An unprecedented survey by the Sou da Paz Institute identified 92 cases of involvement of CACs (collectors, sports shooters and hunters) with criminal organizations between 2016 and October 2026. g1 had access to study data from the last ten years.
The records involve members of factions who obtained weapons through CAC records and also people qualified in the system who began to supply organized crime with weapons and ammunition.
Processes, police reports, inquiries and reports were analyzed for the Sou da Paz study.
"Two patterns are repeated. In the first, people who already had registration, or who were recruited by factions to obtain it, buy weapons and ammunition legally and divert them to criminals", says Bruno Langeani, senior consultant at the institute. "In the second, members of criminal groups register in their own name, sometimes with false documents, and use the arsenal they acquired legally in their activities."
The cases involve the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), Comando Vermelho (CV), militias, extermination groups, regional factions and gangs specializing in bank robberies. They are distributed across 21 states. São Paulo leads with 18 records, followed by Espírito Santo (11) and Rio de Janeiro (10).
What are CACs
CACs have existed for decades in Brazil. The category remained included in the legislation after the approval of the Disarmament Statute, sanctioned by President Lula in 2003.
Between 2019 and 2022, during President Jair Bolsonaro's government, federal regulations expanded limits on the purchase of weapons and ammunition. In 2023, again with Lula in the presidency, part of these rules was revised, with the reduction of acquisition limits and the resumption of the previous classification of weapons of permitted and restricted caliber.
CV leadership with weapons registration
One of the most recent cases of CAC's involvement with organized crime has Leonardo Felipe Panono Scupin Calixto, aka Léo Bode, identified by investigators as the leader of Comando Vermelho in the interior of São Paulo. He's on the run.
Documents analyzed by Sou da Paz indicate that he had weapons registration certificates issued by the Army. In a process analyzed by g1, police officers reported that weapons seized in Rio Claro were registered in their name.
More cases across the country
The survey brings together episodes in different regions.
On the border with Paraguay, Levi Adriani Felício, appointed as a member of the PCC leadership, had a CAC certificate. He was arrested in 2019 in the neighboring country. He was accused of being one of the main suppliers of weapons and drugs to Brazilian criminal factions.
In Espírito Santo, investigations identified a member of a faction from Santa Catarina who used false documentation to obtain a collector's registration and a second investigation, Operation Downfall, in 2023 linked a drug dealer to the legal purchase of a rifle through fraudulent CAC registration.
In Paraíba, Operation Fake Shooter investigated members of the Okaida faction. The criminals pretended to be CACs to buy weapons for the gang. They were arrested in 2023.
In Rio, Luiz Paulo de Lemos Júnior, "Chupeta", appointed as a member of the Crime Office, was registered as a CAC. He is a militia member linked to Ronnie Lessa, confessed killer of councilor Marielle Franco, who was the target of an operation in 2024.
In Santos, Raphael Batista, known as "Aprontinho", was investigated for using his CAC quotas to supply the illegal market.
In Bahia, a man known as the "PCC pagodeiro", Vagner Borges Dias, known as Latrell Brito, had a registration and legal weapons. In 2025, he was arrested and sentenced to more than 50 years in prison for bid fraud and money laundering.
The Bazzana case
Arrested in 2025 in an investigation by the Civil Police and the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro, he is suspected of supplying weapons, magazines and ammunition to Comando Vermelho, in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Sou da Paz states that the investigation also mentions members of the Bazzana family in procedures related to the documentation of weapons used by investigators linked to the faction. The defense denies the accusations.
National reach
The institute states that the survey only includes cases made public. "We only work with cases that became public and in which the authorities reported that the person being investigated was a CAC. The real number is certainly higher, and therefore it is not possible to measure precisely how much the problem has grown", says Bruno Langeani.
According to him, the data shows geographic expansion and diversification of the groups involved. "The first thing the data reliably shows is that the geographic scope has increased: public cases went from six states, between 2016 and 2019, to 20 states, between 2023 and 2026."
"The second is that the profile of those who use this channel has diversified. In addition to drug factions, such as PCC and Comando Vermelho, gangs from the new cangaço, militias, extermination groups, gunmen and land grabbing groups appear."
"The third is that the diverted material became much more serious, after Bolsonaro's decrees: there are cases of a single person passing on several pistols or tens of thousands of restricted-use ammunition", said Langeani. "President Lula returned to the old classification of permitted and restricted caliber weapons. And he reduced the number of weapons and ammunition, at the same time as he began to demand more proof of CACs."
Regarding inspection, Langeani states: "Inspection was carried out by the Army until 2025. Last year it was transferred to the PF [Federal Police]. These are the inspectors with the main competence, but when crimes of weapon trafficking, illegal trade and illegal manufacturing come into play, then it is the state civil police."
g1 contacted the Public Security departments of São Paulo, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, as well as the Federal Police and the Brazilian Army and is awaiting positioning.
Survey x-ray
The historical series counts 92 cases:
2016: 4
2017: 1
2018: 4
2019: 2
2020: 2
2021: 6
2022: 13
2023: 19
2024: 19
2025: 17
2026: 5 (until early October)
Total: 92 cases
