Antônio Petrus Kalil

Antônio Petrus Kalil (born March 1925)^[1] was one of the operators of the jogo do bicho ("animals' game"), a popular illegal lottery in Brazil. Known as Turcão ("Big Turk"), Kalil was reported to have run the game in several towns.^[2]

Kalil was one of 14 bicheiros ("bankers," the game's operators), who were sentenced to six years' imprisonment in May 1993 for operating a criminal enterprise. Kalil's brother Jose, known as "Zinho," was also convicted.^[2] Denise Frossard, the judge in the case, wrote in 2007 that the 1993 sentences were the first time the existence of a mafia-type organization had been recognized in Brazil.^[3] According to Frossard, Kalil was one of the organization's bosses in 1981.^[4]

Notes

1. (Portuguese) (subscription required) "Aos 82, Turcão já não comanda os negócios da família", Folha de S.Paulo, April 22, 2007; also available here, Ministério da Fazenda, accessed December 31, 2010.
2. Frossard, Denise. "Women in Organized Crime in Brazil," in Giovanni Fiandaca (ed.), Women and the Mafia, Springer, 2007 (pp. 181–204), pp. 200–201, particularly p. 201.
3. Frossard 2007, p. 200.
   • That Frossard was the judge in the case, see Margolis, Mac. "Last Samba for Brazil's Powerful Lottery Lords?", Los Angeles Times, May 25, 1993.
   • Also see Rohter, Larry. "Brazilian Numbers Game Ties Officials to Mobsters", The New York Times, June 7, 2007.
4. Frossard 2007, p. 194.