(Un)organized crime in Minas Gerais: peculiarities of a Brazilian state

In this article we reflect on the difficulties of the First Command of the Capital (PCC) in institutionalizing itself in the state of Minas Gerais. Based on data made available in a criminal trial, obtained through wiretapping authorized by the court to scrutinize the structure of the PCC, we present the resistance that inmates and inhabitants of Minas Gerais have to the three structuring axes of the Command due to their demand for greater autonomy. We understand that this independence (i) for socialize within other inmates in prisons, (ii) for establish rules in the drug trade and (iii) for the use of violence can be read as part of a dynamic of masculinity. Therefore, sexist values, such as autonomy and the possibility of using violence to resolve conflicts, continue to play a prominent role in the non-subsumption of "bandits" in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte (RMBH, acronym in Portuguese) to the PPC authority. The behavior of Minas Gerais criminals clash with the rules of the First Command of the Capital, especially the ones related to the rationalization and predictability of deaths. In short, Minas Gerais seems to approach the male criminal dynamics of Rio de Janeiro, but in a more fragmented way, given the absence of effective criminal governance in its territory, which implies constant disputes between small deviant groups