Meanwhile, Brazil's shift towards democracy and the eventual end of the military dictatorship in 1985 allowed the leftist guerrillas to re-enter society; thus, the CV largely abandoned its left-wing ideology.
Conflicts with these splinter groups, as well as fierce resistance to state crackdowns on their operations, drove a sharp uptick in violence in Rio and throughout Brazil throughout the late 1980s and into the 2000s.
[7] Additionally, in 2016, a 20-year-old truce between the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), a rival criminal organization based in São Paulo, and the CV broke down, sparking an outbreak in violent clashes between the two groups.
Notably, in recent years a struggle has intensified between the CV, the PCC, and other rival gangs over control of trade routes and territory in the Amazon region.
[6][5][4] Soon after their regime began in 1964, Brazil's military dictatorship faced a persistent challenge from leftist guerrilla rebels, made up largely of "middle-class intellectuals".
One such prison, Candido Mendes, located on Ilha Grande, housed a mix of violent criminals and guerrillas in its notoriously brutal "Block B", or "The Pit".
CV members helped traffic drugs overseas for Colombian cartels and distributed cocaine into the local Rio de Janeiro market.
The cocaine trade proved incredibly lucrative and the CV grew rapidly: "by the end of 1985, the gang already controlled 70% of the drug market in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro."
[13] In exchange for the cooperation of favela residents, the CV prohibited theft, robbery, and rape, and provided public goods like school supplies, medical equipment, and food distribution for the poor.
Militia groups, formed by former and current police officers purporting to fight crime, have grown to control substantial territory throughout Rio.
"[4] Essentially, non-imprisoned members provide financial support and carry out instructions from imprisoned leaders, thus protecting themselves from retribution in the event that they are captured themselves.
[5] High levels of autonomy have been characteristic of the CV since its inception on Ilha Grande: while prisoners were barred from violence against each other, they were freely allowed to pursue independent business.
Lessing writes that "nowhere else in Brazil, or in much of the world for that matter," have Rio cartels, and primarily the CV, "systematically engaged the state in armed confrontation for so long.
[7] On 19 November 2016, a Rio de Janeiro police helicopter was shot down by small arms fire during a clash with CV gang members and crashed in a ditch.
[20][21] In June 2018, the CV launched attacks on a Bolivian Army base in Porvenir and a Brazilian police station in Epitaciolandia, in both instances stealing weapons and ammunition.
"[26] Thus the funk artists that are in league with the CV sometimes garner significant sales and airplay despite making a type of music that is Proibidão, or 'extremely prohibited', in terms of where it can be sold and who can play it.
The DVD release of the film contains an extra documentary "News of a Private War" which features interviews with the police and local children from the favelas.
[48] The 2010 Brazilian crime film 400 Contra 1 was inspired by CV founder William da Silva Lima's memoirs and narrates a fictionalized history of the birth of the gang in the late 1970s.