With more than 20 years’ experience in the fight against the First Command of the Capital (PCC), the prosecutor of the Public Ministry of São Paulo (MPSP), Lincoln Gakiya, said that the faction “has become a mafia and, therefore, acts with the corruption of public agents”.
The statement was made during an interview with the newspaper The Globe published this Friday (15).
In the interview, Gakiya comments on the case of the execution of a businessman linked to the PCC that took place at Guarulhos airport, on Friday last week, during the day.
Businessman Antônio Vinicius Lopes Gritzbach was killed by rifle shots. Gritzbach was on death row for the faction for allegedly ordering the murder of drug dealer Anselmo Becheli Santa Fausta, known as Cara Preta, and Antônio Corona Neto, aka Sem Sangue, Anselmo’s driver, in December 2021.
In addition to the deaths of Cara Preta and Sem Sangue, Gritzbach was accused by the faction of having embezzled R$100 million from the organization.
Denunciation
The businessman had a plea bargain agreement with the São Paulo Public Ministry (MPSP) against members of the PCC. Prosecutor Lincoln Gakiya was one of those responsible for the agreement at the MPSP.
“The PCC has, in the past, used corrupt police officers or former police officers to execute its enemies. The PCC pays for a network of public agents, I am not going to generalize the police officers. The police, in fact, are mentioned most because they are the institution on the front line, which first receives the corruption proposal. But we have seen courts involved with decisions that are, to say the least, strange… Even higher courts, in Brasília”, said the prosecutor.
“The PCC has already become a mafia and, therefore, acts with the corruption of public agents, it necessarily counts on this. In the case of Vinícius, it’s not that he became a death judge because he made a statement. He was already on death row for the PCC. Vinícius had several enemies against him. It was a living archive of crime”, he added.
The prosecutor also reported difficulties with the businessman’s statements. According to Gakiya, Vinicius used to send incomplete evidence in order to protect acquaintances.
Execution was a “clear message”
According to the prosecutor, the way Vinícius was executed “sent a very clear message”.
“They could have executed Vinicius in another location. Vinicius was not confined to his house. Vinicius went out normally, every day. For restaurants, for clubs, for everywhere. So, a crowded public place was chosen — Brazil’s largest airport, on a Friday, packed with people — to send a message. Be it a message from the PCC or a message from anyone who may have been involved in this accusation. The message that whoever broke the code of silence must die,” he said.
Regarding the executioners’ ease in killing Vinícius due to the lack of security, the prosecutor said that the businessman refused to participate in a protection program and that, in fact, he wanted a police escort to accompany him in his normal activities.
“He was offered a protection program. The protection program does not need to be reformulated, as people are saying, that it was a failure and there is no protection. Actually, what did he want? Police escort. He wanted to continue leading his life, including a criminal one. Doing his business, going out with his girlfriend, going out with call girls. Continue leading a normal life with a police escort. This does not exist here or anywhere in the world”, explained the prosecutor.
