SUMMARY

The Brazilian city of Salvador, in the northeastern state of Bahia, was a stage for fighting between drug trafficking gangs. In this context, the gangs organized themselves around the city’s neighborhoods where they established points of drug sale “boca de fumos”, made alliances and battled each other for control over drug trafficking and other illicit businesses. From their areas of dominance, local gang leaders had the power to order attacks on other gangs, civilians and police.

The conflict between Bonde do Maluco and Comando Vermelho erupted in 2020, as they competed over control of drug trafficking in neighborhoods across the cities of Salvador, Dias D’ávila and Senhor do Bonfim.

With Comando Vermelho as one of the conflicting parties, and Bonde do Maluco allied to the PCC, the local conflict made part of a nation-wide fight for dominance between Brazil's two largest criminal organizations. Starting in 2020, the Comando Vermelho exercised its power in Bahia through a local gang, Comando da Paz, who by that year was absorbed into the Comando Vermelho.

The conflict was characterized by sending messages and threats on social media or written in walls over the neighborhood, invading each others’ territories, torture, shootouts, execution-style killings, in addition to imposing curfews on the residents of the areas they control. Leaders of the groups were typically the main target of attacks, in attempts to dismantle the rival gang.

The non-state conflict between the Bonde do Maluco and the Comando Vermelho was first included in UCDP data in 2021, when clashes between the groups surpassed the 25 battle-related deaths threshold.