International Journal on Criminology Volume 6, Number 1, Spring 2018 | Page 33

Infiltration of the Organs of the State
International Journal on Criminology
Operation Furacão exposed the Bicheiros’ modus operandi for infiltrating the
structure of the state, reflecting their short, medium, and long-term interests.
Infiltration of the forces of law and order represents a short-term interest. The
Bicheiros need protection for the significant quantities of cash flowing between
the gaming banks, clearing houses (descargas), and accounting and administrative
offices. The Federal Highway Police must be paid to prevent interrogations and
searches: the animal game may have existed since the nineteenth century, but it
remains illegal. The judicial and federal police must also be bribed, since they both
conduct investigations against organized crime.
The roll-out of Furacão revealed that both the home of Capitão Guimarães
and the office of Júlio Guimarães, in the Barra de Tijuca, were protected by the
military police. When the federal police arrived at Júlio’s office, military police
officers tried to stop the search that had been ordered by Judge Vieira de Carvalho.
The federal police seized more than a million reals (around €300,000) from Júlio’s
office, which had been intended as payment to police officers protecting the family.
The list of corrupt individuals included military, federal, and State of Rio judiciary
police officers.
The investigation disclosed that federal police chiefs from Niterói and
Campos, towns in the State of Rio, often received payment so that they would not
take action against casinos, slot machines, and the animal game within their jurisdictions.
More than fifty military and Rio judiciary police officers were convicted
of working for the Bicheiros, whose accounts revealed that a hundred police officers
were corrupt, including former judiciary police chiefs.
Anecdote: one of the police chiefs on the pay of the Bicheiros had a heart
attack before being arrested. When the day came, he admitted to the arresting
officers that he was relieved and hoped he would now be able to sleep, because for
months he had been expecting the police to arrive at dawn, which made him so
anxious it had kept him awake.
The Bicheiros did not only bribe police officers. Their mid- and long-term
objectives obliged them to seek other forms of protection, since while they might
have corrupted some police officers, the vast majority were honest. As a result,
the Bicheiros often had problems with the law. The solution was to employ good
lawyers, who would do whatever it took to prevent trials going ahead. The lobbyist
Jaime Garcia established a network of law firms who would be able to persuade
the judiciary to agree to the unimpeded operation of casinos and slot machines.
It seems likely that some of these decisions were bought. Following the investigations,
the federal police raided the offices of three magistrates, two of whom were
federal judges and one a minister of the Court of Justice. The federal judges were
remanded in custody, but await the final judgement in liberty.
The Bicheiros’ knack for infiltration does not stop with the police and justice
system: they want to write their own laws, so they need accomplices in the
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