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How a Brazilian Prison Gang Became a Global Cocaine Power
The PCC, a Brazilian prison gang, has grown from a 1990s inmates’ group into a global criminal network with tens of thousands of members and operations across nearly 30 countries. The article details its reach in Europe, its money laundering networks, and calls for adding it to foreign terrorism lists.
Why It Matters
The PCC’s transnational expansion reshapes global cocaine flows and port security, drawing international law enforcement scrutiny and political action.
Timeline
9 Events
Diversified money laundering channels across sectors
April 21, 2026
Drug profits are laundered through gas stations, fintechs, real-estate funds, sex motels, car dealerships and construction firms, police say.
Impact on European cocaine seizures and port turf wars
April 21, 2026
The PCC has helped drive record cocaine seizures in Europe and sparked violent turf wars in the heart of major ports in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Call to designate PCC as Foreign Terrorist Organization
April 21, 2026
Prosecutors and police in Brazil are calling on President Trump to label the PCC a Foreign Terrorist Organization, joining more than a dozen other Latin criminal networks.
PCC described as fastest-growing criminal organization
April 21, 2026
Prosecutors say the PCC is now the fastest-growing criminal organization in the world.
PCC becomes a truly transnational group
April 21, 2026
The PCC is described as a truly transnational group, with a presence in nearly 30 countries across multiple continents.
PCC grows to about 40,000 members and global reach
April 21, 2026
The PCC has about 40,000 members behind bars and on the streets with a vast network of affiliates—making it the largest criminal group in the Americas by some estimates, operating in nearly 30 countries on every continent except Antarctica.
February 2026: Operation against Chinese-run group linked to PCC
February 2026
São Paulo authorities launched an operation against a Chinese-run criminal group in February that investigators say worked with PCC to launder more than $200 million through the sale of electronics.
2023: Narco-Pentecostalism and church-based money laundering
2023
In 2023, prosecutors in Rio Grande do Norte investigated a PCC cell accused of setting up at least seven churches to launder drug money—a practice now known to authorities as narco-Pentecostalism.
PCC founded in Brazil's prisons (1990s)
1990
The PCC was founded in Brazil's violent prisons in the 1990s as a group formed by inmates fighting for soap and toilet paper.