The gruesome end of Lampião, July 1938. São Paulo military police allegedly consider beheadings an oldie but goodie of proper police procedure. Go figure. Click to enlarge.
The police suspect that of the 12 murders attributed to the Highlanders … at least 7 took place because the victims refused to pay a bribe.
Polícia apura se “Highlanders” também praticaram extorsão: The military police indicted for running a death squad known for cutting off its victims’ heads may have mainly victimized criminal suspects who refused to pay them bribes, the Folha de S. Paulo reported.
Death squads.
Severed heads.
Use of police intelligence to extort criminals.
Welcome to Sambodia, whose state government is apparently too terrified of its own police force to attempt to get control over it. As well it might be.
Os 15 PMs acusados de integrar um grupo de extermínio que seria responsável por 12 assassinatos em 2008, na Grande São Paulo, também são investigados sob a suspeita de utilizar informações do serviço de inteligência do batalhão onde trabalham para extorquir dinheiro de supostos criminosos.
The 15 São Paulo military policemen accused of belonging to a death squad that murdered 12 in 2008 in the São Paulo metro area are also under investigation on suspicion of using information from the battalion intelligence division to extort money from alleged criminals.
Todo batalhão da PM tem o chamado P2, o serviço de inteligência que levanta informações para, depois, serem usadas em ações contra o crime.
Every police battalion has what is known as P2, an intelligence service that develops information that is later used in anticrime actions.
Uma das testemunhas ouvidas -cuja identidade é preservada- confirmou que os sargentos Jorge Kazuo Takiguti e Rogisnaldo Cegatte, dois dos acusados de integrar o grupo de extermínio denominado “Highlanders”, usavam os dados para identificar os criminosos e, posteriormente, cobrar propina para não prendê-los.
One of the witnesses — whose identity is being kept secret — confirmed that two sergeants accused of belonging to the “Highlanders” death squad used this data to identify criminals and then ask for a bribe in exchange for not arresting them.
A polícia suspeita que, dos 12 assassinatos atribuídos aos “Highlanders” (o apelido é porque cinco das vítimas foram decapitadas), ao menos sete ocorreram porque as vítimas se recusaram a pagar propina.
The police suspect that of the 12 murders attributed to the Highlanders … at least 7 took place because the victims refused to pay a bribe.
Let me be honest with you: Of all the things to worry about living in this city — the gaspingly polluted Pinheiros River, the shaky infrastructure and infernal traffic, the Third World level of service at First World prices from the “we don’t care because we don’t have to” telephone and Internet monopolies, my own No. 1 nightmare is the cops.
Crime scares me, too — my wife had a close one in a bank robbery a few years ago, mainly thanks to the trigger-happy incompetence of the cops, come to think of it — but to be honest, the cops scare me more.
Criminals that are criminals just don’t have the edge that cops who are criminals have, which is that they will be investigated and inevitably let off by other cops who are criminals.
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