South America’s biggest gang has immense sway in Brazil

BOMBS AND bullets could not remove cracolândia, the largest open-air drug market in South America, from the heart of São Paulo. When violence failed, the police took away the black tents in which women weighed packages of powder. They raided the surrounding hotels, where customers ordered food on delivery apps while waiting for their illicit orders. Still, the business flowed. The dealers merely put up umbrellas and sold drugs from backpacks.

But in March cracolândia emptied. Hundreds of dealers and addicts dispersed without any sign of violence. The police initially claimed credit, but whispers said that the move had instead been orchestrated by First Capital Command (PCC), South America’s largest gang, on the orders of its imprisoned leadership. The drug-sellers, in cahoots with the PCC, are pitching up elsewhere in smaller groups.