Marco Willians Herbas Camacho (born 13 April 1968), also known as Marcola, is a Brazilian

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin or narcotrafficker is a high-ranking crime boss who controls a sizable network of people involved in the illegal drug trade. Such figures are often difficult to bring to justice, as they are normally not directly ...

and the current leader of the

Primeiro Comando da Capital Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC; "First Command of the Capital", , 1533) is, according to a 2012 Brazilian Government report, the largest Brazilian criminal organization, with a membership of almost 20,000 members, 6,000 of whom are in prison ...

(PCC), the largest Brazilian criminal organization and prison gang according to a 2012 Brazilian Government report; it is based in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

. Marcola is currently serving 234 years in prison. With a net worth of over US$ 20 million, Marcola is considered to be one of the most wanted drug traffickers in Brazil and in all of Latin America.

Early life

Marcola was born in 1968 to a

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

n father and a Brazilian mother. He began his criminal career as a thief at the age of nine. At 35 years of age, Marcola had already spent half of his life in prison, where he claimed to have read more than 3,000 books (particularly influenced by

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

) and took basic education there. Marcola's brother, Alejandro Juvenal Herbas Camacho Jr., is a criminal associated with the PCC and is one of the most wanted members by the Federal Police, having escaped prison in 2001.

Criminal career

Marcola eventually became the leader of the Primeiro Comando da Capital, one of the most organized drug cartels in Brazil, and had placed a death bounty on former leaders César "Césinha" (Little César) Augusto Roris da Silva and José "Geleião" (Big Jelly) Márcio Felício. Under the leadership of Marcola, there was more structure in the drug cartels, members are forced to pay a monthly income and even a code of discipline known as the "Devil's Code". Marcola is also responsible for causing 29 prison riots in 2001 and for the murder of Judge Antônio José Machado Dias, known for his attempts to stop the activities of PCC and for the construction of the Penitentiary Readaptation Center in

Presidente Bernardes, São Paulo Presidente Bernardes is a municipality in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo in Brazil. The town was named after former president Arthur Bernardes. The population is 13,023 (2020 est.) in an area of 749 km2. The elevation is 429 m. R ...

. In May 2006, Marcola obtained recordings of a hearing, which planned to move him and 700 prisoners to a maximum-security prison. Immediately, Marcola contacted PCC leaders through cellphones and organized strategic attacks on Brazilian police, which led to the PCC orchestrating the São Paulo violence outbreak , resulting in the deaths of over 150 people. The violence led to Marcola's transfer to the Mauricio Henrique Guimaraes Pereira Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison in

Presidente Venceslau Presidente Venceslau is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 39,583 (2020 est.) in an area of 755 km². The elevation is 422 m. The municipality was named after Venceslau Brás, former president of Brazil. The m ...

, where he is currently stationed. On June 8, 2006, Marcola testified in court that he was the official leader of the PCC and described the PCC as organized “like a web made up of a comprehensible organized hierarchy”. He continues to have contact with PCC leaders through telephone calls from inside prison and said in an interview "It is you who are afraid of dying, not me. As a matter of fact, here in jail you cannot come in and kill me...but I can order to kill you out there". In 2016, Alejandro Camacho Jr., Marcola's brother, was arrested in

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

during a police raid, along with 36 arrests, where half a ton of cocaine and 26 tons of marijuana were seized. Marcola is currently serving his sentence at the Brasília Federal Penitentiary, which was inaugurated in 2018 to isolate the country’s most dangerous inmates.

References

{{reflist 1968 births Living people People from Osasco Brazilian people of Bolivian descent Brazilian drug traffickers Brazilian people convicted of murder 21st-century Brazilian criminals Prisoners and detainees of Brazil Brazilian gangsters Primeiro Comando da Capital People convicted of money laundering Brazilian bank robbers Bank robbers

Early life

Criminal career

See also

References