A confidential document from the national government has raised alarms by confirming the presence in Argentina of 28 alleged members of a Brazilian drug trafficking organization.

According to the report, 14 of them are being held in federal prisons, while another 14 remain at large, with possible links to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and the Comando Vermelho (CV), two of the most powerful and violent criminal structures in Brazil.

The document —released after the recent mega-operation in Rio de Janeiro that left more than 120 dead— warns that Brazilian organized crime is seeking to expand into other countries in the region, including Argentina, in order to increase its territorial control and diversify its criminal activities.

PCC members identified in Argentina

Among those arrested is Adriano Giménez Morales, a Paraguayan citizen housed in the Candelaria Penal Colony, Unit No. 17, linked to the PCC and accused of drug trafficking. According to the report, Morales admitted to having resided in Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, where the organization maintains active operations. He also admitted to having carried out “hitman work for a Peruvian drug gang.”

Another of those mentioned is Jonathan Renato Gonçalves, a Brazilian national, who entered the Federal Penitentiary Service after being arrested by the National Gendarmerie. He is currently serving his sentence in the same prison as Giménez Morales.

The report details that the expansion of the PCC was consolidated through an initiation ritual called"baptism," which consists of registering the data of new members in a "white book," first in physical format and then digitized for distribution through messaging and virtual platforms.

According to the investigation, the radicalization and expansion of the PCC would have occurred within prison establishments in Santa Fe and Chaco, where attempts at recruitment and criminal coordination were detected.

Among the names mentioned is Ariel José Rojas, linked to the “Coronda massacre,” which occurred inside the Santa Fe prison. Also appearing is Néstor Horacio Barczuk, currently incarcerated in the Santa Rosa Penal Colony, who allegedly participated in a “baptism” in Resistencia, Chaco, and was identified thanks to a spreadsheet titled “Active Brothers in Argentina.”

In that same database are listed Víctor Hugo Pedraz Cristofoletti, Roberto Silvera Mafra and Gusmao Leonardo Monte Alto, the latter linked to the Organized Crime Group ‘Callau Barriga’, whose operational base would be in Ibicuy, Entre Ríos, with activities focused on drug trafficking.

All of the individuals mentioned have distinctive tattoos associated with Brazilian factions, with references to symbols of the PCC and Comando Vermelho, in addition to a history of contract killing, drug trafficking and homicide.

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— misionesonline.net (@misionesonline) March 18, 2024