SUMMARY

Brazil’s proximity to the cocaine-producing countries Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, has created the perfect conditions for distribution and transition of drugs. Starting in the 1980s Rio de Janeiro gangs started capitalizing upon this opportunity, thus rivalry between them arose. These gangs gained control in the many favelas of Rio de Janeiro, areas that often were neglected by the state, which became bases for their criminal activities. The leadership of these gangs are typically of a decentralized form, every favela led by a drug boss, yet the organization within the favelas is strictly hierarchical.

Every now and then, the gangs seek to expand their territory and invade the “boca do fumo”, the point of sales, in favelas controlled by other gangs. This rivalry has led to deeply entrenched animosity between gangs and the creation of several factions fighting to make a profit from drug trafficking. In order to consolidate their power in the favelas, the gangs often replaced the state by providing security and economic support for the inhabitants. In addition to this, the gangs often got support from corrupt police, who were paid to ignore their activities.

Amigos dos Amigos started challenging the hegemony of Comando Vermelho in Rio de Janeiro after it was formed in 1998. The gangs were fighting for control of drug trafficking in favelas in Rio de Janeiro and the neighboring city Niteroí. Confrontations between the gangs typically started with one gang trying to invade the other gang’s territory. Shootings usually lasted for hours. The maximum-security prison complex Bangu outside Rio de Janeiro has often been the scene of gang violence, as the prisons are heavily overcrowded and mutiny is a reoccurring phenomenon. In 2002 one of the founding leaders of Amigos dos Amigos “Uê” was killed in Bangu by imprisoned members of the Comando Vermelho. The attack was planned by Luiz Fernando da Costa “Fernandinho Beira-Mar”, the incarcerated leader of Comando Vermelho. Fighting between the gangs intensified in 2004 when Amigos dos Amigos took over Rio’s largest favela Rocinha, from the Comando Vermelho.

The non-state conflict between Amigos dos Amigos and Comando Vermelho is first included in UCDP data in 2004. In late November that year, 12 people were killed in the fighting which led the conflict to cross the 25 battle-related death threshold.