Gritzbach: MP calls for conviction of civil police officers for links with the PCC
The Public Ministry of São Paulo requested the conviction of seven civil police officers accused of involvement in a money laundering scheme and protection of members of the PCC (First Command of the Capital), within the scope of Operation Tacitus. The agents would have been reported by Vinícius Gritzbach, murdered at Guarulhos Airport in November 2024.
Operation "Tacitus", launched in December 2024 with the support of the Federal Police and the Internal Affairs Division of the Civil Police of São Paulo, came from the intersection of several investigations into the PCC, including the murder of the businessman. The action arrested police chief Fábio Baena and three other police officers.
Baena was one of those mentioned by Gritzbach in the plea bargain to the MP. Gaeco (Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime) investigated the crimes of manipulation and leaking of police investigations, sale of protection to criminals and corruption of agents to benefit the criminal faction's money laundering scheme.
In February 2025, Gaeco denounced 12 people involved in the scheme, within the second accusation under "Tacitus". At the time, the agency pointed out that Gritzbach "played a structuring role in the construction and operation of a sophisticated illicit financial scheme."
Operation Tacitus
Seven people were arrested on December 17, 2024 during the action, including a police chief and three civil police officers. The agents served warrants in the cities of Bragança Paulista, Igaratá, Ubatuba and the capital.
The investigation revealed the complex way in which those under investigation structured themselves to demand bribes and launder money to meet the interests of the criminal organization.
See who Fabio Baena is, SP Civil Police delegate arrested on suspicion of involvement with the PCC
In a statement, Fábio Baena's defense stated that they were outraged and that the arrest was unnecessary. Read below.
"The defense formed by Police Chief Dr. Fábio Baena Martin and investigator Eduardo Monteiro, indignant, clarifies that the arrest carried out today has no need, no suitability and constitutes flagrant arbitrariness. It is unacceptable in Brazil to trivialize the right to freedom, decreeing a media arrest, without contemporaneity, and the most serious, for facts that have already been investigated and archived by the Court, on the recommendation of the Public Ministry itself. The puerile word of a mythomaniac, without any new element of evidence, could never motivate such an exceptional measure, affronting the status dignitatis and libertatis of our constituents. It should also be clarified that both appeared spontaneously to be heard and never caused any embarrassment to the repeated investigations. Furthermore, the defense denounces the very serious fact that Delegate Baena was not given the right and opportunity to contact his lawyers informing them of his arrest and the execution of the search warrant, which only reinforces the illegality reported. The defense is taking all measures to immediately put an end to the spurious coercion found."
Source: CNN