luis Rodrigues “Celsionho da Vila Vintem” and Ernaldo Pinto de Medeiros “Uê”. The central power of Amigos dos Amigos has been concentrated to the biggest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Rocinha, which was conquered in 2004 from the Comando Vermelho. The most prominent leader of Amigos dos Amigos is Antonio Fransisco Bonfim Lopes “Nem” who ruled the Rocinha favela. He was arrested in 2011, and sentenced to twelve years in prison in 2013. However, incarceration is seldom an obstacle for gang leaders as they usually continue to lead their gang from prison.

Amigos dos Amigos has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.