The Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro (MPRJ) ended 2025 with significant numbers in the financial confrontation of criminal organizations operating in the state. As a result of the work of the Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime (Gaeco) throughout the year, the Judiciary was asked to block R$906,265,077.21 in resources linked to criminal individuals and organizations.
To this end, the group qualified its investigation methods, expanded the exchange of information related to financial crimes of national and transnational scope and established strategic partnerships that allowed it to expand the scope of its actions. An example is the Technical Cooperation Agreement signed by the MPRJ with the Civil Police, in March last year, with the aim of expanding the application of asset confiscation in property investigations, an essential instrument for tracking, blocking and recovering illicit assets.
According to the coordinator of Gaeco, prosecutor Letícia Emile Alqueres Petriz, the impact of these actions goes beyond the numbers.
“The financial suffocation of criminal organizations affects the core of their support, weakening their ability to operate and expand. Gaeco’s actions are strategically oriented to undermine the economic power of these groups, especially through property investigations and the application of extended confiscation, which makes it possible to remove illicitly obtained resources from crime and prevent their reinsertion into the economic circuit”, he stated.
Reports
In 2025, Gaeco filed 70 complaints against 767 people, including 120 public agents, and obtained court orders that supported 39 operations aimed at executing arrest and search and seizure warrants.
Among the main actions carried out throughout the year, the MPRJ carried out search and seizure warrants against those being investigated for involvement in the murder of lawyer Rodrigo Crespo; acted in the execution of arrest and search warrants against members of a criminal organization that stole crude oil from Transpetro pipelines, operating in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais; and participated in joint actions with public ministries from other states, such as Operation Hidden Carbon, launched by the Public Ministry of São Paulo (MPSP) against a billion-dollar scheme of adulteration and irregular distribution of fuels.
Also noteworthy are the complaints filed against nine members of the so-called new “Crime Office”, including three military police officers; against members of the new game leadership, including Rogério de Andrade, Flávio da Silva Santos, known as “Pepé” or “Flávio da Mocidade”, and Vinicius Drumond; in addition to 67 members of the criminal faction Comando Vermelho.
Public servants were also accused of crimes such as embezzlement, corruption, bidding fraud, money laundering and involvement in militia-related activities. Highlights include the complaints against 22 agents from the General Department of Socio-Educational Actions (Degase), accused of inciting inmates at the Socio-Education Center (Cense) Ilha do Governador to depredate the unit; against employees and engineers of the State Environmental Institute (Inea), involved in a corruption scheme for the irregular issuance of environmental licenses; in addition to three military firefighters from Cabo Frio and two former municipal secretaries from Silva Jardim, for crimes related to the irregular issuance of licenses and bidding fraud.
Throughout the year, Gaeco also obtained favorable court decisions in precautionary measures. Among them are the maintenance of misdemeanor Rogério de Andrade in the Federal Maximum Security Prison of Campo Grande (MS); the stay of militia member Luís Antônio da Silva Braga, known as Zinho, in the Maximum Security Federal Prison in Brasília (DF); and the confirmation, in the second instance, of the sentence that took bicheiro Bernardo Bello and his accomplice, Wagner Dantas Alegre, to trial by the Jury Court for the murder of criminal Alcebíades Paes Garcia, known as Bid, who died when he arrived home, after watching the samba school parades in Marquês de Sapucaí. He was the brother of Waldemir Paes Garcia, known as Maninho, who was also murdered when leaving a gym in Jacarepaguá.
Digital environment
According to Gaeco coordinator, Letícia Petriz, the initiative reflects the necessary adaptation to the advancement of criminal practices. “The creation of CyberGaeco represents a strategic step towards the modernization of investigations, given the growing role of criminal organizations in the digital environment. The experience of other public ministries with similar structures demonstrates that specialization is essential to increase the effectiveness of investigations, especially in crimes involving technology, cryptocurrencies and money laundering”, explained the prosecutor.
