Table of Contents

Foreword
Professor Robert I. Rotberg

1.The arrest of Marcelo Odebrecht
INSTITUTIONALIZED CRIME
2.From Narcotics to Environmental Crime
NEXT STOP: THE FBI
INTERNAL RESISTANCE
3.The Embryo of Operation Car Wash
FROM THE “TRUCKER’S KIT” TO FINANCIAL CRIME
THE FAKTOR “FACULTY”
NOTHING WOULD BE THE SAME AGAIN
4.The Diversion of the Federal Police
SKEWING PRIORITIES
HEAVIER WORKLOAD, FEWER AGENTS
5.From Organized to Institutionalized Crime
THE OFFICIAL PLATFORM
THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT’S CHIEF OF STAFF
THE PARADOX OF THE FP UNDER LULA
THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF CORRUPTION
WHITE-COLLAR CRIME AND WEBS FOR SMALL INSECTS
6.The Investigation of Lula
AN EXPLOSIVE WIRE-TAP
THE ARREST
7. Capitalism, the Brazilian Way
AN INSTITUTIONALIZED ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY
THE ORIENT EXPRESS EFFECT
RAIN HOURS
THE NON-CRIME
8.Jewelry, Racketeers, and Bad Checks — a State on the Rampage
CABRAL’S RIO —MEGA-EVENTS AND MEGA-CORRUPTION
A GLIMPSE OF THE WHALE — A CASE IN PERNAMBUCO
THE POLICE CHIEF IN THE BOW TIE
9.The Obstruction of Federal Police Investigations
THE TENSEST DAY
THE CAYMAN DOSSIER
INSTITUTIONAL LEAKS
DILMA’S PHANTOM E-MAIL
ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN DAYS OF MIXED SIGNALS
10.Political Appointments
THE “CLEANING CREWS” AND “RESCUE TEAMS”
THE KING'S FIFTH
11.The Current Role of the Federal Police
THE LAST TARGET OF OPERATION CAR WASH: THE JUDICIARY
A SYSTEM MADE NOT TO WORK
INSTITUTIONALIZED CRIME AS A THREAT TO THE NATION’S DEVELOPMENT
12.Proposals for the Future

Postscript: About a Plane

Afterword: The Normalization of Malfeasance
Why it’s so hard to dismantle institutionalized crime in Brazil
Luís Roberto Barroso

Promotional Information

A thrilling exploration into the involvement of Brazil’s public power in corruption schemes

About the Author

Jorge Pontes is a graduate from the FBI National Academy. He spent almost thirty years working for the Federal Police—first as an agent and later as a police chief—both nationwide and abroad, and devoted most of his career to the creation and implementation of units specializing in fighting environmental crime.

Marcio Anselmo joined the Federal Police as a clerk in 2004, stationed in Guaíra, and has since been actively involved in investigating financial crime, corruption and money laundering. He worked on the Banestado case in Brasília, and led the investigations on Operation Faktor. From 2018 to 2020, he occupied the post of coordinator-general of the corruption and money laundering unit.

Reviews

Two law-enforcement officials reflect on a Brazilian corruption scandal… Their thesis is that Brazil suffers from “institutionalised crime”, by which they mean “a fraudulent system that operates with the blessing on the nation’s power structures and the support of a network that pervades all three powers of the state… But their pleas for the independence of the Federal Police, and for more resources for the force, are well made. They are particularly scathing about the distorted priorities imposed by the war on drugs: tens of thousands of poor Brazilians have been locked up while the crimes of the rich and powerful have often gone unpunished.
*The Economist*

Uncovering a corruption scandal in Brazil… As senior investigators in several of the most high-profile Lava Jato (Car Wash) investigations, Jorge Pontes and Márcio Anselmo are well-placed observers of how Brazil’s corrupt politico-industrial complex functions.
*Times Literary Supplement*

Operation Car Wash presents an in-depth analysis of corruption and the case that shook Brazil … The authors provide an unparalleled view into what they term “institutionalized crime” as opposed to “organized crime.” The latter is the stuff of Al Capone—the former is what happens when the whole of government and whole of society colludes into expropriating the wealth of the state for personal gain. It is rare to get such an inside look at institutionalized corruption—corruption that runs from the legislative branch through to the office of the president, aided and abetted by the judiciary, and facilitated by corporate titans.
*Diplomatic Courier*

The book reads like a victory lap around Operation Car Wash.
*London Review of Books*

Pontes and Anselmo draw on their decades of experience in the Federal Police to offer a riveting account of the insidious insider game of institutionalized corruption in Brazil. The authors’ decades of experience in law enforcement enables them to authoritatively demonstrate how the political system has repeatedly quashed anti-corruption efforts, across a range of different presidential administrations, both before and after the massive Car Wash investigations. Readers of this fast-paced book will never think about Brazilian democracy, or systemic corruption, in the same way again.
*Matthew M. Taylor, School of International Service, American University*

Jorge Pontes and Marcio Anselmo have completed a necessary, detailed and brilliant job with the demonstration of the mechanisms of institutional corruption in Brazil. Going from the details of complex investigations to a refined analysis of a system that undermine democracy is no easy task.

This book is not only the best analysis of recent Brazilian situation, but rings the bell for international research to assess every country’s level of institutional corruption.
*Nicolas Giannakopoulos, Organized Crime Observatory, Switzerland*

Operation Car Wash confirms that corruption ruins all types of public policy and constitutes a violent offense. It shows how corruption undermines justice and rule of law, devastates the environment, degrades education, sabotages the economy and creates security risks. It shows how it kills people unconscionably left without access to life-saving health care and led to work in unsafe environments or operate in substandard infrastructure.

The multi-level cost brought about by the abuse of power documented in these pages is infuriating, yet not demoralizing. It stands as symbol of hope, demonstrating how abuses at the highest level can be revealed and countered. It illustrates the power of honest individuals who have the courage to investigate and fight institutionalized crime and corrupt structures. It shows that even in oceans of generalized grand corruption, there are islands of integrity.

Read this book and learn how you can fight sophisticated and well-organized corruption. Read this book and get stimulated to think of creative responses, measures and initiatives. Read this book and get actively involved in the global effort to bolster justice, increase accountability, and build a better future for yourself and your children.
*Professor Nikos Passas, Northeastern University, USA*

Márcio Anselmo and Jorge Pontes provide an intriguing account of Operation Car Wash and its backdrop - a criminalized state and the endemic corruption present in governmental procedure in Brazil. Based on their personal accounts as Federal Police officers, they take us on a journey that paints a picture of how institutionalized crime has become an embedded feature of political and economic life in Brazil. The book also provides an insight into the investigative methods that police use, the challenges they face in holding those to account in a system that has protected itself for decades, and the often comical situations that confront the police when dealing with those who think their elite status and entitlement make them immune to the rule of law. Although their focus is on the situation in Brazil, the book is of interest and value to those in the many countries where the infestation of corruption in institutions similarly fuels criminal activity.
*Dr Spencer Chainey., University College London, Department of Security and Crime Science*

Car Wash, arguably the largest and most far-reaching global corruption scandal, was long overdue for a serious literary investigation. Pontes and Anselmo have accomplished exactly that in this compact, highly readable book, which should be a must read for anyone serious about weeding our corruption. The impact of Car Wash on Brazilian society and politics was far reaching and brought down many of the untouchables. It also entangled many other governments in the America’s. The authors offer useful advice to help avoid similar occurrences. Get this book you will not be disappointed!
*Ambassador Adam Blackwell, Development Services Group*

Pontes and Anselmo reveal Brazil as a state hijacked by organised crime with a justice system designed not to work. Their conclusions are drawn from the Operation Car Wash investigation into institutional corruption, but are just as relevant to the impunity that drives destruction of the Amazon rainforest today.
*Jonathan Watts, Global Environment Editor, The Guardian*