As the gun control bill was clearing the bicameral committee, a turf war was erupting in two of Rio's gang-controlled favelas in the northern perimeter of the city. The trigger was apparently a move by the biggest drug-trafficking gang, the Comando Vermelho, to encroach upon territory controlled by their rivals of the Terceiro Comando in the Parada de Lucas shantytown (in the process of which about nine people were killed, four of them in clashes with police trying to control the situation). The Terceiro Comando responded with a raid into the neighbouring favela of Vigário General, abducting and later 'executing' nine of their rivals. A reprisal attack by the Comando Vermelho left another three dead, as a large force of police, drawn from seven battalions, was deployed to surround the two favelas and contain the fighting.
The drug-trafficking comandos are estimated to have between them an arsenal of about 150,000 weapons, ranging from handguns to assault rifles and grenades. They showed the extent of their power just before this year's Rio Carnival, when they openly attacked police stations and tourist spots, setting fire to a number of city buses and ordering shops and schools to close. The army was sent in to restore order, which it did
- briefly.
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