An international expansion fueled by the cocaine trade made the PCC establish a profitable partnership with the Italian 'Ndrangheta and, as of 2023, run over 50% of Brazil's drug exports to Europe.

[22] 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[3] and confrontations with the state that would draw unwanted attention.

PCC, which was also formerly referred to as the "Party of Crime", and as "15.3.3" (following the order of the letters "P" and "C" in the former Brazilian alphabet, which did not contain the letter "K"), was founded with a clear agenda, to "fight the oppression inside the São Paulo penitentiary system" and to "avenge the death of 111 prisoners": the victims of the previous year's Carandiru massacre, when the São Paulo State Military Police stormed the now-defunct Carandiru Penitentiary and massacred prisoners in the 9th cell block.

The group had the slogan "Peace, Justice and Freedom"[2] and made use of the Chinese taijitu ("yin and yang symbol") as their emblem, claiming it represented a "way to balance good and evil with wisdom".

[2] In the late 1990s, the São Paulo State Government sought to separate the PCC leadership in order to dismantle the organization, sending leaders to different penitentiaries across the countries.

[2] Under the leadership of Marcola, also known as "Playboy", currently serving a 232 year sentence, the PCC took part in the March 2003 murder of Judge Antônio José Machado Dias, who ran the Penitentiary Readaptation Center (CRP) from Presidente Bernardes, São Paulo, then Brazil's most strict supermax-style prison.

[28] From the early 2000's, the PCC started consolidating its power outside of the prison system, expanding its influence as providers of order and conflict solvers into low-income neighbourhoods throughout São Paulo, known as favelas.

[28] Rather than expanding by territorial conquest alone, the PCC is able to develop its illicit activities more efficiently by focusing on the regulation and control of markets combined with a monopoly on violence and discipline.

[28] In 2014, the Brazilian Federal Police launched Operation Oversea, which first identified the PCC's cocaine shipments to Europe, before the group had consolidated drug trade routes or perfected money laundering schemes.

[3] From 2016, the group cemented its influence over the Paraguayan border, an important trade route for cocaine supplied from Bolivia, Peru and Colombia and for arms trafficked from Paraguay and the United States.

[31] This allowed for a major expansion in the following years, with the Brazilian Public Prosecutor's Office estimating that the PCC had reached over 30,000 'baptized' members in 2018, with at least 2 million more allied to the group.

[32][33] In early 2017, a series of gruesome prison riots made headlines worldwide as the PCC fought for control of the North Region against the Família do Norte (FDN), erstwhile allies with the Red Command.

[35] In 2021, the "King of the Frontier" Fahd Jamil Georges, who ruled over drug trafficking and the jogo do bicho in the Ponta Porã region for over five decades, turned himself in to authorities seeking protection, claiming that the PCC was after him.

[38][31][39] On 15 December 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced new sanctions against organized crime actors worldwide such as the PCC, along with Mexican cartels and Chinese groups linked to the fentanyl trade.

The 2020 arrest of a Brazilian drug trafficker linked to the 'Ndrangheta and to senior PCC members in Maputo has also contributed to evidence that the group had been active in southern and eastern Africa for years.

[3] The PCC has been noted for its ability to create ad hoc and structured business partnerships with other Brazilian groups (including private entities and the state) as well as with foreign criminal networks such as Nigerian, Cape Verdean, Mozambican, Lebanese, Russian, Italian and Eastern European mafias.

[3] By 2022, the PCC had become one of the world's most complex criminal organizations, able to operate across a spectrum of illicit supply chains including drugs, firearms, illegal gold mining[41] and vehicles.

[3][23] By late 2024, several investigations pointed to an increased sophistication in the group's money laundering operations and involvement with sports, including making use of online gambling websites and investing into Portuguese third division football clubs.

[42][43] According to deceased PCC informant Antônio Gritzbach, Danilo Lima de Oliveira, a sports agent who took part in Emerson Royal's transfer to Barcelona FC, had been previously involved with the criminal organization.

[44] In mid-2023 and early 2024, deaths of ROTA policemen in the Baixada Santista region, considered a PCC stronghold, led the São Paulo state government to crack down on organized crime in the area.

[45][46][47] In November 2023, the Brazilian Navy also took up an anti-narcotics role in the Port of Santos, employing divers and dogs in an attempt to locate drugs hidden in hard to reach places such as inside the hull in sea chests.

[48] During the crackdown, the RFB also detected an increase in drug seizures on ships heading to Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and Taiwan, determining that docked vessels with those destinations should also undergo scans for illegal narcotics.

[13][50] By 27 March, it was reported that Marcola's allies had quelled the insurrection within the PCC, with Tiriça and Vida Loka having been expelled, having their deaths ordered and losing ownership over cars, mansions, drug sales points and stakes in money-laundering companies.

Furthermore, the group is responsible for producing intelligence relating to the laundering, moving and safekeeping of large sums of money, having members dedicated to preparing vehicles and safehouses with that objective in mind.

[56] Runs the PCC's accounting, finances, and commands several subordinate sintonias responsible for all of the group's commercial operations ranging from drug sales points to marijuana and cocaine exports and lotteries, as well as the money laundering.

[62] According to the Brazilian Federal Police, the PCC maintains commercial relations with the Lebanese organization and militant group Hezbollah,[63] specifically in illegal cigarette contraband, arms trafficking and money laundering schemes.

[64][65] In June 2023, the São Paulo Civil Police arrested Garip Uç, a Turkish chemist associated with Hezbollah during an operation in Praia Grande.

Investigations later pointed to Moroccan hashish being imported to Brazil by a criminal network that involved the PCC, 'Ndrangheta, the Balkan Mafia and Hezbollah, by way of Barakat clan entrepreneurs who operated in the Triple Frontier.

However, investigations later showed that one suspect, 31-year old Anderson Minhano was taken from the scene alive and placed in a ROTA cruiser, where it was discovered that he was wanted for the point-blank murder of a police officer two months earlier.

[72] In April 2017 the company Prosegur located in Ciudad del Este, in the Triple Frontier of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, was robbed by a group of at least 30 men carrying heavy firepower.