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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SAO PAULO 000708 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/WHA, DS/ICI/PII, DS/DSS/OSAC, WHA/BSC 
NSC FOR FEARS 
DEA FOR OEL/DESANTIS AND NIRL/LEHRER 
DEPT ALSO FOR WHA/PDA, DRL/PHD, INL, DS/IP/WHA, DS/DSS/ITA 
BRASILIA FOR RSO AND LEGAT; RIO DE JANEIRO FOR RSO 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM CASC SOCI SNAR ASEC BR
SUBJECT: PCC FOILED IN ATTEMPTED ATTACKS ON OUTSKIRTS OF SP 
 
REF: (A) Sao Paulo 573; (B) Sao Paulo 551; (C) Sao Paulo 532; (D) 
Sao Paulo 526 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Sao Paulo state security officials reported on 
Monday, June 26, that police foiled several attacks against 
employees of detention facilities planned by Sao Paulo's notorious 
criminal gang the First Capital Command (PCC).  State officials said 
imprisoned PCC leaders ordered street units to kill five to fifteen 
prison guards over a ten-day period, focusing on several specific 
prisoner detention and transfer facilities in metropolitan Sao 
Paulo.  Officials reported that the police killed 13 suspected PCC 
members before they could execute the attacks.  There were no police 
or bystander casualties reported.  We have no indication that Amcits 
were in any way threatened by this recent incident, and the 
neighborhoods involved are not commonly visited by Americans living 
in or visiting Sao Paulo.   At the moment, there does not appear to 
be any threat of a wider confrontation akin to the wave of violence 
that wracked Sao Paulo in May (reftels), but we have received 
information that police expect another attack in the same area 
within the next few days.  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------- 
POLICE WIN ONE IN ADVANCE 
------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Just over a month after a brutal wave of violence 
orchestrated by the organized criminal gang the First Capital 
Command (PCC) wracked the state of Sao Paulo and resulted in over 
200 deaths (see reftels), Sao Paulo state security officials 
reported that the PCC had planned to launch attacks against 
employees of several detention facilities around greater Sao Paulo, 
but was foiled by police raids that resulted in the deaths of 13 
suspected attackers.  Security officials gave few details of the 
police actions, but it appears that imprisoned PCC leaders had given 
an order to some of its street units to kill between five and 
fifteen prison employees over a ten-day period, focusing on the 
inner-ring working-class suburbs of Santo Andre, Sao Bernardo do 
Campo, Diadema and Maua.  It is thought that these locales were 
targeted because prisoner transfer facilities located in them 
present good targets, and because PCC leadership felt that not 
enough violence was unleashed in these areas during May's crime 
wave.  (NOTE: These are not areas where American citizens generally 
reside or visit.  But Diadema is along a lesser-traveled route 
between Sao Paulo and the beach/port area of Santos, and Sao 
Bernardo is known as a factory and industrial center, and is the 
hometown of President Lula.  END NOTE.) At some point last week, Sao 
Paulo police uncovered the plot, and in the early morning hours of 
Monday, June 26, moved on several locations to thwart suspected 
attackers before they could take action against prison officials. 
In addition to the 13 suspects killed, five to ten persons were 
apprehended, all of whom have criminal records, according to the 
police.  Several small arms were also confiscated. 
 
------------------------------- 
GOOD INTELLIGENCE ON BOTH SIDES 
------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) This incident highlights the rather sophisticated level of 
intelligence-gathering, planning and execution utilized by both the 
Sao Paulo public security apparatus and the PCC.  As we have 
previously reported, the PCC has an almost corporate-like command 
and control structure and an intelligence network sophisticated 
enough to locate and kill police officers during off-duty hours both 
at home and in public places such as restaurants. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) State officials said that they discovered the plot to kill 
prison workers through intense monitoring of prisoner movements and 
through intercepted phone calls.  The Civil Police (the 
investigative arm of the Brazilian law enforcement structure) 
conducted close surveillance of a group of suspected attackers, who 
 
SAO PAULO 00000708  002 OF 002 
 
 
apparently planned to attack prison workers at a bus stop near the 
Sao Bernardo Temporary Detention Center (CDP) as they were to arrive 
or leave for work in the early morning hours.  It was reported that 
PCC attackers were in place by 5:00 a.m. on Monday to intercept and 
kill prison guards at the bus stop, but that police engaged the PCC 
teams two hours later after an order to attack had been given from 
imprisoned gang leaders.  Police officials said that two suspects 
were killed as they waited at the bus stop for prison guards to 
arrive, seven were killed at two nearby gasoline stations, and a 
tenth was killed in a car.  Three suspects reportedly escaped the 
area by car and headed toward Diadema, where police killed them in a 
gunfight at a road block. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) While the police apparently accurately detected and 
successfully foiled this plot, the PCC showed that it still has a 
strong network operating both within the state's prisons and on its 
streets.  Three women were arrested near the Sao Bernardo CDP, 
accused of being spotters for the PCC who had monitored and recorded 
the routine of CDP employees, allegedly giving rise to the 
particular plot to use the bus stop as a target.  At least six 
prison guards from a different CDP in the southern zone of greater 
Sao Paulo stayed home from work on Monday after having received 
death threats via telephone. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
PCC LEADERS ARE SAFE AND SOUND, FOR NOW 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The upside for Sao Paulo's security officials is that it 
appears the top leaders of the PCC are secure and isolated in the 
Presidente Vencelsau 2 prison in the interior of Sao Paulo state. 
An investigative report published Sunday by the news daily Folha de 
Sao Paulo described the group of PCC top brass as being closely 
monitored around the clock by heavily armed special police units, 
and having very restricted privileges.  The paper also reported that 
visits were few and closely monitored, and visitors were thoroughly 
searched.  However, several guards were quoted as saying they feared 
for the future, as over time, PCC members will be released back into 
the streets and will seek retaliation against guards and their 
families.  "We are on the edge of a new slaughter," said one guard, 
who refused to allow his name to be published. Furthermore, Sao 
Paulo prison guards are again threatening to go on strike (ref B), 
which could weaken the tight lid that has been kept on the PCC 
leadership since May.  Coincidently or not, the federal government 
opened a new state-of-the-art prison in Parana state over the 
weekend -- the first federal prison in Brazil -- and is touting it 
as the model for other penal institutions soon to be built 
elsewhere. 
 
-------------------------------- 
BUT WHEN WILL THEY STRIKE AGAIN? 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) COMMENT:  While the police can chalk up a win for Monday's 
foiled attack, the fact that the PCC got as far as they did in 
planning and execution begs the question of when it will strike 
again.  Widespread violence is not anticipated during the World Cup 
matches, for to disrupt Brazilians' enjoyment of watching and 
savoring each match would be one of the fastest ways to engender 
animosity and provoke anger across all socio-economic classes.  But 
clearly the PCC has in mind further strikes against public security 
targets, albeit apparently far more limited in scale and public 
impact than the events of May.  In fact, uncorroborated sources have 
told us that the police are aware of new attacks being planned for 
the same areas as the attempted killings on Monday, against similar 
prison targets, to take place within the next several days.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
MCMULLEN