You want to kill someone?
I am eager to kill.
But do you have the gun?
Rio Branco in Brazil is on the border of Bolivia and Peru,
making it a gateway for the international cocaine market.
The battle for control of this lucrative drug route
has turned this city into one of the deadliest in the world.
Pow, I felt the shot.
And he kept on shooting at me, pow, pow, pow.
Five of us would go. Only I would return.
The other four would get shot dead.
Violent turf wars are unleashed on a daily basis,
and dealers usually end up in prison or dead.
A young man was killed here last night.
But now, a group of former bank robbers
and evangelical Christians called Team 91
are offering criminals a way out:
Turn to Jesus and receive immunity from gang retaliation.
This is the goal of Team 91.
To rescue people from crime,
from drug trafficking,
and present them to God as new creatures.
Amen!
I greet all in the peace of Lord Jesus.
This system of clemency
has led to scores of hastily recorded conversion videos
that are sent to drug bosses.
We are Team 91.
My aka was Crab.
I was part of the B13 gang.
Now, it’s a race against time,
as Team 91 travel to the most dangerous parts of the city
to convert criminals before gang leaders kill them.
This is the reality of life in Rio Branco.
[ESCAPING BRAZIL’S AMAZON GANGS]
Rio Branco’s vicious gang war
stems from a desire to control international drug supply routes
through the Amazon.
Battles between a local gang, B13,
and the national crime syndicate, Red Command,
fought on the open streets of the city
bring daily chaos and death.
Signs of this brutal war
are painted all over the city’s walls in graffiti,
[Red Command]
marking turf and issuing stark warnings.
[After 6:00pm, car windows must be open]
The phones of Team 91 ring non-stop.
The greater the threat to someone’s life,
the faster their response.
Team 91 are heading to the home of a gang member
who has just survived an assassination attempt.
He was caught selling drugs on a rival gang’s turf,
who have now put a price on his head.
He missed the first one.
The second one, he got right. Then I fell.
There were two parked cars.
And I hid in between them.
The guy kept shooting.
I got out of the hospital today.
The first thing he did after leaving the safety of the hospital
was to call Team 91.
With the risk to his life so great,
his conversion is urgent.
Hail God,
we ask that you listen to what our brother has to say.
I belonged to the B13 gang, but now I want to serve Jesus.
Amen.
The Bible says,
“If you say with your mouth, ‘Jesus is the Lord,’
and in your heart believe that God resurrected Jesus,
you will be saved.”
God had mercy on you.
He listened to your prayers during the shootout.
The confessional video is then sent to local gang leaders,
who, if they deem their conversion genuine,
will grant them lifelong immunity.
Team 91 make sure the converted gang members
stay out of a life of crime forever by monitoring and supporting them.
This works for crime bosses,
who see it as an easy way to remove threats to their business.
Team 91 brings an opportunity for people to leave crime.
And go back to work, enter neighborhoods they couldn’t.
Because without this video, you wouldn't be able to do that.
This is the importance of the video for those leaving the gangs,
to confirm the brother is on the path of blessing.
They won’t kill anyone who’s on this path, under the care of Team 91.
Rio Branco’s gang leaders accept these conversions
in what may be the criminal world’s
first-ever system of
I was part of the B13 gang.
I'm leaving to serve Jesus.
Team 91 started in 2012,
and now has around 70 former criminals turned evangelical pastors
in its ranks.
The next day, the team get a call from another desperate gang member
with a price on his head.
How's it going, my friend?
The gangsters have ordered his killing because
he took a photo doing a gang sign
and the fact that he moved to a rival gang’s area.
I had just moved.
The guy who killed my brother started saying I was a gang member.
They threatened me, said they'd kill me and my mother.
Said I'd die just like my brother.
I told them if we ran into each other, I’d stand up for myself.
That I wouldn't run.
Alright, your situation is difficult.
These gangsters will keep watching you.
But if you’re really looking for God, they’ll eventually let go.
Amen.
Hail, in the peace of Jesus Christ our Lord.
There was a misunderstanding.
And he has something to tell you on behalf of God.
The group recommends he leaves town to start a new life somewhere else.
Later that week, Team 91 arrive at a recent murder scene.
There’s one on the ground here that went through his head.
The hole is here somewhere.
A young man was killed here last night.
Those who the team can’t reach in time
fall victim to a familiar fate.
17 years old, full of life.
It’s the reality of life in Rio Branco.
It’s this war that has lasted six to seven years.
As well as offering a kind of religious immunity
to assassination targets,
Team 91 also can improve the standing of Rio Branco’s prisoners.
I'm glad to see my friends here.
Because it means you're alive.
In the name of God, amen.
Today, it will be 12 years since I arrived here.
Those who live outside of the Lord’s blessing are slaves.
I got involved in crime.
I’m one of the founders of the B13 gang.
When I opened my eyes, I started looking for God.
This part of Brazil
has some of the highest incarceration rates in the world,
with prisons full of people who felt they had no other options
than turning to a life of crime.
I entered criminal life too soon.
I was only 11 when I started to rob.
I would come to prison under lighter charges.
But I ended up killing someone during a robbery.
Over 50. Even more.
I lost count of how many friends I lost in this war.
But they were many.
If an inmate is converted, he moves to a neutral block
where only converted inmates are allowed,
free from any gang activity.
You arrived today?
But what's your crime?
Robbery.
Don’t you think it’s best that you go to church?
To the Christians' block?
Man, I'm cool.
You are?
Not now.
No?
I don’t know how long I’ll stay here for.
It can range from 25 to 40 years.
But the Lord is guiding my every step.
I see examples of people that have spent a long time inside
but left and have a new life.
Like our brother Conrrado.
I was in prison as you are.
Like other members of the team,
Team 91′s leader, Conrrado,
used to be a high-level criminal himself.
Here you have all three meals.
And your family outside doesn't. So keep praying until they do.
This can break Satan in half.
Shatter any criminal organization.
I traded a .765 pistol for this one which creates life.
We have to rescue those who are in prison, in gangs, or at brothels.
We have to bring everyone to God's house.
In the name of Christ,
may it not be my hands but yours.
In its ranks, Team 91 have former high-profile criminals,
killers, bank robbers, hitmen, and drug traffickers.
This team is led by Conrrado Sena,
a former bank robber who was once wanted all over the country,
who then spent more than 12 years in jail,
where he found God.
I used to rob
and to transport drugs.
Many are criminals for lack of option.
They have no skills.
I might still be a criminal, as I have none.
In prison, I used to dream.
As once Jesus helped us,
Team 91′s mission is to save people
from being put on the gangs’ death row.
The gangs’ relationship with religion is part of a nationwide movement.
Evangelical Christianity is exploding in popularity in Brazil.
May the Lord bless the lesbian, the homosexual.
May the Lord bless the killer.
May the Lord bless those who follow Satan,
the shattered families.
This is the goal of Team 91.
To rescue people from crime,
from drug trafficking,
and present them to God as new creatures.
In the 1950s, the number of Neo-Pentecostal Christians in Brazil
was 5 percent.
Now it’s estimated as high as 30 percent.
While some criminals may only convert to save their life,
the majority are driven by genuine belief.
In Brazil,
the only thing that gang members fear more than the bullet is God.
This is a former gang hitman.
As a soldier, he would lead attacks on rival gangs’ turf.
Here's where I sleep.
I arrived four days ago. I’m new here.
Now he is hiding on the outskirts of the city.
Four guys came with .380 pistols.
Threatening me, saying, “You can't stay here because you're a rival.”
I thought of going back to crime to get revenge.
But I took my phone and rang my pastor,
“Pastor, can you come and take me out of here?”
Thankfully, God has been blessing me, and I’m moving on.
For a young man like him,
the Christian path offers a way to change the course of his life.
This is a scene that is more and more common across Brazil today,
where the influence of evangelism is increasing
in every corner of society.
Killing, dismembering, beheading each other, it’s not right.
They're all blinded by Satan.
If they’d unite, they could end this war.