They shot him at the entrance to the San Pablo airport

A man was killed and others were injured this Friday when a group of armed men got out of a vehicle and shot him at the entrance to the international airport of Guarulhos in Saint Paul (São Paulo), the busiest of all Brazil, with at least 27 shots

The regional government stated in a statement that it is investigating the circumstances of the homicide, which occurred a few meters from the doors of terminal 2, but did not clarify the number of injured. The victim is the businessman who had business with bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, Antônio Vinícius Gritzbach (38)who had a conflict with the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), the main criminal gang in the country, according to Brazilian media.

According to the news portal G1the murdered man collaborated with the Prosecutor’s Office to dismantle the gang’s criminal schemes. It had four guards but still men armed with rifles got out of a Volkswagen Gol and opened fire at the entrance to the airport terminal.

In a video from security cameras, released by the press, you can see how they get out of a vehicle and fire several shots at Gritzbach. In other videos published on social networks they show the man lying on the ground and two others being treated by emergency services, amidst screams from travelers.

According to the Department of Homicide and Personal Protection (DHPP) and the Specialized Police Station for Tourist Assistance (DEATUR), which are in charge of the incident, a car, allegedly used by the shooters, was seized by the authorities on an avenue located about 30 minutes from the air terminal.

Antonio Vinícius Lopes Gritzbach was accused of laundering bitcoins for the First Capital Command (PCC). As published by the ANSA Agencyin his plea agreement he mentioned before the San Pablo prosecutor’s office

accused the PCC of laundering drug trafficking money through people linked to two companies that manage the careers of well-known soccer players.

The companies mentioned by the businessman killed this Friday represent Brazilian players such as Emerson Royal, Milan full-back, Gleison Bremer, Juventus defender, and Eder Militao, Real Madrid defender.

“As proof of his complaint, Gritzbach showed WhatsApp conversations between one of the businessmen of those firms with Rafael Manda Pires, known as ‘the Japanese’ and an important representative of the PCC murdered in 2023,” he published. ANSA.

Gritzbacho was accused of having ordered the murder of two members of the PCC: Anselmo Becheli Santa Fausta, known as “Cara Preta”, and Antônio Corona Neto, Sem Sangue, Anselmo’s driver. They were both killed on December 27, 2021.

In March of this year, Gritzbach signed an award-winning collaboration agreement with the Public Ministry of San Pablo. He handed over alleged PCC schemes and also reported extortion schemes involving civil police officers in São Paulo.

The First Capital Command emerged in the early ’90s during a prison rebellion in San Pablo. Three decades later, it has emerged as the most important criminal organization in South America.

It currently has more than 30,000 “baptized” members and by that number it became the largest criminal organization in the south of the continent, with tentacles in practically all of South America, but especially in Bolivia and Paraguay, the main drug route from Colombia or Peru. towards Brazil. This was explained by Lincoln Gakiya, San Pablo prosecutor in an interview with Efe.

The PCC was especially strengthened in Paraguay, where it has come to dominate the prisons and from where it controls the region of the triple border with Argentina and Brazil.

“It is an important country because cocaine from Peru and Colombia arrives there and is subsequently transported to Brazil,” added Gakiya, prosecutor of the Special Action Group to Combat Organized Crime of the Public Ministry of Sao Paulo.

The PCC is today dedicated almost exclusively to international drug trafficking and has become a “distributor” that has known how to take advantage of loopholes opened by the Mexican and Colombian cartels.

“The PCC discovered a market niche that was not exploited by either Mexicans or Colombians. The main consumer market for both is the United States, the European route was left in the background and the PCC discovered that,” he details.

The PCC is even suspected of the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci in the Colombian Caribbean.