International Journal on Criminology Volume 6, Number 1, Spring 2018 | Page 37

International Journal on Criminology
political recognition of the reality and gravity of the issue. That is
why early detection is crucial. The second way would involve the intelligence
and security services ... Criminal matters, dealt with under
common law, are usually the monopoly of police law enforcement,
which functions reactively, after the event, when offenses have been
seen to be committed. Judiciary and law enforcement agencies, by
their very nature, have great difficulty in dealing in a consistent way
with stable, permanent, and clandestine criminal phenomena. Law
enforcement agencies often only deal with organized crime in a
haphazard way, intermittently, when specific crimes occur. 61
Gayraud’s views are substantiated in the fight against this mafia that is corroding
and corrupting the State of Rio and Brazil itself. Reviewing attempts since
the 1990s to stamp out the organization, the conclusion must be that the state’s
stance has been reactive. The operation led by Judge Frossard and the prosecutor
Biscaia was the first major judiciary operation to target the animal game cupola.
Nevertheless, it did not succeed in rooting it out: ten years later, the Furacão investigation
revealed a criminal capacity that has further developed and adapted
to its objective: to guarantee the perpetuity of this lawless network. According to
Clotilde Champeyrache:
Undermining the foundations of mafia-style organized crime requires
a huge and sustained effort: a comprehensive mobilization
of the apparatus of the state, as well as of civil society ... The battle
must never be allowed to ease off, either through an excess of optimism
or through defeatism. 62
Champeyrache’s statement throws light on one of the reasons why Brazilian
justice is unable to eradicate this “cancer.” In Brazil, major judicial investigations
rarely happen. Worse still, smaller scale criminal investigations, led by local judicial
police, are simply a pretext for putting pressure on the Bicheiros, forcing them
to offer more cash to corrupt police officers and magistrates. These minor judicial
interventions benefit corrupt officials in two ways: they protect them from criticism,
since they can’t be accused of being passive, and they offer an opportunity to
increase remuneration for their “services.”
Operation Furacão succeeded in closing all Brazil’s casinos, because the
judges no longer give permits for this kind of operation, for fear of being seen as
linked to the Bicheiros. However, the operation of slot machines and the animal
game continues unabated. Police officers are still receiving money from the mafiosi
and continue to protect them. To this day, politicians who want to legalize games
of chance continue to defend the Bicheiros’ interests. A vote for the legalization
of games of chance has been described as imminent since the beginning of 2016.
61 Gayraud, Le monde des mafias, 13.
62 Champeyrache, Sociétés du Crime, 291.
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