This article uses the mechanism-based explanation as the method to analyze organized crime and the drug traffic. The authors begin by identifying the underlying components of such organized crime mechanisms and then proceed to describe a criminal organization dealing in drugs. The analysis draws on interviews, reports by Brazilian public prosecutors' offices, and police information. The empirical data confirm the components of organized crime and demonstrate the bankruptcy of public institutions, to the extent that criminal groups have succeeded in infiltrating these organizations from within and turning them into allies.
organized crime; state; mechanism-based explanation; drug traffic
