SUMMARY

Clashes between the Barriga gang and the Sujeirinha gang, both named after their leaders’ nicknames, started in 1997 when the Barriga gang killed relatives of members of the Sujeirinha gang. “Barriga” and “Sujeirinha” had earlier been allied, however, enmity arose between them due to personal differences as well as rivalry over drug trafficking. The Barriga gang and the Sujeirinha gang both controlled favelas in the São Paulo periphery.

The dyad is characterized by tit-for-tat killings in the favelas dominated by the gangs. In December 1999 clashes escalated as the Sujeirinha gang intended to kill the leader Barriga. Instead seven relatives of the leader of the Barriga gang were killed. During the same month the Barriga gang killed one of the leaders of the Sujeirinha gang.

The non-state conflict between the Barriga gang and the Sujeirinha gang is first included in UCDP data in 1999. In December that year, the Sujeirinha gang attempted to kill the leader of the Barriga gang and 18 people were killed which led the conflict to cross the 25 battle-related deaths threshold.