US Treasury targets Brazil’s top drug gang with sanctions

By MAURICIO SAVARESE
Associated Press

SAO PAULO (AP) — The U.S. Treasury has imposed sanctions on people and businesses connected to drug trafficking gangs, including the biggest criminal organization in Brazil, known as the PCC. The PCC was one of the 15 entities and 10 individuals targeted in four countries Wednesday by the Treasury. The department said people and companies linked to the organizations could be stopped from using the U.S. financial system. The PCC was founded in the prisons of wealthy Sao Paulo state, and remains dominant there. It has expanded its reach into other Brazilian states, plus elsewhere in South America and abroad.