Daughter of bookworm Piruinha is arrested at home in Ipanema, Rio

The daughter of bicheiro Piruinha, Monalliza Neves Escafura, was arrested at her home in Ipanema, this Thursday morning (28), during an operation by the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro.

In March of this year, GAECO/MPRJ filed a new complaint against Monalliza for criminal organization, naming her as the leader of the armed structure dedicated to the exploitation of Jogo do Bicho, slot machines and other illegal forms of gambling.

José Caruzzo Escafura, known as Piruinha, died in January 2025, aged 94. According to the complaint, after the death of her father in January 2025, Monalliza assumed direct command of at least part of the Escafura clan's clandestine points, starting to coordinate operational and financial activities and the concealment of values obtained through illegal exploitation.

The investigations also point to movements of more than R$500,000, arising from the clandestine exploitation of gambling, in addition to the use of third parties as a means of hiding the origin of illicit resources.

The warrant was issued by the 2nd Court Specializing in Criminal Organizations.

Who is Piruinha
One of the leaders of the game's game leadership in Rio, Piruinha joined the crime scene in the 1950s, when he began managing stalls in the region of Abolição, Piedade and Inhaúma, an area that exerted a lot of influence during the heyday of the game. Before entering into the misdemeanor, Escafura was a public transport driver.

From the 1970s onwards, he was already considered one of the city's main bicheiros, with the neighborhoods of Madureira, Cascadura and Maria da Graça also under his control, all in Rio's North Zone.

In 1993, Puruinha and 14 other individuals were arrested and sentenced to 6 years for conspiracy.

At the time, the case had great national repercussion, as for the first time, all the leaders of the Rio crime were convicted and arrested - the sentences reached six years in prison, but none of them served it in full. The person responsible for the trial was judge Denise Frossard, from the 14th Criminal Court of Rio.

Unlike his contemporaries, Piruinha was never the leader of a samba school and gained less fame than his colleagues. The family, however, has a connection with Portela and participates in the board of directors.

In June 2017, his son Haylton Carlos Gomes Escafura, aged 37, was murdered with PM soldier Franciene de Souza in a hotel in Barra da Tijuca. The reason, according to investigations, would be a dispute over slot machine points in the city.

Haylton was coming and going from prison. At the time of the crime, he had only been on the streets for 5 months, after being released in January. In 2012, he had been arrested for fraud in the same machines that motivated his execution.

During the execution, the two executioners of Piruinha's son and his wife broke down the door of the couple's bedroom and killed them both with pistol and rifle shots in the bathroom of the suite.

The dead woman, PM Franciene, was assigned to the Pacifying Police Unit (UPP) in the Rocinha favela and had been with the corporation since 2014.

Source: CNN