Primeiro Comando da Capital

Primeiro Comando da Capital
	The yin and yang symbol is often associated with the PCC
Founded	31 August 1993
Founder	Marco Willians Herbas Camacho
Founding location	Taubaté House of Custody and Treatment, Taubaté, São Paulo, Brazil
Years active	1993–present
Territory	Main territories with significant operational control:; São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraguay, Bolivia; Significant activity:; Brazil: All states except Mato Grosso and Rio de Janeiro; South America: Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela; West Africa: Nigeria, Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Côte D'Ivoire, Ghana, Sierra Leone; Europe: Portugal; Other activity also registered throughout Europe, Africa and Lebanon
Ethnicity	Brazilians (predominantly) Paraguayans, Venezuelans, Argentines
Membership	40,000 lifetime members + 60,000 "contractors" (2023)
Leader(s)	Marco Willians Herbas Camacho;
Criminal activities	Drug trafficking, carjacking, terrorism, murder, fraud, pimping, arms trafficking, extortion, money laundering, smuggling, kidnapping, robbery, and bribery
Allies	Amigos dos Amigos, Terceiro Comando Puro, 'Ndrangheta, Tren de Aragua, Primer Cartel Uruguayo, Clan Insfrán, Hezbollah
Rivals	Comando Vermelho, Família do Norte, Clan Rotela, Militias

The Primeiro Comando da Capital ("First Capital Command", Portuguese pronunciation: [pɾiˈmejɾu koˈmɐ̃du da kapiˈtaw], PCC) is a Brazilian organized crime syndicate. According to a 2023 The Economist report, the PCC is Latin America's biggest drug gang, with a membership of 40,000 lifetime members plus 60,000 "contractors". Its name refers to the São Paulo state capital, the city of São Paulo.

The group is based in the state of São Paulo and is active throughout Brazil, South America, West Africa and Europe. An international expansion fueled by the cocaine trade saw the PCC establish a profitable partnership with the Italian 'Ndrangheta and, as of 2023, run over 50% of Brazil's drug exports to Europe. Through the cocaine trade routes to Europe, the PCC also established itself as a central player in the West African cocaine trade, with its members being able to exert control over neighbourhoods in cities such as Lagos and Abuja. According to a leaked Portuguese intelligence report, the group also has around 1,000 associates in Lisbon.

Historically, the PCC has been responsible for several criminal activities such as murders, prison riots, drug trafficking, bank and highway robberies, protection rackets, pimping, kidnappings-for-ransom, money laundering, bribery, loan sharking, and obstruction of justice, with an expansion focused on drug trafficking since the 2010s. As of 2023, the PCC is currently transitioning into a global mafia, being able to influence politics and penetrate the legal economy. According to São Paulo state authorities, the group has had a yearly revenue of at least US$ 1 billion since 2020.

The PCC is often mentioned to have a different doctrine to other Brazilian cartels, with a business model that favors the quiet expansion of markets over violent and expensive turf wars and confrontations with the state that would draw unwanted attention. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime noted that the PCC's ability to negotiate with rivals rather than expelling them has permitted the group to make use of preestablished criminal networks and preexisting logistics know-how along the cocaine value chain, encouraging peaceful cooperation between different groups and producing greater economic efficiency by reducing operating costs. However, the group has been responsible for waves of extreme violence, including terrorism, upon having their interests threatened.

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