Who is “Doca”, the number 2 of Comando Vermelho who evaded the largest and deadliest police operation in the history of Brazil

According to Víctor Santos, Secretary of Public Security of Rio de Janeiro, the criminal used the drug traffickers’ hitmen to create a blockade and escape. Rio’s anonymous tip line offers a reward of R$100,000 (US$18,000) for information leading to his capture.

“In this first instance we could not capture Doca because it is a strategy they use,” declared Santos in an interview with GloboNews, explaining that by leaving the “soldiers” in front so that they can be arrested more easily, they end up hindering the arrest of the leaders.

According to his criminal record, Doca was born in 1970 in Caiçara, although there are discrepancies in the authorities’ own records as to whether his origin is Caiçara in Rio Grande do Sul or Caiçara in Paraíba.

Doca entered the world of crime at least 20 years ago. In 2007, he was arrested for carrying a weapon and trafficking drugs in Vila da Penha, in the northern area of ​​Rio de Janeiro.

At that time, he declared to the police that he was a soldier and years later his sentence was reduced.

Back on the streets, Doca took on an important role in the criminal organization. He was not just another member. As leader, he began to manage the faction’s resources, mainly in the Vila da Penha region, and orchestrate orders such as the one that ended Lápis’s life.

Doca had a reason to wish Lápis dead: a territorial dispute in the northern area. In recent years, the militias and the CV had intensified their clashes.

In 2020, the Third Capital Command (TCP) allied with the militia of the community of Quitungo—an area of ​​interest for the CV—which was weakened, to sell drugs clandestinely. The community is located a few kilometers from the Penha Complex.

In March 2020, some members of the TCP provoked the CV: they recorded videos from inside Vila Cruzeiro, in Penha. Months later, in October, the provocation led to attacks in areas of the Penha Complex. The CV responded by offering rewards on social media to those who murdered rivals in the region. Lápis was one of the targets.

As one of the leaders of the CV, Doca is considered one of the key figures responsible for the expansion of the faction in recent years.

Between 2022 and 2023, the organization increased the areas under its control by 8.4% and regained the leadership it had lost to the militias in previous years. And today it represents 51.9% of the areas dominated by armed groups in the Rio Metropolitan Region.

This dispute between militias and factions culminated in the mistaken murder of three doctors in Barra da Tijuca in October 2023: Diego Ralf Bomfim, Marcos de Andrade Corsato and Perseu Ribeiro Almeida.

On that occasion, the criminals confused Perseu with Taillon de Alcântara Pereira Barbosa, son of a militiaman. According to the police, the authorization came from Doca.

Upon learning of the mistake, Doca allegedly ordered the murder of his accomplices as well.

These crimes are not the only ones for which Doca is being sought. His extensive criminal history – 189 pages – records 176 criminal records until 2023.

Most of them correspond to drug trafficking, criminal association, theft and robbery, homicide, torture and illegal possession of weapons.

In December 2020, Doca was also accused of authorizing the murder of three children: Lucas Matheus da Silva, 8 years old; Alexandre da Silva, 10; and Fernando Henrique Ribeiro, 12.

The children had had a dispute with a local drug dealer over a little bird. With Doca’s approval, the criminals tortured and murdered the three.

As leader of the CV, Doca was also involved, according to investigations, in the purchase and use of grenade launcher drones used this Tuesday against the police.

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