Cocaine made the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) powerful in the beginning of the 1980s. Rio de Janeiro became one of the main distribution centers for European bound drugs and low quality produce was destined for the local market. With the cocaine entered the heavy weapons.

There are separate prisons for members of the Comando Vermelho and its main rival the Terceiro Comando.

Police officer Marina Maggessi made the following comments about the crime factions in Rio de Janeiro in an interview published in O Globo on September 11th, 2005.

O Globo: What is the profile of the people being held in the Polinter prison?
Marina: Here we only have miserables. We don?t hold any drugs bosses here, with corrupting power, none of the leaders. They?re lads between 18 and 25, semi mentally-diseased. They have a vocabulary of between 10 and 20 words, don?t have teeth, can not think. They're raised on cocaine. They don?t have any institution behind them. They don?t have family, school, nothing. What institution is left? The crime faction!

O Globo: Organized crime?
Marina: The factions are not organized crime. That?s a lie. This is no big organization. The faction is like supporting a football club. It?s passion. And this is not good, they?re radicals.

O Globo: If these factions are not organized crime, why do these youths need them so much?
Marina: To belong to something. They don?t belong to anything. That?s why they are ADA, CV, Terceiro Comando. Ask them why. They don?t know. The proof is that Rocinha went to sleep as CV and awoke as ADA. Do you know somebody who went to sleep as a Vasco fan and woke up as a Flamengo supporter? There is no important connection with organized crime. It?s the poor fighting the miserable.