Police-crime balance and illegal markets before and after facções in Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil

Abstract

The aim is to understand a conflict change in a street corner in Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil, before and after presence of national prison gangs. Based on ethnographic research and figurational approach, I explain how the arrival of these gangs shaped a new division of local power. I argue that balance of power such as those need to take into account the logic of reproducing instability through informal governance and trade in national and regional margins. Low-ranking police officers and criminal faction allies have co-produced norms, trade and instabilities in people's daily lives and reputation through new marginal connections in Brazil.