SUMMARY

Bonde do Maluco (BDM), also known as “Tudo 3”, was a drug trafficking gang from Bahia state, Brazil. The gang was involved in crimes such as drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, criminal organization and money laundering. It was created in 2015, inside a Penitentiary Complex in Salvador, as a branch of a faction called Caveira, connected to one of Brazil’s biggest criminal organizations, PCC. At that time, the main leader of the BDM was José Francisco Lumes, “Zé de Lessa”, who was killed in a clash with the police over a robbery of an armored car in 2019.

BDM had a decentralized structure, with several leaders based in each area dominated by the group. In 2020, after the imprisonment of one of its leaders, the federal police started the operation “Tarja Preta”, which identified a number of other imprisoned BDM leaders controlling the group from behind bars. As the operation continued, police discovered in March 2022 that the group planned to expand its operations throughout the country.

The organization had connections in several states, including Bahia, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Paraná and Santa Catarina. In Bahia, they dominated drug trafficking and other illicit businesses in most parts of Salvador, but also the towns of Coronel João Sá, Novo Triunfo, Sítio do Quinto, part of Ilha de Itaparica, Senhor do Bonfim, Feira de Santana, Vera Cruz, Santo Antônio de Jesus, Camaçari and Cruz das Almas.

Bonde do Maluco has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP.