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P 250947Z MAY 07
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 SAO PAULO 000447 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/FO, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INL 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR DS/IP/WHA, DS/IP/ITA, DS/T/ATA 
NSC FOR FEARS 
TREASURY FOR JHOEK 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
USAID FOR LAC/AA 
PARIS FOR ECON - TOM WHITE 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y - REFORMATED MARGINS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: SNAR PGOV PREL KJUS ASEC BR
SUBJECT: ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSONQS VISIT TO SAO 
PAULO, MAY 15, 2007 
 
REF: (A) SAO PAULO 58; (B) SAO PAULO 36 
     (C) 06 SAO PAULO 887 AND PREVIOUS 
     (D) 06 SAO PAULO 573 AND PREVIOUS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) During her May 15 visit to Sao Paulo, INL 
A/S Anne Patterson participated in a roundtable with 
police, prosecutors, and other experts, who discussed 
the First Capital Command (PCC) criminal organization 
(see refs C-D) and the different experiences of Sao Paulo 
and Rio de Janeiro with gang violence and drug trafficking. 
She lunched with a prominent academic who shared the 
knowledge gained in years of research in crime and violence 
issues and insights into how to change law enforcement 
culture.  Following a visit to the DEA wire room, she met 
with Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra and senior members of 
his public security cabinet.  The visit highlighted both the 
seriousness of the challenge posed by drug-trafficking gangs 
and the determination of Sao Paulo authorities to confront it. 
NAS is developing a response to a number of specific training 
and equipment requests from the State Secretariat of Public 
Security. 
End Summary. 
 
GANGS OF SAO PAULO 
------------------ 
 
¶2.  (U) A/S Patterson participated in a roundtable with 
police, prosecutors, and other crime and violence experts. 
Her visit coincided with the first anniversary of the 
outburst of violence (ref D) orchestrated by the First 
Capital Command (PCC), which paralyzed Sao Paulo for 
several days in mid-May 2006.  The current capabilities of 
the PCC, and of law enforcement authorities to combat it, 
were the focus of the discussion.  Jose Vicente da Silva, 
a retired military police colonel who is currently a 
private security consultant, stated that organized crime 
grew in Sao Paulo partly because of the police's weak 
intelligence-gathering capabilities.  The police were 
incapable of identifying the growth of drug trafficking, 
how criminal groups' weapons enter Brazil and who were 
the criminal organizations' leaders.  A major additional 
reason for the growth of crime in recent years is that 
gangs use Sao Paulo's advantageous economic situation and 
better public infrastructure to their benefit.  About half 
the drugs trafficked from Bolivia are consumed domestically, 
he estimated, with the other half exported to Europe. 
Silva added that another factor leading to the strength of 
the PCC criminal organization is the state's inability to 
control the prison system.  The number of prison inmates 
in the State of Sao Paulo has increased dramatically from 
60,000 to 150,000 and today's state prisons are seriously 
overcrowded.  Gangs like the PCC take advantage of the 
failing prison system to increase their strength.  Only 
after the May 2006 period of PCC-instigated looting and 
destruction, when police were targeted indiscriminately, 
did military-civil police cooperation improve and serious 
information-sharing begin, Silva commented. 
 
¶3.  (U) State Civil Police Organized Crime Division Chief 
 
SAO PAULO 00000447  002 OF 005 
 
 
Gaetano Vergine stated that the authorities have 
successfully prosecuted several PCC leaders, including 
some PCC bosses who live in Sao Paulo's periphery. 
Security consultant Silva noted that while Sao Paulo 
police technology and training has developed significantly, 
Rio de Janeiro's police is corrupt, has limited training, 
and hesitates to arrest offenders or push for their 
prosecution. 
 
¶4.  (U) Marcio Sergio Christino, a state public prosecutor 
with the Special Action Group for Repression of Organized 
Crime (GAECO), said the PCC has a monopoly over the prison 
system.  PCC leaders are constantly perfecting their 
capabilities and efficiency, and the group is beginning to 
focus not just on immediate action but medium- and 
longer-terms goals, he warned.  He dismissed the idea that 
the PCC is involved with international criminal groups such 
as the FARC in Colombia, though he acknowledged that the 
PCC does have contacts in other parts of Brazil.  Christino 
noted that even though crime lords are dispersed throughout 
the Sao Paulo prison system instead of being concentrated 
in jails affiliated with particular neighborhoods, as is 
the case in Rio de Janeiro, the PCC is still extremely 
effective in spreading violence.  During the May 2006 
uprising, the PCC issued a command to stage attacks all 
over town rather than focus on certain points in the city 
as the gangs in Rio tend to do, he said.  Christino also 
noted that Sao Paulo's favelas (urban slums) are not 
impenetrable fortresses to police as are the favelas in 
Rio. 
 
SAO PAULO VERSUS RIO GANGS: WHO IS THE BEST NEIGHBOR? 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) Christino stated that in Rio de Janeiro, since 
the government has completely abandoned the favelas, 
criminal gangs move in to fill the social services 
vacuum left behind.  While Sao Paulo's PCC is effective 
in building community support by supporting inmatesQ 
families, including providing them with transportation 
to visit incarcerated relatives, the PCC is primarily 
focused on drug trafficking and has yet to provide social 
services like its counterparts do in Rio.  Bruno Paes Manso, 
a journalist who writes frequently about crime and public 
security issues for large circulation daily "Estado de Sao 
Paulo", disagreed, stating that PCC leaders are attached to 
the neighborhoods in which they grew up and now operate. 
They support popular soccer teams and sales of home-made 
items in neighborhood churches, and even sponsor concerts 
for young Brazilians. According to Manso, although the PCC 
primarily uses the drug trade and the profits it generates 
to increase its strength, it has actually begun establishing 
order in previously unsafe neighborhoods through 
consolidation of criminal activities in these areas. "In the 
1990s we had disorganized crimeQ characterized by killings 
involving small-time drug dealers, but since Marcos Willians 
Camacho, aka Marcola, took over the PCC some years back, drug 
trafficking and related crimes are organized and controlled. 
He mused that the PCC and other gangs actually operate like 
many businesses, even maintaining marketing departments. 
 
FURTHER CHALLENGES 
------------------ 
 
 
SAO PAULO 00000447  003 OF 005 
 
 
¶6.  (U) When A/S Patterson asked about prisoners' use of 
cell phones to conduct illicit activity, Civil Police Division 
Chief Vergine responded that restricting cell phones in prisons 
is the principal means of curbing the PCCQs strength.  GAECO 
prosecutor Christino noted that the PCC could not have 
orchestrated last yearQs violence without extensive cell phone 
use and that eliminating such use would lead to a significant 
reduction in overall criminal activity.  He noted, however, 
that experts want to know who would block cell phone signals: 
the state or private cell phone companies?  Another challenge 
in reducing crime is that Brazilian law only allows one year 
of "special regime" (solitary confinement combined with other 
restrictions) for even the most problematic prisoners.  The 
state prisons also suffer from weak administration and poor 
management practices, he added, with guards often doing only 
what they are specifically ordered to do rather than taking 
initiative to identify and address potential problems. 
Security expert Silva lamented the fact that prison officials 
are not police officers and therefore lack proper training. 
The excess number of prisoners is a further problem, he added. 
He called for more prison administration courses and 
complained that an initiative to modernize BrazilQs prison 
system has sat idle in Congress of five years.  Based on 
Brazil's history under a dictatorship, prisoners are still 
widely viewed as victims rather than criminals, he concluded. 
 
------------------------------------- 
ASSESSING LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT NEEDS 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Nancy Cardia, a leading academic who heads the 
Unviersity of Sao PauloQs Center for the Study of Violence, 
outlined some ways in which USG assistance might help Sao 
Paulo authorities in dealing with organized crime and drug 
trafficking. Cardia noted that both the police and prisons 
required serious reforms, although she acknowledged that 
this would be a costly and lengthy undertaking.  She suggested 
that USG assistance centered on modernizing the police's 
anti-narcotics unit might be more realistic and effective in 
the short to medium term. Likewise, she touted community 
policing as a key area where the U.S. had considerable 
experience that might be shared with local law enforcement 
authorities and civic leaders.  Similarly, Cardia said the 
police needed access to up-to-date periodicals, which they 
currently lack.  She added that this would be a relatively 
low-cost item that the USG could provide in a timely way. 
 
¶8. (SBU) DEA arranged a visit to the Federal Police's "wire 
room" (telephone intercept center) in Sao Paulo, which 
underscored the exemplary dedication as well as the impressive 
capabilities of these agents, who collectively are able to 
monitor seven different languages as well as different 
dialects.  The Federal Police also provide critical 
cooperation in key DEA cases involving third-country nationals 
involved in narcotics trafficking activities.  Federal Police 
officials have identified a new facility that would improve 
the current capabilities of this wire room, an initiative that 
would advance USG interests. 
 
--------------------- 
MEETING WITH GOVERNOR 
--------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) A/S Patterson met with Sao Paulo Governor Jose 
 
SAO PAULO 00000447  004 OF 005 
 
 
Serra, who was accompanied by the State Secretaries of Public 
Security and Justice as well as the heads of the state 
military, civil, and technical police. A/S Patterson addressed 
the difficulties involved in working with the Government of 
Bolivia on drug issues, especially since the GoB lifted limits 
on coca cultivation.  All affected nations are trying to 
convince Bolivia to resume eradication, she said.  Governor 
Serra stressed that drugs coming from Bolivia constitute a 
major problem for Sao Paulo state. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The Governor pointed out that the state, with its 
population of 40 million, is almost as large as Colombia, 
South AmericaQs second-largest country.  It has a combined 
total of some 120,000 civil and military police, the largest 
police force in the nation, as compared with only 11,000 
federal police.  In distributing resources, the federal 
government tends to treat all states as equals instead of 
directing more attention and resources towards the largest 
states or the ones that have the most serious crime problems. 
Because the federal police force is spread so thin, the state 
police must also take some responsibility for interdiction, 
even though they lack training in this area.  The state's law 
enforcement capabilities must be upgraded to help it meet the 
serious challenges it faces with drugs, weapons and contraband 
coming across the borders.  For example, Justice Secretary 
Luiz Antonio Guimaraes Marrey indicated that there are now 
cocaine refining facilities in the state and that some 
homemade explosives are found here as well.  Governor Serra, 
reiterating that the state is carrying much of the burden, 
asked USG to persuade the federal government of the merits of 
direct U.S.-Sao Paulo cooperation. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
REQUEST FOR TRAINING AND OTHER COOPERATION 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Secretary of Public Security Ronaldo Bretas 
Marzagao listed a number of areas where the state is 
interested in increased cooperation.  These are encapsulated 
in a document that Post has shared with WHA/BSC, INL, DS, and 
DHS.  Per refs A-B, state authorities are concerned about 
security in the metropolitan public transportation system; a 
TSA representative visited and assessed transit security 
 
SIPDIS 
practices, and Post is in the process of organizing a 
Voluntary Visitors program for transit officials to meet with 
their counterparts in U.S. cities.  In February, RSO sent five 
military and civil police candidates recommended by Marzagao's 
office to a DSS/ATA-sponsored Explosive Ordnance Management 
course in Rio de Janeiro. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The military police wants training on detecting and 
neutralizing explosive devices, negotiating hostage crises and 
related public emergencies, and use of dogs to interdict 
weapons, explosive, and drugs.  The civil police wants to 
improve its intelligence and investigation capability in the 
areas of organized crime, drug trafficking, money-laundering, 
and intellectual property crime.  The scientific-technical 
police - a division of the civil police - wants crime scene 
training, techniques for analyzing drug materials, and 
training and expertise on DNA analysis and autopsies.  Cyber- 
crime is also an area of increasing concern where they would 
like to improve their capabilities. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) A/S Patterson noted that Brazil has sophisticated 
 
SAO PAULO 00000447  005 OF 005 
 
 
capabilities in a number of areas, such as combating money- 
laundering, but that it needs more expertise in the area of 
complex financial crimes.  She also addressed the question 
of demand reduction, noting that an INL demand reduction 
expert had visited Sao Paulo the previous week.  INL is in 
the process of establishing new law enforcement positions in 
Brazil that will enhance our ability to address Sao Paulo's 
priorities.  She acknowledged that the phenomenon of inmates 
operating criminal enterprises from prisons is a hemisphere- 
wide problem.  Other countries in the region have made 
progress in gaining better control of the prisons, only to 
lose ground again.  Justice Secretary Marrey said Sao Paulo 
has achieved some success in this area but that gangs 
continue to operate in state prisons and juvenile 
corrections facilities. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) In closing, Governor Serra noted that he strongly 
favors proposed federal legislation that would allow for 
supervised release of some prisoners, which he said would 
greatly help ease the overcrowding in the state prison system. 
Sao Paulo wants to develop a supervised release program and is 
interested in the U.S. experience with prisoner monitoring 
procedures and devices, he said.  A/S Patterson indicated 
that there is some very effective albeit expensive technology 
on the market.  Serra said he would appreciate guidance on the 
costs and benefits of available technology. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Following the PCC-led wave of violence last 
May, there were brief surges in the battle between the 
gang and the police in July and August, but things have 
been generally quiet in Sao Paulo since then. Nevertheless, 
most experts believe it is only a matter of time, and of 
some precipitating incident, before the PCC again shows 
its strength in the city and the prisons.  While Governor 
Serra appears serious about addressing the issue, the 
challenges remain large.  This visit served to highlight 
those challenges and the stateQs response to them, and to 
help identify areas where the USG can make a cost-effective 
contribution. 
 
¶16.  (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Brasilia 
and ConGen Rio de Janeiro, and cleared by A/S Patterson 
and Ambassador Sobel. 
 
MCMULLEN