Oldest bookie in Rio de Janeiro, José Caruzzo Escafura, known as Piruinha, died at the age of 94. The information was confirmed by the bicheiro’s grandson, Junior Escafura, and the Portela samba school, in posts on social media.
“Portel communicates and deeply regrets the passing of Piruinha. José Caruzzo Escafura, popularly known by his nickname, passed away this Wednesday (22), aged 94. Owner of the Sambola concert hall, in Abolição, Piruinha was the father of the former President of Portela Luís Carlos Escafura and grandfather of our vice-president Junior Escafura”, posted the samba school.
The cause of death was not disclosed. Piruinha was the father of 27 children.
THE CNN , Junior Escafura reported that he “had been facing health problems and had been hospitalized in recent days”.
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 considerable influence during the game’s heyday. Before entering into the misdemeanor, Escafura was a commuter driver.
From the 1970s onwards, he was already considered one of the main bicheiros in the city, also having under his control the neighborhoods of Madureira, Cascadura and Maria da Graça, all in the North Zone of Rio.
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 judge 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 back and forth 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 on the same machines that led to his execution.
During the execution, the two executioners of Piruinha’s son and his wife broke down the couple’s bedroom door and killed them both with pistol and rifle shots in the suite’s bathroom.
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.
Last judgment
In April last year, the 3rd Jury Court of Rio de Janeiro acquitted Piruinha for the murder of businessman Natalino José do Nascimento Espíndola, in July 2021. Piruinha’s daughter, Monalliza Neves Escafura, and military police officer Jeckeson Lima Pereira were also tried and acquitted.
The three were accused of killing Natalino in an ambush, when the businessman was walking along a street in the west zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The accusation was that the Escafura family had lost money with a construction project led by the victim and, therefore, ordered his death.
Piruinha had a preventive arrest warrant since May 2022, but had been serving the court order under house arrest since she had an accident in the bathroom of Casa do Albergado Crispim Valentino, in Benfica, in December of that year.
This content was originally published in Morre Piruinha, Rio de Janeiro’s oldest bicheiro on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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