International Journal on Criminology Volume 6, Number 1, Spring 2018 | Page 25

International Journal on Criminology
unearthed a list of civil servants, police officers, members of the military, and politicians
who were paid by the bicheiro to protect him. The list included Rio’s police
commissioner, the State of Rio’s federal police chief, senior officers of the state
judiciary police, members of the state military police, journalists, federal deputies,
prosecutors, and state governors. 40
After the trial of the godfathers of the game, Denise Frossard delivered a
scathing critique of criminal proceedings in Brazil. The judge called for the creation
of a pool of investigating magistrates to direct inquiries, along the lines of the
Italian model. According to Frossard, “the police do not represent the rule of the
Republic .... The judge directing the inquiry would steer clear of abuse and bribery.
Of course there are honest members of the police force, but an in-depth investigation
is needed into the corruption within the judicial police in the State of Rio.” 41
For a while, Brazil thought that this inquiry would destroy the parallel power
of the godfathers of the game and their coterie. But no: in 2007, another operation
targeting the Bicheiros revealed that they had become even more powerful.
Convicted solely of criminal conspiracy, the 1993 defendants did not spend more
than three years in prison. Since then, the animal game had been modernized. In
addition to the traditional game, slot machines and casinos sent profits rocketing.
The Bicheiros are now the darlings of Rio society, living like the richest cariocas,
near the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon, and in the smart Niterói
district. The Bicheiros succeed each other as directors of LIESA (the Independent
League of the Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro) and manage the carioca Carnival
budget: 25 million reals (around 7 million euros in 2017).
Of the fourteen convicted in 1993, four had died: Castor de Andrade, Raul
Capitão, Emil Pinheiro, and Paulinho Andrade (Castor’s son). The others continued
to run the cupola and the carnival. Capitão Guimarães, Luiz Drummond,
Anísio Abrahão David and Antônio Petrus Kalil (“the Turk”) had extended their
territories and their power. In 2007, Operation Furação would try, once again, to
bring them down.
Operation “Gladiador” and Operation “Segurança S/A”
In December 2006, the federal police of the State of Rio arrested some police officers
of the judicial police in the same state and members of the military police
protecting the Andrade family businesses: the operation of the animal game, slot
machines, and casinos in the west of Rio. At the time, the inquiry suggested that
a system of bribery had pervaded Rio’s judicial police force, reaching as far as its
director, Alvaro Lins. Nineteen people were arrested, including the capi Rogério
de Andrade and Fernando Iggnácio.
Two years later, a new investigation into the judicial police unveiled a web
40 Marcelo Auler, Biscaia (Rio de Janeiro: Cassará, 2012).
41 Interview in the newspaper O Globo, May 22, 1993, 17.
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