A unit designed to operate in the shadows, taking orders from men locked away in federal cells
No coração do Brasil, uma operação federal desvendou os contornos de uma ameaça que cresce nas sombras: uma célula de elite do PCC, treinada com disciplina paramilitar, planejava ações contra autoridades na capital da república. A investigação, nascida de um complô anterior contra o senador Sergio Moro, revela como o crime organizado brasileiro evoluiu de facção prisional para estrutura capaz de desafiar as próprias instituições do Estado. É o velho dilema humano entre poder e controle reencenado em novos termos — quando o Estado aprisiona seus inimigos, estes encontram formas de continuar governando das celas.
- Uma célula paramilitar do PCC, a Restrita, planejava uma misteriosa 'missão' em Brasília com alvos ainda não identificados entre autoridades do Judiciário, Legislativo e Executivo.
- O grupo gastou R$ 44 mil em dois meses para montar infraestrutura na capital — imóvel alugado, veículos, eletrônicos — enquanto líderes presos coordenavam tudo de penitenciárias federais de segurança máxima.
- A operação Irrestrita mobilizou simultaneamente Polícia Federal, Polícia Militar e o Ministério Público de São Paulo, resultando em prisões e apreensão de materiais ainda sob análise.
- Investigadores identificaram conexões com pesquisas sobre os endereços dos presidentes da Câmara e do Senado, mas sem evidências concretas de planos imediatos contra eles.
- O maior obstáculo que permanece: os alvos reais da missão brasiliense ainda são desconhecidos, e a análise dos dispositivos e documentos apreendidos é a única chave para revelá-los.
Na manhã de uma quinta-feira de dezembro, a Polícia Federal, a Polícia Militar e o Ministério Público de São Paulo deflagraram a operação Irrestrita contra uma célula especializada do PCC. O alvo era um grupo que planejava uma 'missão' em Brasília — com alvos ainda não identificados entre autoridades dos três poderes. A operação era desdobramento de uma investigação anterior que havia revelado um plano para sequestrar o senador Sergio Moro, ex-juiz de casos de corrupção de alto perfil.
Essa investigação anterior levou as autoridades à célula Restrita — uma unidade criada dentro do PCC para operações de extremo sigilo e perigo, executadas sob ordens de líderes da facção encarcerados em penitenciárias federais. Documentos obtidos pela Folha de S.Paulo mostraram que, entre maio e julho de 2023, a célula alugou um imóvel em Brasília por R$ 2.500 mensais e gastou cerca de R$ 44 mil em logística: celulares, transporte, alimentação, móveis e eletrônicos. Os recursos eram canalizados por outra célula do PCC responsável por pontos de distribuição de drogas no litoral paulista e no Vale do Paraíba.
A origem da Restrita remonta a 2014, quando o PCC firmou aliança com o EPP, guerrilha paraguaia que treinou membros da facção em tiro, explosivos e técnicas de combate. O objetivo era formar grupos de elite capazes de executar missões de alto risco com precisão militar. À época do planejamento da missão brasiliense, a célula era dirigida por Janeferson Aparecido Mariano Gomes, o Nefo, que mesmo preso havia ativado ao menos quatro operativos. Um dos detidos na operação de dezembro, Eduardo Marcos da Silva, era apontado como ligado a Marcola, líder máximo do PCC, preso em Brasília.
Segundo promotores, a virada do PCC para assassinatos e planos de resgate tem raiz na proibição de visitas íntimas nas penitenciárias federais de segurança máxima — política que afetou a cúpula da organização. Impedida de manter esses vínculos, a facção teria adotado nova estratégia: libertar seus líderes e atacar o Estado pela violência, como já demonstrara nos ataques de maio de 2006 em São Paulo. Ao fim das buscas, o desafio central permanecia: identificar os alvos reais da missão, tarefa que dependia da análise minuciosa do material apreendido.
On a Thursday morning in mid-December, federal police, military police, and São Paulo prosecutors moved simultaneously against members of a criminal faction known as the PCC—Primeiro Comando da Capital, or First Capital Command. The target was a specialized cell within the organization, one designed to carry out attacks on government officials and rivals. The operation, named Irrestrita, was hunting a group that had been planning what they called a "mission" to Brasília, the nation's capital, though investigators still could not say with certainty who the intended victims were.
The raid was the latest chapter in a sprawling investigation that had already uncovered a plot to kidnap Senator Sergio Moro, a former judge who had presided over high-profile corruption cases. That earlier discovery had led authorities to the Restrita cell—a unit within the PCC created specifically for operations of extreme secrecy and danger, the kind of work that required orders from faction leaders imprisoned in federal penitentiaries. The cell had also researched the addresses of Arthur Lira, president of the Chamber of Deputies, and Rodrigo Pacheco, president of the Senate, though investigators had found no concrete evidence of plans to move against them.
Documents obtained by Folha de S.Paulo revealed the scope of the Brasília operation. Between May and July of 2023, the cell had rented a property in the capital for twenty-five hundred reais a month—a base of operations, prosecutors believed. Over two months, the group had spent approximately forty-four thousand reais on a range of expenses: cell phones, rent, transportation, insurance, property taxes, food, lodging, furniture, and electronics. The money was being funneled through FM Baixada, another cell within the organization that managed drug distribution points along São Paulo's coast and in the Paraíba Valley. Investigators also found records of Uber rides taken over a fifteen-day period, the stated purpose being to scout land for purchase.
The cell's structure and origins traced back to 2014, when the PCC had formed an alliance with a Paraguayan guerrilla group called the EPP—Exército do Povo Paraguaio. Part of that agreement involved training PCC members in tactics and weapons: shooting, explosives, combat techniques designed to create what prosecutors called "groups of elite" capable of carrying out specific, high-risk missions with lethal force. The Restrita cell was the product of that arrangement, a unit meant to execute operations that required military precision and absolute secrecy.
At the time the Brasília operation was being planned, the cell was under the direction of Janeferson Aparecido Mariano Gomes, known as Nefo. Even while imprisoned, Nefo had activated at least four operatives for the Brasília mission: Sandro Olimpio, called Cizão, and three others identified only as Matheus, Felipe, and Neymar—investigators had not yet determined their full names. One of those arrested during the December raids was Eduardo Marcos da Silva, taken into custody on a charge of illegal weapons possession; he was believed to be connected to Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, known as Marcola, the faction's overall leader, who was being held in Brasília's maximum-security federal penitentiary.
The PCC's turn toward assassination and rescue plots had a specific origin, according to prosecutors. For years, the federal prison system had prohibited conjugal visits for inmates held in maximum-security facilities—a policy that affected most of the faction's leadership. Unable to maintain those connections, the organization had shifted strategy: it would attempt to free its imprisoned leaders, and it would strike at the state through violence. The May 2006 attacks in São Paulo, which had killed dozens and paralyzed the city, represented the faction's willingness to wage what it framed as war against authorities who imposed limits on its operations.
As federal police sorted through the materials seized in the raids, the investigation faced a critical gap: the actual targets remained unknown. Prosecutors said they would work to identify them through analysis of the documents and devices confiscated. What was clear was that the Restrita cell represented an evolution in the PCC's capacity for organized, coordinated violence—a unit designed to operate in the shadows, taking orders from men locked away in federal cells, executing plans that could reshape the security landscape of the nation's capital.
Notable Quotes
The group was created to act in differentiated situations of high secrecy and risk, normally following orders from faction leaders isolated in federal penitentiaries— São Paulo prosecutors
The actions developed by this cell are typically extremely serious and of major national repercussion, normally linked to attacks on authorities and senior officials across security forces, the Public Ministry, and the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches— São Paulo prosecutors
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a criminal organization need a cell specifically designed for secrecy and high-risk operations? Why not just use whoever is available?
Because the PCC operates like a state within the state. The Restrita cell was created to handle what they consider strategic operations—attacks on judges, senators, officials who threaten their interests. Those require discipline, training, compartmentalization. You can't use street-level dealers for that work.
The documents show they were spending money on rent, furniture, cell phones in Brasília. That's not the behavior of people hiding. That's infrastructure.
Exactly. They were building a permanent presence. A base. That suggests they weren't planning a single attack and leaving. They were settling in, establishing logistics for something sustained or something requiring preparation time.
But investigators still don't know who the targets were. How is that possible if they had months of planning and thousands of reais in expenses?
The cell operates in compartments. Nefo gave orders from prison, but he may not have told everyone the full picture. The actual target information might have been kept to a handful of people, or it might be in the materials they seized but haven't decoded yet.
The connection to a Paraguayan guerrilla group training them in explosives and tactics—that's unusual for a drug trafficking organization, isn't it?
It shows how the PCC thinks of itself. They're not just criminals moving product. They see themselves as an armed force. The training, the elite units, the strategic planning—it's a different level of organization than most criminal groups operate at.
What changes now that they've been raided?
The immediate cell is disrupted. But the structure remains. Marcola is still in prison giving orders. The faction still has grievances. The federal government still maintains the policies on conjugal visits that sparked this escalation. The raid is a disruption, not a solution.