Castor de Andrade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Castor de Andrade
Castor de Andrade (Photo: Flávio Ciro)
Born 1926
Flag of Rio de Janeiro (state) Rio de Janeiro city, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil
Died March 11, 1997
Flag of Rio de Janeiro (state) Rio de Janeiro city, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil

Castor Gonçalves de Andrade e Silva (Rio de Janeiro, 1926 – March 11, 1997) was a well-known illegal lottery operator in Rio de Janeiro, known as the Jogo do Bicho ("the animals' game"). The operators are known as contraventores (those that flout the law), bicheiros or banqueiros ("bankers").

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Illicit gambling empire

Castor grew up in a bicheiro family. His grandmother Iaiá was already known as a Jogo do Bicho lottery operator. His father, Eusébio de Andrade e Silva, invested in in cattle raising and founded a transport company.[1] Castor had a carefree infancy. He studied in the traditional school Colégio Dom Pedro II, but was a student that jumped classes to go to the beaches of the neighborhood of Flamengo. This, however, did not impede him to graduate in law.[1][2]

Castor inherited the Jogo do Bicho office of his grandmother and father and with his uncles transformed it in an illicit gambling empire – taking over more and more pontos (points-of-sale) where the lottery dealers collect money and keep record of the bets.[1] He would eventually expand to slot machines and video poker as well.[2] He rose to power despite his reputation. After the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état, various generals paid homage to him. The military regime was unable to crack down on the illegal lottery.[3] The Secretary of Security of Rio de Janeiro of that epoch, general Waldir Alves Muniz, received an instruction to "avoid problems with Castor de Andrade". Ex-president João Figueiredo one day broke the protocol, departing from a group of authorities that surrounded him to personally greet the bicheiro.[2]

Castor de Andrade and his son Paulo Roberto de Andrade operated the illegal lottery in Marechal Hermes, Padre Miguel, Bangu, Santíssimo, Senador Camará, Mangaratiba and Ibicuí.[4] He was considered a romantic bicheiro, that did not permit other unnecessary businesses, such as drug trafficking, to be explored together with the illicit lottery.[2]

[edit] Soccer and Carnival

Castor de Andrade was the honorary president and major sponsor of Bangu Atlético Clube. Under his presidency the club won the Rio de Janeiro soccer championship in 1966.[5] He was accused several times of intimidating referees into giving his team assistance. Once, in a game against América FC, in the Maracanã stadium, he invaded the field with a revolver. He wanted an explanation of the referee that granted a penalty in favour of América. Bangu was ahead 2 to 1 and América tied. Two minutes later, the referee granted another penalty, now in favour of Bangu. Castro's team won 3 to 2. When asked by reporters about his action, he responded sarcastically that he entered the field to protect the referee, threatened by revolted fans.[1]

Castor de Andrade was the patron of the Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel samba school. Under his leadership Mocidade won the Rio Carnival title in 1979, 1985, 1990, 1991 and 1996. His participation in the Carnival was not limited to his samba school. For decades he invested money in the organization of parades. Disgruntled with the official league, the Associação das Escolas de Samba da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro (AESCRJ), he helped founding the Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba do Rio de Janeiro (LIESA - Samba Schools' Independente League of Rio de Janeiro) in Rio de Janeiro in 1984.[6]

Representatives of ten Samba schools, led by bicheiros, were not in agreement with the state of things in the plenary session of the AESCRJ, where they were a minority and always defeated in deliberations despite the fact they invested the money. Each attempt to improve the commercial success of the Carnival spectacle – which was being rejected.[6] They formed an independent league, which eventually took over the organisation of the parades of the Rio Carnival. Castor de Andrade was the first president of LIESA.

[edit] Trials

Denise Frossard
Denise Frossard

In 1993 Castor and 13 other principal bicheiros (among them Capitão Guimarães, Luizinho Drummond, Antonio Petrus Kalil, alias Turcão, and Anísio Abraão David) of Rio de Janeiro were arrested of criminal association and forming armed gangs. According to prosecutor Antônio Carlos Biscaia, the bicheiros built an association with the principal goal to corrupt authorities and cops and the elimination of 130 people. The superintendent of this association was Castor de Andrade.[7]

Castor took advantage of the attention of the media and public opinion during the Carnival of 1993 and made a speech of five minutes condemning ferociously the persecution of bicheiros in full Sambadrome. Three months later, judge Denise Frossard convicted the fourteen bicheiros to six years of prison for criminal association and racketeering. They were found responsible for at least 53 deaths.[6][8] But in December 1996 they were all back on the streets, granted parole or clemency.

On March 30, 1994, Castor suffered a new mishap. Prosecutor Biscaia launched a new action against the jogo do bicho in Rio de Janeiro bursting the stronghold of Castor in Bangu and seizing 200 account books and 167 computer diskettes. The findings revealed that big names had been profiting from the illegal activities of bicho's Mafia. Among them, former president Fernando Collor de Mello, Rio governor Nilo Batista, São Paulo mayor Paulo Maluf, Rio mayor Cesar Maia, seven entrepreneurs, three judges, 12 congressmen and seven assemblymen, 25 police commissioners and 100 police officers.[9][10]

There were also suspicions that Castor and his people had a partnership with Colombian Cali Cartel. Preliminary findings showed Rio bicheiros responsible for transporting cocaine in Brazil and shipping it overseas.[9] In Porto Seguro, Castor had set up a fishing company that was used for cocaine trafficking.[7] He allegedly helped the Sicilian Mafioso Antonio Salamone to settle in Brazil. Castor gave him a cover job at Bangu Textiles, which he owned. Salamone became a naturalized Brazilian because of de Andrade’s influence.[11]

[edit] Arrest and incarceration

After his conviction Castor disappeared. He is cited as having said, right after his bunker was busted, "What kind of Police is this. Couldn't they tell at least tell me what was coming?" The phrase can be apocryphal but it's revealing of the way jogo do bicho operates, getting the best Police money can buy.[9] He was captured on October 26, 1994, when he visited the Automobile Show, in São Paulo, disguised with a false moustache and a black wig.

Incarcerated in the Polinter prison, he transformed his jail cell into a suite of a luxury hotel, with air conditioning, a washing machine, frigo-bar, television and video. Endless parties with champagnes and caviar characterized his jail time. Beyond buying luxuries, the bicheiro financed the upgrading of the installations and the repairs of police cars.

Because of heart problems, he obtained a house arrest to spend his conviction in his luxurious apartment in the Avenida Atlântica in Copacabana. But he went out to the streets frequently, without being bothered.

[edit] Death and legacy

On March 11, 1997, disrespecting for the umpteenth time his house arrest, Castor was playing cards in the house of a friend, in Leblon, when he suffered a deadly heart attack.[12][2][13] His body was laid out in the samba school of Mocidade. During the Carnival of 1998, the public and merrymakers present in the Sambadrome homaged Castor with a minute of silence.

Shortly before he died, Castor divided his estate in two parts: his son Paulo Roberto de Andrade or Paulinho Andrade, inherited the jogo do bicho interests, while his son-in-law Fernando de Miranda Iggnácio received the slot machines and video poker. A vicious struggle over the inheritance developed in the family. Paulinho Andrade was murdered in October 1998,[14] on the orders of Castor’s nephew Rogério Costa de Andrade.[15] Subsequently, Rogério and Fernando Iggnácio became involved in a war about the illicit gambling interests.[16][17][18]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d (Portuguese) Um Rei à Bangu. Castor de Andrade do futebol do samba do jogo do bicho, Revista Placar, March 14, 1980
  2. ^ a b c d e (Portuguese) Deu galo na noite em que Castor morreu, Istoé, April 16, 1997
  3. ^ The Animal Game, Time Magazine, March 25, 1966
  4. ^ (Portuguese) Violência e narcotráfico no Rio de Janeiro, by Ricardo Veléz Rodrigues
  5. ^ (Portuguese) O Chefão de Bangu: Castor, acima do bem e do mal, Revista Placar, August 2, 1985
  6. ^ a b c (Portuguese) Impunidade na cabeca, Istoé, March 5, 2003
  7. ^ a b (Portuguese) A volta dos bicheiros, by Antônio Carlos Biscaia, O Globo, March 22, 1998
  8. ^ (Portuguese) Contraventores já foram condenados há 14 anos, O Globo online, April 13, 2007
  9. ^ a b c Mafia: Never ending mud, News from Brazil, May 31, 1994
  10. ^ (Portuguese) Investigação liga autoridades a bingos, Jornal do Brasil, August 30, 2003
  11. ^ (Portuguese) Conexão Parque Laje, Carta Capital, Nr. 441, April 25, 2007 (For an English translation, see Rio-Sampa: “The Italian-Colombian Connection”)
  12. ^ (Portuguese) Infarto mata o bicheiro Castor de Andrade, Agência Folha, March 11, 1997
  13. ^ (Portuguese) Castor de Andrade morreu em 1997, O Globo, September 18, 2006
  14. ^ (Portuguese) Ataque ao espólio de Castor, Epoca, November 9, 1998
  15. ^ (Portuguese) Justiça do Rio condena Rogério de Andrade a quase vinte anos de prisão, Tribunal de Justiça do Rio Grande do Sul, May 24, 2002
  16. ^ (Portuguese) Entenda a guerra da família Castor de Andrade, O Globo, October 26, 2006
  17. ^ (Portuguese) Máfia dos caça-níqueis: histórico de mortes e brigas em família, O Globo, May 24, 2007
  18. ^ (Portuguese) Golpe nos caça-níqueis, Veja, October 25, 2006

[edit] External Links

Languages