Brazil’s Largest Gang Threatens ‘World Cup Of Terror,’ Plans Attacks To Stop World’s Biggest Soccer Tournament

The largest and most organized criminal organization in Brazil has threatened to unleash a “World Cup of Terror” during the world’s biggest soccer stage in the summer of 2014.

Just eight months before Brazil hosts the World Cup, Brazilian police have intercepted phone calls using wiretaps from the First Capital Command (PCC) drug cartel threatening a series of attacks during the World Cup if the government decides to transfer some of its gang members to prisons spread across the South American country, according to Brazilian newspaper Estadao.

The PCC was formed in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, and operates within the country’s prison system. Using cell phones, lawyers and corrupt officials, the criminal gang has managed to grow to an estimated 11,000 members and gain control of the country’s major drug trafficking routes between Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

The threat is being taken seriously by Brazilian police who are tracking the threats and are currently locked in a street war with the gang. The PCC murdered 106 members of the Military Police in 2012 after revenge attacks were ordered by the gang in response to the execution by police of suspected gang members.

But law enforcement authorities said it’s highly unlikely the threat will affect the World Cup games and said it shouldn’t deter anyone from visiting the country next year.

“It is a group that should be taken seriously and being fought like any criminal organization,” Sao Paulo’s public security office said in the statement. “However, the information gathered so far by intelligence services does not point to any indication that any attack will occur. This is not the time to generate alarmism.”

However, the Sao Paulo police chief has asked his men to be extra careful when parking their cars and traveling home.