1. An Overview of Gangs
1.1. The role of gangs in shantytowns:
1.1.1. They intervened in all kinds of family and lovers' feuds, mediated relations with the local police, and kept other gangs from invading or from using the favela as a drug-selling site.
1.1.2. Although many residents felt ambivalent about the local gang, they also recognized the importance of having one.
1.2. Drug consumption among the poorer working classes is perceived as and practiced differently from that among the middle and upper classes.
1.2.1. For the poorest, all drugs are viewed as problematic because their use usually signals a connection to the local gang and the drug traffickers in some form or other.
1.3. Gangs have a seductive quality that goes beyond their involvement in the drug trade.
1.3.1. For many young men, they offer a place of belonging and a sense of identity that low-paying service sector employment does not provide.
1.3.2. The gang's presence, in addition to being a seduction, was also a nuisance for some young men because it meant they had to watch carefully to stay out of the business of the gang.
1.4. Primary User Group
1.5. Supporting Staff
2. An overview of gangs
3. Crime and violence in Rio de Janeiro
3.1. Rio is one of the most unequal cities in the world, and crime and violence in their many forms are experienced and commented upon across vast divisions of class.
3.2. Despite the sense of vulnerabilty that is felt by the middle and upper classes, they have relatively little exposure to the kind of violence experienced by the poorest.
3.3. Large favelas are strikingly visible from most parts of the Zona Sul.
3.3.1. They have the reputation of harboring petty thieves, as well as more serious criminals, including participants in the drug trade
3.3.2. Favelas are also known to be the homes of domestic workers, the cooks, day cleaners, and nannies who service the wealthy.
4. No Time for Childhood - Gloria and Pedro Paulo
4.1. Gloria told her ex-partner, Gerson, about their son's (Pedro Paulo) death. Gerson began to weep afterward, but Gloria has tired of shedding tears over him.
4.2. Pedro Paulo was one of the leaders of the Red Command, one of the imperialist drug-trafficking gangs in Rocinha.
4.2.1. He died as a result of a shoot out with police.
4.3. Gloria found it surprising and hilarious that Gerson was weeping because he was never around when Pedro Paulo was growing up.
5. A visit with Pedro Paulo at Ilha Grande Prison
5.1. In September, 1992, Pedro Paulo was serving a fifteen year sentence for the armed robbery of two apartments in Rio.
5.1.1. His body language and monologues showed that he was a young and energetic man, filled with anger.
5.2. Over the years, Gloria has tried to understand why her firstborn had tuned out to be a criminal.
5.2.1. She considered him the most intelligent of all her children, but early in life he exhibited his love for "the street.
5.2.2. In reflecting her own work-filled life, she also attributes the loss of Pedro Paulo to "the street"and its violence to the fact that she was too busy to keep track of him as much as she would have liked.
5.3. As an intelligent young man growing up in Rocinha, Pedro Paulo found the allure of gang life to be irresistible.
5.3.1. It seemed to offer an alternative to backbreaking manual labor, while promising a decent wage at the same time.
5.4. Gloria regretted regretted how things had turned out with her first son. She attempted to look tougher than the peers or gang members that might corrupt her children, hoping to discourage them.
6. Home children, street children, etc.
6.1. Children are increasingly important in Brazilian discourse about urban violence because they are often recruited to do the dirty work of organized urban favela gangs dealing in drugs
6.1.1. Children are often drafted for other illicit activities, since it is well known that they get off with lesser or restricted sentences.
6.1.2. Although they are often recruited by the favela gangs, these youths are not immune from the violence and punishment carried out by these same gangs.
6.2. Anthropologist, Tobias Hecht, describes the class differential that results in differential childhoods for the rich and poor as creating either "nurtured"children or "nurturing"children.
6.2.1. "Nurturing children, in essence, are poor children who from an early age take on serious responsibilities. Nurtured children, on the other hand, are the coddled progeny of middle-class families.
6.3. For the poor, children can be understood as an economic asset, and many take on the role of providers within their homes and see this as a virtue.
6.4. Impoverished mothers in the favelas deeply fear that some of their children will find the street more attractive than their crowded households.
7. The everyday life of children
7.1. Gloria's children:
7.1.1. Zeca was a mediocre student but passed his classes.
7.1.2. Felix did very poorly in school and repeated the same grade a number of times.
7.1.3. Tiago, Alexandro, and Lucas figured out sometime before eighth grade that they did not like school very much, and they found odd jobs as helpers in car shops.
7.1.4. Soneca attended evening classes, so she and Anita were in charge of getting the shack cleaned up after breakfast, making sure everyone had clean clothes.
7.2. Zenzinho's (Gloria's ex) family
7.2.1. His children were practically the main providers. They even contributed on his behalf to Gloria's household.
7.2.2. Zenzinho's children continued living with Gloria for more than a year after she and Zenzinho split up.
7.3. Gloria's own children already knew what was expected of them and were able, for the most part, to follow her house rules, although they sometimes suffered her strict approach to childhood discipline.
8. Throwing out onto he streets
8.1. Gloria was likely to throw a child out onto the streets as she was to adopt one.
8.1.1. Her fifteen year old daughter, Filomena, was an example. She threw a high heeled shoe at one of the other children, causing a gash in his head.