A Violent Symbiosis: Gangs, the State, and the Rise in Crime in São Paulo

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the unexpected rise in violence in São Paulo after a decade of consistent decline, from 2000-10. Using the Complex Adaptive System framework, this thesis argues that the Primeiro Comando da Capital “First Command of the Capital” (PCC), the most influential prison gang in Brazil, developed an accommodating relationship with the state, making them both equally responsible for the rise in crime. The thesis is chronological, based on the three major PCC rebellions/attacks since its creation, in 1993. Those moments represent the break of an unstable truce between the state and the PCC, and are critical to reveal how the state fails to curb organized crime. The constant crime rise after 2012, however, suggests that in the long-term, the state has strengthened the PCC.