“Professor” engineered Brazil gold heist … childhood cousin was airport supervisor, spilled the beans

Aug 07, 2019 News

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Sao Paulo police identified the mastermind of the gold theft of Cumbica’s cargo terminal late last month. The suspect is Francisco Teotônio da Silva Pasqualini, known as “Velho”, convicted and arrested for stealing strong cars since the early 1980s.

In the investigation, Pasqualini, 55, is being called by police officers the “Professor,” alluding to the character who leads a band of thieves in Netflix’s “House of Paper” series. He developed the plan and trained the gang without having to enter the premises where the robberies happen.
“It’s a good comparison [with the Paper House teacher], so much so that he does not participate in the action. He stayed at the employee’s house with his family,” said Deputy Pedro Ivo Corrêa, referring to the family of one of the participants, held hostage.
According to the police, it was “teacher” Pasqualini who came up with the idea of the theft. He, who has had his custody ordered by the court, is wanted by the police. Pasqualini would be the brother-in-law of Peterson Brasil, one of the cargo terminal employees arrested by police.
Brazil is suspected of having co-opted another Peterson, Peterson Patrício, the official who first claimed to have had his family held hostage to report on the gold at the terminal, and, once exposed by police, confessed to joining the pack. The two Petersons are childhood friends.
According to Corrêa, investigations indicate that Patrick’s family was actually taken hostage by criminals to force him to facilitate theft after the suspect was hesitant.
“He [Patrick] agreed to participate, participated in the planning, and in the end began to create obstacles. That’s when the people of the organization ended up kidnapping his family to encourage him, let’s say, to participate more effusively.” said the policeman. “The family didn’t know that.”
Police say this does not reduce the employee’s involvement in the crime. It was not ascertained, yet how much Patrick would receive for participation in the crime.
“It would be a fraction of what was stolen.”
Police also provided further details of the crime on Tuesday afternoon and are considering whether a pound of gold found this week with a Chinese merchant is part of the stolen cargo.
The main hypothesis, as Folha anticipated, is that the gold is being sent to China, where the price of the product is 67% higher. The stolen cargo is estimated to be worth about US$120 million in Brazil — and US$200 million in China.
The amount stolen was also recalculated by the police: it would be 770 kilos. Another 51 kilos was mapped, as well as 15 kilos of raw emeralds. Police estimate the stones are worth US$25,000. There were also 18 watches and a necklace, estimated at US$94,000.
The robbery consumed US$1 million from the robbers – police estimate a total of 14 people involved – and long planning . The action at the airport lasted two and a half minutes and was captured by security cameras. At least two people involved (the Petersons) were terminal staff and facilitated access for the rest of the pack, which used cloned Federal Police vehicles to enter the terminal, later exchanged for other vehicles.
So far, except possibly for the pound of gold for which the origin is still to be verified, police have failed to find the cargo stolen. According to police, the entire gold transport operation was legal. There was a record of origin, “middle”, and final destination. The cargo would be flown to the United States (for the most part) and to Canada.
The nearly 720 kilograms of gold initially cited belonged to Kinross Paracatu and Asai, both Canadian groups. The 51-kilograms later belonged to a group from Dubai, JBG.
Still citing the Netflix series, the police see a correlation with the character “Berlin” – who commands the criminal action in the field: Marcelo Ferraz, Capim, arrested on the coast of São Paulo during investigations, who is a repeat offender.
“Francisco sought out the leader of the operational side, a criminal who had the weapons and knowledge to rally the others. Although it was fast, and it was not fired at all, the criminals went for all or nothing even with anti-aircraft weaponry, ” said the delegate.
Ferraz reportedly hired men who participated in other crimes, such as a robbery of Protege’s Paraguay headquarters in 2017. One of the most important parts of the plan would have been left to fugitive Joselito de Souza, who turned the group’s pickup trucks into fake Federal Police cars used for the theft. For now, there is no indication of women’s participation in crime.

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