Bonde dos 40
criminal organization
Bonde dos 40 (B40, English: Tram of the 40) is a Brazilian criminal organization founded in the Pedrinhas Penitentiary Complex in São Luís, with a presence in the states of Maranhão, Piauí and Mato Grosso. Until 2017, it was an ally of the Primeiro Comando da Capital, but they broke with their former allies in Teresina, sparking an intense war. It is considered one of the largest criminal gangs in Brazil, exerting influence in the Northeast.
History
Bonde dos 40 emerged in 2007 due to contact between inmates from Maranhão and prisoners from other states who belonged to different criminal organizations in federal penitentiaries. Within just two years, they began operating both inside and outside prisons in the interior of Maranhão, even forming alliances with Comando Vermelho (CV) and Amigos dos Amigos (ADA).
Between 2010 and 2014, the group became known for instigating riots in prisons and in the Pedrinhas Penitentiary Complex against the Primeiro Comando do Maranhão (PCM), and for carrying out attacks on the streets, resulting in the deaths of over 100 inmates Since then, PCM and B40 have been violently battling for control over stilt neighborhoods and peripheral communities, causing dozens of deaths and injuries.
In 2019, it was reported that this organization expanded its operations to Teresina, the capital of the state of Piauí. It was also reported that same year that it entered into a war with Comando Vermelho to dominate the Vila Conceição neighborhood in southern São Luís.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Bonde dos 40” as criminal organization. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as criminal organization. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q30931439. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2017, 2007, 2010 and 2014.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bonde dos 40” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.