Criminals in Uniform: Conceptualizing Police-Led Armed Groups in Rio de Janeiro

• In Event: Political Control, Fragmentation, and Challenges to State Authority

Brief Overview

This paper conceptualizes Police-Led Armed Groups—armed actors run by police officers who blend state authority with criminal enterprise—showing how they reshape governance, markets, and state complicity in Rio de Janeiro’s illicit violence.

Author

• Ana Paula Pellegrino, Stanford University