ISP Publishes Map Showing 1,530 Rio Territories Controlled by Criminal Groups

Overview

• The Instituto de Segurança Pública released the 2025 mapping in early November 2026, identifying 1,530 territories that together cover 614.3 km² and expose roughly 5.1 million residents to organized criminal control.
• The survey used expanded sources and techniques, including police databases, Operation Barricada Zero intelligence, field visits and drone overflights, and set territory limits by signs such as barricades, cargo transshipment points, recorded shootings and limits on police movement.
• The Comando Vermelho is listed as the dominant group in 779 territories affecting about 2.99 million people, while militias appear in 300 areas (917,105 people), the Terceiro Comando Puro in 274 (914,859) and Amigos dos Amigos in 91 (221,703).
• The map’s publication coincided with active operations on the ground: a police action in Complexo da Maré provoked barricades on the Avenida Brasil, disruptions to dozens of bus lines and closures of at least two dozen public schools, showing immediate civilian impacts where control was mapped.
• Officials created a new ISP study nucleus to support the state’s Plano de Reocupação Territorial and Plano Estratégico de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social, but authorities warn the improved methodology limits direct comparison with 2016 and 2019 counts and highlights municipal disparities such as Belford Roxo’s 35.4% territory affected and São Gonçalo’s 57.6% of residents living in mapped areas.