International Journal on Criminology Volume 6, Number 1, Spring 2018 | страница 29

International Journal on Criminology
as patron of the carnival has not been tarnished by the murder charges for which
he has been investigated in the past.
The same is true of Ailton Guimarães Jorge, alias Capitão Guimarães, who
was president of LIESA from 2001 to 2007, when he was imprisoned as a result of
Operation Furacão. His image has not been harmed by his past, which involved
torture and murder under the military regime.
Amongst these gangsters, Castor de Andrade personifies the myth of the archetypal
bicheiro. 46 He is described in the book by Andrew Jennings, a Scottish investigative
journalist known for his research into corruption at FIFA and the Olympic
committee, as a gangster loved by everyone, from the poor to the Brazilian elite. 47
Jennings exposes the friendly and professional connections that had existed
between João Havelange and the Andrade family since the 1980s. 48 This extract
from his book, describing the marriage of Castor de Andrade’s daughter, is proof of
the way these mafiosi infiltrate Brazilian society, and the complexity of their affairs:
“It is Rio’s wedding of the year. The father of the bride is Brazil’s
biggest gangster, racketeer and, they say, murderer of 50 rivals. He
stays out of jail by paying off the city’s politicians, judges and police.
He owns a football club. The two most honoured guests sit at
his table. I’m looking at a photograph taken at the wedding banquet.
One guest, to the right of the frame, is tall, avuncular with a
Roman nose and has the hardest eyes in the room. It’s João and he
controls world football. Between João and the gangster sits his sonin-law,
the young man who in a few years time will become boss of
Brazilian football ( ... ) This photograph reveals how world football
came under the control of organized crime.” 49
Jennings also describes Castor as the most important patron of the carioca
carnival. It was he who brought the popular festival worldwide recognition.
He headed the Imperatriz Leopoldinense samba school, five times winner of the
carnival. Castor cultivated his image as a benefactor: “He lets it be known that
he is a good Catholic, making acts of devotion to Our Lady of Aparecida [patron
saint of Brazil].” He splashed a lot of money around the city, for example as “patron
of the Bangu Club, handing out bundles of cash to the team.” 50 Castor had
46 Castor Gonçalves de Andrade Silva, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1926, died of a heart attack on
April 4, 1997, leaving his family embroiled in a bloody battle between his nephew and his son.
47 Andrew Jennings, The Dirty Game: Uncovering the Scandal at FIFA (London: Arrow Books,
2016).
48 João Havelange (born May 8, 1916 in Rio de Janeiro, died August 16, 2016 in the town of his
birth), was president of FIFA between 1974 and 1998, after Stanley Rous and before Joseph
Blatter. From 1963 to 2011, he sat on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as its most
senior member. On April 30, 2013 he resigned from his position as honorary president of
FIFA, following allegations of corruption.
49 Jennings, The Dirty Game, 21.
50 Jennings, The Dirty Game, 22-23
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