January 12, 2005 - In this interview, the Rio de Janeiro youth addresses the drug trade hierarchy and how youth move up in it – “a job like any other” -, says that most selling points ‘fire’ working children when the parents ask them to, and that a new generation is controlling traffic.
“There are 16 year-old selling point owners. And it is not true that minors are used since their punishment is less severe. They are taking over because they are proving themselves more than the older crowd,” says João, who works now as a small businessman in the same favela (Brazilian slum) where he was once a known trafficker.
He entered the drug trade in 1992 at the age of 26 – “when most are dead”. Childhood friend of the local drug boss, he was held in utmost confidence and began at the top, as a sub-manager. He had previously worked as a fiscal agent at a company but had often been absent to take part in bank robberies.
When that happened, a friend would clock in for him. “It was my front. If someone suspected, I had the time card to prove that I was working.” When he began in the drug trade, he had been unemployed for two and a half years.
“I was going through a difficult period. I thought that this was the easiest way to get back on my feet the quickest and to attain my objective, which was to reform my mother’s house.”
All of his brothers were involved in the drug trade. The youngest brother “got involved really early and did a lot of messed up things.” After that he got married, had two kids and “calmed down.” He now lives far away from the favela and works as a handyman. The middle brother left the trade due to pressure from his wife: “Thanks to her, he has an honest job.”
Kids sent home, if parents ask
According to João, there was once the “right age” to get involved. Now, anything goes. “When I was a kid, 15 or 16 years-old, if we got close to someone smoking, he would slap us and complain to our parents. We had to stay far away from them, now you see 10, 12 year-olds working, snorting coke. There is no limit. The limit is ‘you did good, so you are in’.”
He says that the role of the parents is often fundamental. “Here and in some other drug points it is like this. If you are at the point and your dad or mom talk with the person in charge and say that they don’t want their child involved, they send him home. Sometimes it works.”
Labels, but trapped
Consumerism works like a magnet for youth. “There is the easy life. Like this, you are not involved, but your buddy is and he has new trainers, a nice pair of shorts and shirt, in fashion. And what about you? You are wearing a beat up pair of flip-flops and a torn pair of shorts.
What goes through his mind? My mother and father were not able to provide me with that, but look what my buddy has after he got involved. And what does the kid do? He gets involved.
The reality is that he doesn’t enjoy it, but he sees the money, is looking good. Deep down, if he thinks about it, he will realize that it doesn’t amount to any good. He realizes that he is not free to walk around and will start to lose sleep, will be on the run from the police and walk around with a firearm in hand. At first, no one thinks of these things, only later. But then it is too late.”
Starting at the bottom
“The drug trade is a job like any other; it is outside the law, but it is a job. You have to show up every day, because if you don’t they want to know the reason why.
And you have to be a man. You can’t be weak, make fun of the others. You have to be honest in everything that you do, because if you have a wrong attitude, when you talk, and even worse, in business, you will be marked.”
There are people who start further up in the hierarchy, says João, but you “usually start at the bottom. For example running an errand. Going to the bakery and buying something, or delivering a message. If you are kid who works hard, doesn’t say no and doesn’t give attitude, you can go on to look-out or be taken in by someone.
If you are taken in under someone’s wing, there will be money for you every week, you will be close to your godfather, and be his eyes. If that happens, you are lucky. You will rise up faster and run less risk.
If you are honest, with the marijuana and coke, nothing missing, it’s good, because the trade is wicked. If your accounts are correct one day, and the next but a week later there is one cent missing, it might be ok. But there are a lot of drug points that don’t accept it and you can get killed.
So the kid is a look out. Then he sells. Then he can be security for the boss. He has to go where the boss goes. He earns what the boss gives him and the salary from his shift at the drug point.
After selling, he might go on to be a sub-manager. I made it that far. There is a sub-manager for every point, as well as a manager.
Today the new generation is in control. There are a lot of older ones involved in crime, but who don’t have a position. Why? Because they think that since they are experienced they can do whatever.
There are a lot of older ones who just want to get high. I have a friend who began to drink, then smoke and then coke. If I see that you don’t use, hardly drink, then I will trust you more.
Smoking is whatever, but coke? Coke wipes you out, your pocket. Coke is expensive and if it is good, the more you have, the more you spend.”
*fictitious name
Source: Viva Favela
