An operation by Gaeco (Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime) arrested on Tuesday (9) a chief investigator from the Civil Police, a former civil police officer and a former Public Prosecutor’s Office intern, suspected of acting as PCC infiltrators in Campinas, in São Paulo state. The group is being investigated for allegedly taking part in a plan to assassinate prosecutor Amauri Silveira Filho, from Gaeco itself. The attack was thwarted in August 2025.Authorities carried out three temporary arrest warrants and ten search and seizure warrants. Investigators found that, one week before the operation that dismantled the plan, Campinas’ chief investigator met with one of the main suspects in the plot. Seized videos recorded the meeting.
Gaeco also found that a former intern, now a lawyer, infiltrated a Criminal Prosecutor’s Office in Campinas to extort PCC members. He used official databases, with help from other public agents, to identify criminals with significant financial power and demand money in exchange for alleged protection in investigations.
Among those involved is a former civil police officer expelled from the force for kidnapping-related extortion.
The operation comes days after the U.S. government officially classified PCC and Comando Vermelho as terrorist organizations on Friday (5). The decision was published in the Federal Register and signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who described the factions as groups that "committed or attempted to commit" terrorist acts posing risks to U.S. citizens’ security and national interests.
