Stolen Cars (eBook)

Gabriel Feltran is an urban ethnographer who has studied the 'world of crime' in Brazil for more than two decades. He is Professor of Sociology at the Federal University of São Carlos and Senior Researcher at the Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP). He has held Invited Scholar positions at University of Oxford, UK, and Humboldt University, Germany, and is former Academic Director of the Center for Metropolitan Studies, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Professor Feltran's works include The Entangled City: Crime as Urban Fabric in São Paulo.

Notes on Contributors viii

Series Editors' Preface x

Introduction 1
Gabriel Feltran

A Phone Call 7

A Global Market 9

Theoretical Framework: Normative Regimes 11

Inequalities 18

Methods: About Journeys, Tacking, and Our Collaborative Research Team 21

A Collective Research Team 27

Ethical Issues, Diversity, and Typical Days 29

Chapter Structure 31

1 Crime, Violence, and Inequality in São Paulo 37
Gregorio Zambon and Gabriel Feltran

7 a.m. (Fiat Strada) 39

10:00 a.m. (Hyundai HB20) 43

5:15 p.m. (Fiat Palio) 47

8:40 p.m. (Ford Ka) 53

Urban Violence and Market Regulation 56

2 State Reaction 63
Gabriel Feltran

Police Use of Lethal Force 66

Imprisonment 74

The "Clearing of Public Roads" 78

Political Legitimation 80

3 Designing the Market 87
Deborah Fromm

Insurance as a Mediator 94

The Automobile Business: From the Streets of São Paulo to the Panama Papers 99

4 Auctions and Mechanisms 104
André de Pieri Pimentel and Luiz Gustavo Simão Pereira

Central Circuits: Insurance Companies that Sell at Auctions 109

Some Numbers 111

Marginal Circuits: Car Dealerships and Chop-shops that Buy at Auctions 115

Auctioneers: Economics and Politics 121

5 Dismantling a Stolen Car 127
Isabela Vianna Pinho, Gregório Zambon, and Lucas Alves Fernandes Silva

Family, Market, Politics 130

Between Extremes: From "Recicla" to "Sheds" 135

Prices and Stratification 143

6 Regulating an Illegal Market 147
Luana Motta, Janaina Maldonado, and Juliana Alcântara

A Brief Chronology of the Dismantling Law 149

Old Practices, New "Political Merchandise": The Everyday Experience of the Dismantling Law 152

The Political Centrality of Police Officers 158

Police Regulation and Violence 161

7 Not Criminals, Legislators 165
Deborah Fromm and Luana Motta

New Laws, New Markets 169

Illegal Markets, Microfinance, Corporate Philanthropy 171

Action and Reaction 174

Parallel Insurance and the Protection Market 175

The Law that Governs the Market, the Market that Governs the Law 181

8 Globalization and Its Backroads 187
André de Pieri Pimentel, Gabriel Feltran, and Lucas Alves Fernandes Silva

A Global Market and Its Margins 190

Connecting Markets 194

Urban Reconfigurations 198

North-South Urban Inequalities 202

Conclusions 208
Gabriel Feltran

Afterword: Following Cars in a Latin American Metropolis: Inequality, Illegalisms, and Formalization 220
Daniel Veloso Hirata References 228
Index 245

'Something of an instant classic, Stolen Cars pins its researcher's sights on the moving targets selected by the thieves and robbers of Sao Paulo's criminal networks. Those expecting only underworld revelations are quickly re-educated to see how acts of illicit acquisition form part of a more complex and vast urban economy whose shadow embraces both the formal and the illicit. Stolen Cars is a detailed, complex and exciting story with an intellectual energy that matches the turbo-charged vehicles so prized by Sao Paulo's thieves.'
Rowland Atkinson, Research Chair in Inclusive Societies, University of Sheffield, UK

'This book should be an instant classic. Theft and crime shape urban livelihoods and everyday experiences in many cities, at the frontiers of often extreme inequality. But these themes are absent from the canon of urban theory. Through a detailed ethnography of car theft in Sao Paulo, Stolen Cars traces the deep ties of these illegal circuits with insurance, finance, auto production and repair, as well as the international drug trade. A highly innovative account of crucial transnational networks shaping urban life and urban economies, this book represents an essential new starting point for global urban studies.'
Jennifer Robinson, Professor of Geography, University College London, UK

'Something of an instant classic, Stolen Cars pins its researcher's sights on the moving targets selected by the thieves and robbers of Sao Paulo's criminal networks. Those expecting only underworld revelations are quickly re-educated to see how acts of illicit acquisition form part of a more complex and vast urban economy whose shadow embraces both the formal and the illicit. Stolen Cars is a detailed, complex and exciting story with an intellectual energy that matches the turbo-charged vehicles so prized by Sao Paulo's thieves.'
Rowland Atkinson, Research Chair in Inclusive Societies, University of Sheffield, UK

'This book should be an instant classic. Theft and crime shape urban livelihoods and everyday experiences in many cities, at the frontiers of often extreme inequality. But these themes are absent from the canon of urban theory. Through a detailed ethnography of car theft in Sao Paulo, Stolen Cars traces the deep ties of these illegal circuits with insurance, finance, auto production and repair, as well as the international drug trade. A highly innovative account of crucial transnational networks shaping urban life and urban economies, this book represents an essential new starting point for global urban studies.'
Jennifer Robinson, Professor of Geography, University College London, UK