Latest / NO FILTER / _12_ The Red Light Bandit_ Crime_ Dictatorship_ and Silence

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_12_ The Red Light Bandit_ Crime_ Dictatorship_ and Silence · NO FILTER

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Before we begin, do you have a theory about this case,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: or a story of your own? Leave a message on
• 0:08
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• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the space. Or head over to NightwatchFiles.com to find them
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: all in one place. Your insights might be featured in
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: a future episode. I'm Harper Finley, and this is Nightwatch Files.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: São Paulo, Brazil. October 3rd, 1966. The upscale neighborhood of
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Sumare slept under a moonless sky. Known for its tree-lined
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: streets and quiet affluence, it was a place where families
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: rarely locked their doors, a haven in a city teeming
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: with life. But on this night, the darkness held something new,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: something predatory. At 2.17 a.m., 19-year-old Walter Bedran stirred in
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: his bedroom. A student with a promising future, Walter had
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: no way of knowing the rustle in his backyard was
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: not a stray animal. It was a man, a man
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: who moved like smoke armed with a revolver and a
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: flashlight fitted with a red lens, a detail that would
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: soon etch itself into the city's nightmares. The intruder had
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: perfected his ritual. Cut the power, scale the fence, vanish
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: into the shadows. His targets? Mansions and middle-class homes alike.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: But this night was different. Walter, driven by curiosity or courage,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: stepped outside. A single gunshot fractured the silence. The bullet
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: struck his skull before he could utter a word. By
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: the time his body hit the ground, the killer was gone,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: leaving no trace but a crimson glow fading into the void.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Police would later call it a botched robbery, a tragic accident.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: But Walter's death was no accident. It was the opening
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: act of a five-year reign of terror. The press dubbed
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: him o bandido da luz vermelha, the red light bandit.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: A chameleon who posed as a musician by day, wearing
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: flamboyant hats and scarves, while by night he became a specter.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: the incendiary bandit setting fires to distract victims, the masked
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: bandit stealing jewels, the monkey bandit prying open windows with
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: a carjack. Yet his signature remained the red light, a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: tool bought from a department store called Mappin. Over 77 robberies,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: four murders, seven attempted killings, and a city paralyzed by
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: a question.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Who was he?
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: For years, his fingerprints lingered on windows, his disguises fooled neighbors,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: and his vanity mocked investigators. But on that October night
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: in 1966, Walter Bedran's death was just the beginning, a
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: beginning that would birth a legend and a fear that
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: stained Sao Paulo's streets red. João Acácio Pereira da Costa,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: born on June 24, 1942, in Joinville, a city nestled
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. The second
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: son of a working-class family, João entered the world under
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: ordinary circumstances. But his early life would be far from ordinary.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Before he reached the age of five, he was orphaned.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: The exact circumstances of his parents' deaths remain vague. No
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: definitive records or family accounts offer clarity. What is known
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: is that both parents were gone by the time Joan
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: was four. The loss left him and his older brother,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Joaquín Tavares Pereira, alone and vulnerable at a time when
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: they were most.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: In need of stability and protection.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Following this profound disruption, the boys were taken in by
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: a maternal uncle. The intention, at least in theory, was
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: to provide a stable home and the support of extended family.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: But what they encountered instead According to João' s later testimony,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: was a household steeped in cruelty and abuse. João would
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: later claim that the arrangement was exploitative from the outset.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Under this uncle's care, João and Joaquim were allegedly subjected
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: to forced labor. In exchange for food and shelter, they
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: were made to work long hours performing domestic chores and
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: manual tasks beyond their years. João described it not as
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: a childhood but as a form of servitude. one where
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: affection and safety were replaced by strict control, physical punishment,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: and emotional neglect. As João later recounted, the abuse wasn't
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: limited to forced labor. He accused his guardian of administering
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: frequent beatings and engaging in psychological torment, creating an environment
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: defined by fear and instability. Perhaps most disturbingly, João alleged
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: that the abuse also included sexual violence. He said he
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: was repeatedly assaulted by his uncle, though the exact nature
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: of the assaults remains undisclosed in the public record. The
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: allegations were denied by the uncle, a common occurrence in
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: intrafamilial abuse cases where the power dynamics are skewed and
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the victims often lack support. What João endured during these
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: formative years cannot be easily quantified, but it is clear
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: that he saw escape as the only option. In his
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: early adolescence, João ran away from home, He left behind
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the structure of a deeply flawed household and stepped into
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: the equally uncertain life of a street youth. Life on
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: the streets of Joinville offered little in the way of
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: comfort or opportunity. Jean Acasio, still just a teenager, was
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: now tasked with surviving on his own. With no education,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: no family support, and no financial resources, he turned to theft.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: At first, his crimes were small. He shoplifted clothing, food,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: and accessories. items that met both immediate needs and, increasingly,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: personal desires. According to later reports, Joan was particularly drawn
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: to stylish clothing and colorful garments. It suggested more than
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: just a need to keep warm. It hinted at a
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: deepening preoccupation with self-image. Even in these early days, vanity
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: was emerging as a central theme in Joan's identity. While
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: still a teenager, Joan tried to support himself through legitimate work.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: He found occasional employment shining shoes and held two short-lived
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: jobs in dry-cleaning shops. But the wages were low and
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the work unsteady. By then, João' s name was already known
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: to local police. He was frequently picked up for theft
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: and was said to be on the radar of officers
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: in Joinville. As pressure from authorities increased, so too did
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: the instability of his daily life. It was during this
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: chaotic period that João experienced another trauma. He claimed that
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: he was sexually assaulted by a group of older boys,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: rivals who viewed him as competition on the streets. The
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: specifics of the incident were never made public, but Joao
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: would later refer to the experience as deeply humiliating and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: psychologically destabilizing. For a boy already burdened with a history
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: of alleged sexual abuse, this second violation appears to have
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: left him.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: More isolated and volatile.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: By his mid-teens, Joao Acasio had decided that Joinville held
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: nothing for him He needed to start over, somewhere farther
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: from his past, somewhere where no one knew his name.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: He left Santa Catarina and made his way to the
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: state of Sao Paulo, eventually settling in the coastal city
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: of Santos, more than 500 kilometers from Joinville. It was
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: in Santos that Joan would begin constructing a double life,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: one that would allow him to vanish in plain sight.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: By the 1960s, São Paulo had become the symbol of
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Brazil's industrial boom and its social contradictions. In just a
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: few decades, the city had transformed from a regional commercial
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: center into a sprawling metropolis of concrete, steel, and noise.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: The economy was growing, factories were operating around the clock,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: and the downtown skyline was filling with office towers and
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: new housing for the upper class. At the same time,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: the population was exploding. Migrants arrived daily, mostly from the Northeast,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: fleeing drought and rural poverty in search of work and stability.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: But what they found instead were the edges of a
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: city already stretched to its limit. Public housing couldn't keep
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: up with demand, and the state was slow to respond.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: The result was a city with two faces. On one side,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: the image of progress. The wealthy in their modernist homes,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: shopping in air-conditioned department stores, sending their children to private schools.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: On the other, a growing underclass pushed to the peripheries,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: building precarious homes with whatever materials they could find, often
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: without running water, sewage, or electricity. These areas became known
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: as favelas, though not always officially designated as such. Residents
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: spent hours commuting on crowded buses to industrial zones in
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: neighborhoods like Maca, Bras, and Iparanga. A missed shift could
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: mean a lost job. A sick child could throw an
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: entire family into crisis. The police operated differently depending on
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: where you lived. In the wealthier neighborhoods, officers were there
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: to protect. In the poor ones, they were a constant presence,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: more likely to arrest than assist. In the wake of
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: the 1964 military coup, this dynamic intensified. The dictatorship imposed
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: a hard line on all forms of dissent. Political parties
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: were dismantled, unions were infiltrated, newspapers were censored, and arrests
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: without charge became common. But the repression didn't only target
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: political activists. It reached the slums, the jobless, the petty criminals,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and anyone who looked out of place in the wrong
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: part of town. It was in this city that Joao
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Acasio tried to find his place coming from Joinville in
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: the southern state of Santa Catarina, where he spent most
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: of his childhood in state institutions. First shelters, then correctional facilities.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: He never really had a home, a family, or any
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: kind of long-term support. By the time he arrived in
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Sao Paulo in his late teens, he.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Was used to moving alone.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: The city didn't offer much, with no diploma, no connections,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: and a police record that followed him João drifted through low-paying,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: short-term jobs, often under the table, rarely stable. He never
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: stayed anywhere long. São Paulo could swallow a person like
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: that without anyone noticing. But João wasn't invisible to everyone.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: By the mid-1960s, he entered the police radar when he
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: began to commit a series of increasingly bold robberies. They
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: occurred in middle- and upper-class neighborhoods, and that made them news.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: His movements between cities, particularly between Sao Paulo and the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: coastal region of Baixada Santista, gave him temporary cover, but
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the attention was building. Baixada Santista, especially Santos, played a
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: crucial role in Brazil's economy. The port of Santos was
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the largest in Latin America, and its output was essential
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: to the country's exports, coffee, sugar, industrial goods. But like
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Sao Paulo, the city bore the signs of inequality. Much
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: of the port wealth never reached the workers who made
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: it run. Many lived in overcrowded cortisos or on the
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: hillside surrounding the port area. Labor unrest had been common
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: in the early 1960s, especially among dock workers. After the coup,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: union activity was suppressed. Surveillance increased, arrests were frequent, and
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: the line between political and common crime became indistinguishable. The
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: state didn't make distinctions when it came to who was
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: considered dangerous.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Quick break.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Ads keep the show running, but if you want to
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: skip them, the ad-free version's on Patreon for just three
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: bucks a month. Links in the show notes.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: And we're back.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Thanks for sticking through that. Let's get back to it.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: In Santos, João Acasio took on a new identity as
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Roberto da Silva and told those around him that he
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: was the son of farmers from the countryside. a quiet,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: well-mannered young man who lived alone and kept to himself.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: He dressed fashionably, took care of his appearance, and gave
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: no reason for neighbors to suspect that anything was amiss.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Behind this facade, however, Joan was actively cultivating a new
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: method of survival, one far more dangerous and methodical than
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: the petty thefts of his youth. From Santos, Joan would
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: travel to the city of Sao Paulo, where he carried
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: out burglaries. Then he would return to the safety and
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: anonymity of his apartment by the coast.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: This back and.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Forth allowed him to operate under the radar, committing crimes
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: in one city while maintaining a clean image in another.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: The strategy was calculated and effective. For a time, it
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: allowed him to evade police and avoid suspicion altogether. Santos
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: and its neighboring towns, São Vicente, Guarujá, Cubatão, were also
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: places where people went to disappear. Tourists from Sao Paulo
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: filled the beaches on weekends, but during the week, these
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: cities were slower, quieter, easier to blend into. João used
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: that to his advantage. He kept his distance from others,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: changed addresses, and rarely stayed anywhere long enough to draw suspicion.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: He wasn't part of a criminal network. He moved alone,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: relying on instinct and anonymity. But Sao Paulo was changing again.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: By the late 1960s, crime, and especially the image of crime,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: was becoming central to public discourse. The press, though censored,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: still ran sensational headlines about violence, theft, and urban decay.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: The middle class, fearful of losing what it had, demanded
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: stronger policing. Politicians responded by expanding the powers of security forces.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Surveillance increased, and police were encouraged to act aggressively, particularly
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: in cases involving property crime. The assumption was that the
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: social order could be preserved by force. In practice, it
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: meant more arrests, more disappearances, and more violence, particularly in
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: poor communities. Chauvin's crimes fit into this narrative. He became useful,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: not just as a target for law enforcement, but as
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: a symbol. His story, or at least the version that
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: filtered through newspapers and police statements, reinforced a broader argument
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: that order was under threat and that extraordinary measures were justified.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: But behind that story was a man who had been
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: shaped by the very institutions now hunting him.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: He had grown up.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Under state care, been released into poverty, and found that
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the only way to survive was to remain untraceable. His
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: crimes weren't political in the traditional sense, but his existence,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: his refusal to disappear quietly, was treated as a challenge
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: to the order the regime was trying to build.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: This period of.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Joan's life revealed a new layer of his personality. one
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: marked by deception, manipulation, and theatrical flair. He began to
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: lean into eccentric behaviors. He became obsessed with the color red,
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: reportedly decorating his apartment entirely in crimson tones, walls, furniture,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: even personal items. According to João, the color red represented
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: a demonic force, a spiritual symbol that resonated with his
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: darker impulses. Whether this was a genuine belief or a
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: cultivated piece of psychological theater is unclear. João also idolized
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Roberto Carlos, the charismatic pop star at the center of
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: Brazil's Jovem Guarda movement. He copied the singer's look, donning
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: flashy clothes and stylish accessories. The image he crafted was
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: carefully curated, outwardly modern, quietly confident, and seemingly benign. But
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: beneath the polished exterior was a man growing more dangerous,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: more erratic, and more theatrical. This period of calm concealment
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: would not last. Soon João' s crimes would escalate, both in
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: scale and brutality. The quiet young man with the neat
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: apartment and farmer's son story would vanish, giving way to
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: one of Brazil's most infamous criminals, the Red Light Bandit.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: The Red Light Bandit earned his nickname through a chilling signature.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: During his nighttime home invasions, he carried a flashlight fitted
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: with a red lens. the eerie glow it cast became
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the defining symbol of his crimes. In the dead of night,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: between the hours of 2 and 4 a.m., João Acácio
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Pereira da Costa crept through the wealthiest neighborhoods of São Paulo.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: For over five years, he targeted the mansions of the affluent,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: exploiting both the darkness and the complacency of his victims.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: His approach was systematic. Upon arriving at a property, he
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: would disable the building's electricity, plunging it into complete darkness.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: He wore a handkerchief over his face to obscure his
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: identity and moved through homes in near silence, the only
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: light coming from the soft red beam of his flashlight,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: an item reportedly purchased from Mappin, a now-defunct department store
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: in Sao Paulo. But this was no ordinary thief. João
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Acasio wasn't content with simple break-ins or quick escapes. He
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: seemed to thrive on control, on performance. He turned his
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: criminal activity into something closer to a theatrical production. Over time,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: he adopted multiple criminal personas, each with a distinct style
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: and function, designed to confuse law enforcement and create the
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: illusion that a team of perpetrators was at work. Among
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: these alter egos was the incendiary bandit who set fire
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: to hallways to incite panic and chaos. There was the
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: masked bandit, a more conventional figure used during jewel heists,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: and the monkey bandit who employed a carjack a tool
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: informally known in Brazil as macaco, or monkey, to pry
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: open windows and doors, showcasing an unusual mix of ingenuity
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: and patience. His final identity, the one that ultimately stuck,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: was the Red Light Bandit, a figure designed to intimidate,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: to dominate, and above all, to be remembered. João Acácio' s
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: need for recognition bled into every aspect of his life.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: He was flamboyant, narcissistic, and theatrical, even outside his crimes.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: He dressed in bright colors, donned elaborate hats, and was
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: frequently seen wearing cowboy-style scarves. These choices weren't just for flair,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: they served as part of his constructed persona. He wanted
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: to be seen, even if no one suspected what he
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: really was. During the robberies, his psychological tactics were as
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: calculated as his logistics. In many cases, victims would be
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: woken not by sound or struggle, but by the red
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: beam of a flashlight shining directly into their eyes. a disorienting,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: surreal experience. He would then threaten them with a. 38
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: caliber revolver, sometimes speaking, sometimes silent, often demanding valuables while
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: maintaining total control of the room. In the beginning, his
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: crimes were largely non-violent. He subdued residents, stole jewelry, and
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: left without causing physical harm. But even then, there were
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: unsettling undercurrents. In one case, he left a note destined
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: to a female resident that was asleep, which read, My dear,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: a society woman should not sleep without clothes. The next
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: time I come back here, I want to find you dressed. Signed,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: The Red Light Bandit. Small cryptic details like this hinted
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: at something darker behind the theatrics, something sadistic. He reportedly
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: broken into this same residence six months later to find
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: the woman now fully clothed. As time passed, violence escalated.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: What had started as a calculated string of robberies began
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: to include rape and murder. The red-light bandit had grown
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: bolder and far more dangerous. His crimes spread fear throughout
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Sao Paulo. Newspaper headlines warned of a criminal who not
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: only evaded capture, but seemed to enjoy the spectacle of
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: his own legend. The red light, once a tool of stealth,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: had become a symbol of terror. This shift from cat
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: burglar to violent predator marked.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: The beginning of the end.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: The man who had once hidden behind masks and aliases
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: was now too visible, too brazen to avoid scrutiny. He
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: was first arrested in Sao Paulo in 1966 for receiving
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: stolen jewelry and and booked under the false identity with
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: the name Roberto da Silva. The police had no idea
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: they had the red light bandit in custody and released
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: him just a few days later, when he resumed the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: routine of robberies. On the evening of October 3, 1966,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: a private residence in the Sumare neighborhood of Sao Paulo
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: became the scene of a brutal confrontation. Already known to
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: authorities and the public for a series of bold burglaries
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: targeting wealthier neighborhoods, had once again broken into a home.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: His method was familiar, gaining entry through poorly secured doors
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: or windows, moving quietly through the property, and taking valuables
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: before disappearing into the night. But this time, things didn't
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: go as planned. Inside the residence was Walter Bedran, a
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: 19-year-old university student. Walter, who lived there with his family,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: was home that evening. At some point, he became aware
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: of the presence of an intruder on the property. likely
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: through a sound or movement in the backyard. Rather than
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: calling for help or retreating, Walter decided to confront the
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: intruder directly. He attempted to surprise the man who had
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: just entered his family's yard. Confronted unexpectedly, Juan Ocasio reacted
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: without hesitation. He drew his firearm and fired. The bullet
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: struck Walter Bedran in the head, killing him almost instantly.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: The entire encounter was over in moments. One shot, one
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: life ended. This was not a killing committed in the
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: course of a struggle. There was no scuffle, no drawn-out confrontation.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: According to Joan Ocasio's later statements, Walter's attempt to surprise
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: him was the sole trigger for the shooting. The teenager
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: had stepped outside to investigate and was met with immediate,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: lethal violence. This murder marked a shift in Joan Ocasio's crimes.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Up until that point, his break-ins had been characterized by stealth,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: not confrontation. He would later identify Walter Bedran as his
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: first homicide victim. The pattern of violence did not stop there.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Just ten days later, on October 13, 1966, João Acácio
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: struck again, this time in the Bela Vista district of
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: São Paulo. The victim was José Enéas da Costa, a
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: 23-year-old laborer. The two men encountered each other inside a
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: local bar, a place where neighborhood workers often gathered after
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: long shifts. Whatever the reason, a fight broke out between
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: the two men. At some point during the altercation, Joao
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Acasio killed Jose Anaez da Costa. Unlike his previous murder,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: this killing was more chaotic, public, and possibly unplanned. It
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: demonstrated a growing brazenness and volatility in João Acasio's behavior,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: where once he had operated in shadows, he was now
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: willing to use lethal force in public places. The next
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: known murder occurred several months later, on June 7, 1967,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: in the upscale Jardim America neighborhood. This time, João Acasio
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: targeted the home of Jean von Christian de Saraspatak, an
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: industrialist of Hungarian descent. João had entered the property with
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: the intent to rob it, but unlike many of his
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: previous targets, this resident fought back. Saraspatak resisted the intruder.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Whether he was armed at the outset or managed to
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: retrieve a weapon during the encounter is unclear, but what
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: followed was a shootout inside the house. A direct exchange
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: of gunfire between the homeowner and the armed burglar unfolded
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: in close quarters. During this exchange, Jean von Christian de
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Saraspatak was shot. The injuries he sustained were fatal. He
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: died that night inside his own home. This incident was
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: significant not only for its violence, but for the fact
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: that it represented a clear escalation. João Acácio was no
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: longer merely a thief who killed when surprised. He was
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: now prepared to engage in armed confrontation if met with resistance.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: His crimes were no longer confined to theft. they had
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: evolved into calculated acts where murder was a possible outcome
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: from the start. One month later, on July 6, 1967,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: João Acácio made another attempt to break into a high-value property,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: this time in the Ipiranga district of São Paulo. The
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: residence in question was a mansion, likely chosen because of
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: its appearance of wealth.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: But it wasn't empty.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: On duty that evening was José Fortunado, a private security guard,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: or vigia, responsible for watching over the house during the
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: night hours. As Joan Ocasio attempted to gain access, Fortunato intervened.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: Whether he confronted Joan at the entrance, spotted him moving
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: through the grounds, or attempted to physically detain him isn't
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: described in the surviving reports. What is known is that
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Fortunato acted decisively to stop the intruder. Joan Ocasio responded
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the way he increasingly had been, with deadly force. In
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: the confrontation that followed, he killed Jose Fortunato. The exact
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: sequence of events remains unclear, and there is little surviving
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: detail about whether the guard was armed or if a
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: struggle took place. But the result was the same. João
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Acasio escaped and another man was dead. Four murders in
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: nine months. Each killing marked by a mix of opportunity, resistance,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: and a willingness to escalate. The crimes of João Acasio
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Pereira da Costa had taken a darker turn, shifting from
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: theft to targeted violence. And Sao Paulo, already tense from
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: a rise in violent crime, was beginning to notice.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Quick break.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Ads keep the show running, but if you want to
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: skip them, the ad-free version's on Patreon for just three
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: bucks a month. Links in the show notes.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: And we're back.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Thanks for sticking through that. Let's get back to it.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Accusations of sexual violence were one of the most disturbing
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: aspects of the criminal profile built around Joan Ocasio Pereira
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: da Costa. These allegations surfaced repeatedly in connection with the
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: series of nighttime home invasions he carried out in Sao
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Paulo's wealthier neighborhoods during the 1960s. According to newspaper Folha
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: de Sao Paulo, Joan Ocasio was held responsible for a
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: string of robberies, murders, and rapes. Contemporary press coverage routinely
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: included references to sexual assaults occurring during these burglaries. Noticias Popularis,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: a tabloid known for its sensational tone, published a serialized
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: account of Joan Acasio's life and crimes between late 1967
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: and early 1968. These reports played a key role in
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: shaping public perception of the so-called red-light bandit. emphasizing not
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: just the violence of the robberies, but the disturbing patterns
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: of sexual aggression that accompanied them. Some accounts even described
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: him kissing women's hands after stealing their valuables, acts that
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: read as gestures of mockery or humiliation rather than misplaced gallantry.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Within the prison system, crimes of sexual violence such as
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: rape are subject to formal legal evaluation and psychiatric assessment.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Lucian Neitzel Friedrich's dissertation, Forms of Control and Individualization of
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: the Prisoner, examines how the Brazilian penal system applies criminological
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: exams to assess prisoners and guide decisions on sentencing, parole,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: or rehabilitation. These evaluations consider various aspects of the individual's
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: criminal history, psychological profile, and behavior in custody. While João
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Acácio' s personal assessments are not quoted in detail in the text,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Friedrich's research does describe examples of such examinations in cases
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: involving Article 213 of the Penal Code, which pertains to rape.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: One case study involves a prisoner who admitted to the
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: crime but described the incident as an isolated event, showing
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: visible discomfort and anxiety when discussing it. The example shows
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: how the system documented and classified acts of sexual violence,
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: even if the internal emotional or psychological dimensions varied from
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: case to case. Taken together, the rape allegations against Juan
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Ocasio were supported by a combination of police records, press coverage,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: and institutional assessments.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: They were not isolated.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: Claims, but part of a larger narrative that surrounded his name.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: His notorious nickname stemmed directly from his distinctive method of operation,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: the consistent use of a flashlight fitted with a red
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: lens during his assaults. This particular flashlight was not merely
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: a tool for navigating the dark interiors of the homes
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: he targeted, but a central element of his identity. His
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: criminal pattern was deliberate and repetitive. This act of illumination,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: coupled with the threat of violence, served as a chillingly
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: effective form of intimidation. Beyond the immediate fear instilled by
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: his method, João Acasio demonstrated a fascination with the moniker itself,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: which was notably a reference to the American criminal Carol Chessman. Chessman,
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: also known as the Red Light Bandit in the United States,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: reportedly used a red light during his crimes and was
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: executed for rape and kidnapping. Joan Ocasio was reportedly impressed
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: by Chessman's story and made the conscious decision to adopt
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: the identity, specifically incorporating a similar red flashlight.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: Into his own criminal repertoire.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: He also adopted a style of dress designed to project
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: a certain image, imitating film bandits by wearing dark suits,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: felt hats, and a red scarf to cover his face,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: often carrying two revolvers. This carefully curated image extended beyond
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: his crime scenes. He would sometimes wear wigs and pose
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: as a musician, carrying a stolen guitar. The media played
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: a significant role in shaping Joan Ocasio's image and contributing
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: to his notoriety. The press quickly seized upon the distinctive
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: detail of the red flashlight and his terrifying methods, bestowing
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: upon him the memorable nickname that captured the public imagination.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: This press attention, combined with his personality which was noted
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: as being prone to fame and liking notoriety, resulted in
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: his elevation in the public consciousness. He became widely known
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: in Sao Paulo and across Brazil as the new public
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: enemy number one, a status directly linked to the way
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: his actions and persona were constructed and presented by the media.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Beyond his criminal actions, João Acasio spent the money acquired
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: from his robberies.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: On women and nightclubs.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: His activities took place across the São Paulo region, including
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: luxury homes in the Baixada Santista area, and he also
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: engaged in car thefts and dismantling in Rio de Janeiro.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: For several years, the identity of the red light bandit
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: remained unknown. He struck without warning and vanished without trace.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: What began as a pattern of calculated burglaries escalated into
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: something far more dangerous. Armed robbery, sexual assault, and eventually murder.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Between 1960 and 1967, the man behind that nickname targeted
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: wealthy households in upscale neighborhoods. It wasn't just the robberies
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: that alarmed the public. It was the precision, the self-assurance,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: the way he entered and left undetected. Despite the frequency
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: of the crimes and the distinct pattern in how they
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: were carried out, the man's identity remained a mystery for
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: nearly six years. The Sao Paulo State Police pursued dozens
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: of leads, collected statements from traumatized victims and cross-referenced criminal records,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: but no name emerged. There were no fingerprints at most scenes,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: no eyewitnesses who had seen his face clearly. He seemed
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: to vanish as easily as he appeared. As his crimes escalated,
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: so did public fear. Residents in affluent neighborhoods hired private security.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Panic set in across Sao Paulo. Newspapers reported each new
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: attack with increasing urgency, fueling outrage over the inability of
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: law enforcement.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: To stop him.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: Editorials criticized the police response, pointing to the pattern of
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: crimes as evidence that the city was under siege. And yet,
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: the red light continued to appear in homes across the city.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: The case took a major turn when investigators recovered a
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: partial fingerprint from the window of a mansion that had
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: recently been targeted. The print was entered into police records
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: and eventually matched to Roberto da Silva, João Acasio's alias
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: that first entered the system on his first arrest for
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: receiving stolen goods. He also had a criminal record for
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: armed robbery. The match gave police the breakthrough they had
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: been waiting for. Further investigation revealed that João Acasio had
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: fled Sao Paulo and was living under an assumed name
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: in Curitiba, in the neighboring state of Paraná. He had
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: adopted the false identity in what appears to have been
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: a deliberate move to avoid capture once he sensed the
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: police closing in. Authorities moved quickly. On either August 7th
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: or 8th, 1967, sources vary on the exact date, police
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: located and arrested João Acasio in Curitiba.
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: He was 22 years old.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: News of the arrest spread immediately. On August 8, the
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: newspaper Journal d'Attard ran a stark and memorable front page.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: It featured a photograph of Joan Ocasio's handcuffed wrists and
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: the headline, Here is the Bandit. For Sao Paulo's residents,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: it marked the end of years spent living under the
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: threat of the red light. During police interrogation, Joan Ocasio
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: reportedly confessed to several of the most serious crimes linked
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: to the red light bandit. He admitted to killing four men,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Walter Bedran, a 19-year-old student, was shot in the head
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: on October 3, 1966, after attempting to confront him during
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: a break-in at his family's home in Sumare. Jose Aneas
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: da Costa, a 23-year-old laborer, was killed 10 days later
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: in a bar in the Bella Vista neighborhood. John von
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: Christian de Zaraspatak, an industrialist, was shot and killed on
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: June 7, 1967, during a home invasion in Jardim America.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: He had resisted the robbery and exchanged gunfire with the
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: intruder before being fatally wounded. Jose Fortunato, a security guard
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: stationed at a mansion in Iparanga, was shot dead on
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: July 6, 1967, as he attempted to prevent João Acasio
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: from entering the property. These were just the homicides he
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: confessed to. The case dominated national headlines for weeks. Brazilians
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: across the country were gripped by the details of João
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Acasio's crimes, and his image quickly became one of the
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: most recognizable in the press. For Sao Paulo's population, especially
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: its wealthier residents, his arrest brought a profound sense of relief.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: But it also left behind questions about how one man
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: had evaded capture for so long, and how the police
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: had failed to stop him before the killings began. The
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: fingerprint had cracked the case, but many wondered why it
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: had taken so many years for such evidence to emerge.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: The years-long reign of terror attributed to the Red Light
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Bandit came to an end. Now, with one man in custody,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: law enforcement could finally begin to connect the crimes, establish timelines,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: and build a formal case attributing the string of brutal
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: home invasions and murders.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: To a single individual.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: The psychological effect of his presence was as impactful as
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: the crimes themselves. In many cases, he confronted residents directly,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: threatening or assaulting them before escaping with stolen valuables. These
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: break-ins were not just burglaries. They were acts of control
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: and domination, carried out with escalating violence. Once in custody,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: João Acasio faced a broad array of charges. The prosecution
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: built its case on a long list of home invasions, assaults,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: and homicides, many of which had remained unsolved for years.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: As the evidence was compiled and testimonies gathered, the scale
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: of his activity became apparent. Multiple sources agree that he
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: was ultimately convicted of four murders, seven attempted homicides, and
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: 77 robberies. Some reports cite a total of 88 proven crimes,
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: including variations in the classification of certain offenses, such as latrosinios,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: robberies that ended in death. Investigators also believe that he
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: may have committed more than 100 rapes Though these figures
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: were difficult to confirm, as few victims came forward or
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: filed formal complaints. In many of those cases, the stigma, trauma,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: and fear of retaliation likely prevented survivors from seeking justice.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: During his initial interrogation, Joao Acasio confessed to four specific killings.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: These incidents formed the most violent chapter of his criminal
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: record and aligned with forensic evidence and witness statements, cementing
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: the prosecution's case. The court sentenced João Acasio to a
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: total of 351 years, 9 months, and 3 days in prison.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: A sentence that reflected not only the number of crimes,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: but their severity. Under Brazilian law at the time, however,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: the maximum term an individual could serve was 30 years.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: Regardless of the official sentence length, this cap meant that
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: João Acasio would eventually return to society. Still, the formal
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: sentence served as a symbolic end to one of the
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: most notorious criminal episodes in the city's history. While incarcerated,
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: Joao Acasio Pereira da Costa quickly acquired.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: A legion of fans.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: These individuals sent him letters, especially women, admitting to being
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: in love with him and what they call his Robin
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: Hood attitude about his robbery targets being the wealthy. Sources
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: describe these fans as passionate about him, and he reportedly
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: received many of these letters. the volume of correspondence was
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: reportedly so significant that it was enough to write a
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: book about it. This fan mail indicates that despite his
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: criminal activities, his notoriety, amplified by the press attention he received,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: led to him gaining followers and admirers during his time
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: in prison.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: Quick break.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: Ads keep the show running, but if you want to
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: skip them, the ad-free version's on Patreon for just three
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: bucks a month. Links in the show notes.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: And we're back.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: Thanks for sticking through that. Let's get back to it.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: João Acasio entered the prison system under heavy sentence and
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: intense media scrutiny. For the majority of the public, his
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: incarceration marked the end of a nightmare. But his time
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: behind bars revealed a different kind of dissent, this time, psychological.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Over the three decades he spent in custody, João Acasio
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: would cycle through multiple facilities, endure prolonged isolation, and exhibit
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: signs of serious mental illness. He was held at various institutions,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: including the Sao Paulo State Penitentiary, better known as Carandiru,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: and the Talbatey Custody and Treatment Facility in the outskirts
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: of the state that specialized in psychiatric care. These transfers
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: suggest changes in his status, either due to shifts in
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: behavior or in response to his psychological condition. The movement
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: between standard prisons and treatment-oriented institutions became a pattern over
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: the years. Throughout his imprisonment, João Acácio reportedly had little
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: to no contact with family. Very few visits were recorded,
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: and the absence of external support likely contributed to his
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: emotional and mental decline. In Brazil's prison system, family visits
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: often serve as a crucial lifeline, helping inmates maintain a
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: connection to society and providing some measure of emotional stability.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: For João Acácio, that lifeline was largely absent. Psychological deterioration
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: became a defining feature of his later years in prison.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Reports described frequent psychotic episodes, which led to his placement
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: in a judicial psychiatric hospital. While incarcerated, he underwent a
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: series of criminological evaluations conducted by psychologists and social workers.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: These assessments were standard in the Brazilian system, designed to
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: gather information on an inmate's psychological state, social background, and
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: behavior in custody. The goal was to inform decisions related
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: to treatment, sentence progression, or eligibility for transfer. Two key
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: psychiatric reports, one conducted shortly after his arrest and another
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: closer to the end of his sentence, were later analyzed
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: by Claudio Cohen, a psychiatrist and professor at University of
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: Sao Paulo. Cohen concluded that João Acasio likely suffered from
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: a borderline personality disorder.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: Marked by emotional.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Instability, difficulty maintaining a coherent identity, and behaviors that often
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: mirrored those of the people around him. Although he sometimes
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: presented with symptoms resembling schizophrenia, his actions, especially during his
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: crime spree, showed a high degree of planning and control.
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: This contrast made his case difficult to classify. One evaluation,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: conducted six years into his sentence, noted the presence of
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: mental health issues but stopped short of offering a clear diagnosis.
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: The concept of semi-imputability, a legal status where an individual
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: is considered partially responsible for their actions due to psychological conditions,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: applied to Joan Ocasio. In theory, this status should have
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: meant closer psychiatric supervision and treatment. In practice, it placed
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: him in a gray area. He was deemed unfit for
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: regular incarceration, but not fully exempt from legal responsibilities. The
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: system struggled with how to handle such cases. Psychiatric evaluations
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: often recommended extended treatment, but judges were not bound to
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: follow those suggestions, and many did not. The final years
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: of João Acasio's sentence were marked by growing instability. Institutional
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: records reveal conflicting approaches, transfers between prisons and psychiatric hospitals,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: inconsistent diagnoses, and a lack of consistent care. The man
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: who had once terrorized the city became a forgotten figure
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: behind bars, deteriorating both mentally and physically. His 30-year incarceration
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: closed a chapter not only on his criminal career, but
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: on a justice system ill-equipped to manage individuals with severe
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: mental illness. João Acácio Pereira da Costa lived out his
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: sentence in a cycle of confinement, psychiatric crises, and isolation,
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: far from the headlines that once made him infamous. After
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: serving exactly 30 years of his 351-year, 9-month, and 3-day sentence,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: Juan Ocasio Pereira da Costa became eligible for release, and
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: this process was far from routine. The state public prosecutor's
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: office immediately moved to block it, citing serious concerns about
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: his mental condition and his potential danger to the public.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: On August 23, 1997, Juan Ocasio was quietly transferred to
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: the Taubaté Custody and Treatment Facility. Two days later, on
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: August 25th, the vice president of the Sao Paulo Court
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: of Justice issued a decision to temporarily suspend his release.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: But the order came too late. He was no longer
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: in a standard correctional facility. On the night of August 26th,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: supported by an alleged hunger strike staged by prisoners at
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: the Sao Paulo State Penitentiary, João Acasio walked free. The
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: hunger strike, if true, would have marked a rare act
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: of solidarity in a prison system where order was often
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: maintained through violence and fear. He returned to Joinville, the
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: city of his childhood, where his story had begun decades earlier.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: What greeted him was not a warm welcome, but a difficult,
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: confused attempt at reintegration. He was in poor health and
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: deeply changed. Reports described him as emaciated and toothless, having
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: lost 11 teeth. He had spent the last three decades
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: inside institutions with few, if any, consistent mental health services.
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: Diagnosed with psychiatric disorders but never fully treated, his behavior
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: was erratic and unpredictable. He'd wake up in the middle
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: of the night, draped in a blanket, and walk to
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: the airport to watch planes taking off. Locals recalled his
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: peculiar attachment to the color red. He dressed in red
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: shirts and red pants, as if clinging to the old
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: nickname the press had given him. He signed autographs with
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: the word autograph, scribbled without irony or flair. Despite his condition,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: or perhaps because of it, he attracted attention. His face
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: still appeared in newspapers. He gave interviews. When asked about
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: the crimes of his past, he expressed delight, not shame.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: Remorse was entirely absent. His family tried to help. At first,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: his brother gave him shelter. Later, his nephew stepped in. Eventually,
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: he ended up with his uncle, who had once cared
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: for him as a boy. That, too, fell apart. Tensions rose,
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: and Joan Ocasio left. His life outside of prison was
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: turning out to be as unstable as his life inside it.
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: Professionals had long struggled to define his condition. There were
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: discussions within the Santa Catarina prosecutor's office about forcibly admitting
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: him into a psychiatric facility. Medical reports had flagged him
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: as dangerous, but they lacked a clear diagnosis. Though disorganized
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: and erratic in some ways, João Acácio still retained a
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: sharp mind when it came to planning crimes. He was
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: a man divided between illness and intent. Brazil's legal and
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: correctional systems were not equipped to handle someone like him.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: There were few resources available for high-risk ex-prisoners suffering from
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: long-term mental illness. In many ways, João Acácio had been
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: released into a vacuum, and his freedom would only last
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: four months. The exact number of days varies slightly depending
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: on the source. Some claim four months and 20 days
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: as a free man. Others say it was closer to
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: six months, but the outcome was the same. On January 5th, 1998,
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: João Acácio Pereira da Costa was dead. The killing occurred
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: in Joinville, in the Cubatão district near Vigorelli Beach, a small,
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: somewhat isolated fishing village. By then, João Acasio had been
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: living under the roof of a local fisherman named Nelson Pinziger,
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: who had reportedly offered him food and shelter. The exact
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: details of what happened that day vary slightly between reports.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: Some claim the two men got into a fight in
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: a bar. Others say it happened inside the house itself.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: According to Pinziger's account, tensions had been rising. He said
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: João Acasio had harassed his 80-year-old mother and made sexual
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: advances toward his wife. On the day of the killing,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: Joan Ocasio allegedly grabbed a knife and threatened the family.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: Pinziger claimed he acted out of fear. He went for
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: his 12-gauge shotgun and fired a single shot hitting Joan
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: Ocasio just below the left eye. It was a close-range blast.
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: Joan Ocasio collapsed. No one called an ambulance. According to
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: the coroner's report, he did not die instantly. His death
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: was slow and painful, the result of internal bleeding. Questions lingered.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Some reporters described inconsistencies in witness statements. An exhumation was
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: carried out, but it failed to provide clarity. Whether the
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: act was truly one of self-defense or something else remained
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: up for debate. The legal process moved forward. Pinziger was
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: arrested and charged with homicide. The case was handled by
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: the Joinville Court and dragged on for years. In November 2004,
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: nearly seven years later, Nelson Pinziger was acquitted. The court
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: accepted his claim of self-defense and dismissed the charges. The
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: man who had offered a roof to Brazil's most notorious
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: thief walked free, legally cleared of any wrongdoing. João Acácio' s
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: final chapter closed not with a courtroom verdict or a
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: return to prison, but with a shotgun blast in a
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: remote fishing village. A man who had once terrified the
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: elite of Sao Paulo, whose crimes had made headlines, and
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: whose name became synonymous with a very specific kind of
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: criminal mythology, died quietly, anonymously, on the floor of a
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: borrowed house.
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: Quick break.
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: Ads keep the show running, but if you want to
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: skip them, the ad-free version's on Patreon for just three
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: bucks a month. Links in the show notes.
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: And we're back. Thanks for sticking through that. Let's get
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: back to it.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: João Acácio Pereira da Costa was a name that evoked fear, fascination,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: and an uneasy sense of spectacle in Brazil during the 1960s.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: His crimes captured headlines and imaginations with an intensity that
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: few criminals in Brazilian history have matched. His notoriety stemmed
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: not only from the violence of his actions, but from
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: the deliberate, almost theatrical way he presented himself. What set
• 50:46
  Speaker 1: him apart was not just what he did, but how
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: he did it. The red light wasn't the only way
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: he drew attention to himself. His crimes had a flair
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: that felt more like performance than desperation, and the press
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: fed off that energy. Tabloid newspapers, especially Nocias Populares, treated
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: his crimes like serialized fiction. Each article added to the
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: growing legend. He was called Sao Paulo's own Zorro, a
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: phantom figure cloaked in red shadows. The contrast between his
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: crimes and the limitations of the penal system only added
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: to public outrage and fascination. That fascination wasn't limited to
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: the news cycle. Just a year after his arrest in 1967,
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: his story leapt.
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: From the headlines to the movie screen.
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: In 1968, filmmaker Rogerio Scanzerla just 21 years old at
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: the time, released The Red Light Bandit, a film inspired
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: directly by Jean Ocasio's life. Skinzerla didn't aim to tell
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: a straightforward true crime story. Instead, he constructed a fragmented,
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: chaotic narrative that mirrored the disorder of the times. Brazil
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: was under a military dictatorship, and the film reflected that instability.
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: He blended genres, part western, part cop movie, part slapstick comedy,
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: part science fiction, and infused the work with irony, self-reference,
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: and pastiche. The result was a landmark of marginal cinema,
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: a movement that rejected state-sanctioned aesthetics and embraced the disjointed
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: realities of Brazil's social and political climate. Sganzerla called his
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: film a Western about the third world, and it was
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: as much a critique of the country's institutions as it
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: was a portrait of a criminal. The character based on
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: João Acácio was a cipher, a figure molded by violence, spectacle,
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: and systemic failure. The film won several awards at the
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Brasilia Film Festival that same year, including Best Film, Best Director,
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: Best Editing, and Best Costume. Its reputation only grew over time.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: In 2015, it was ranked the sixth greatest Brazilian film
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: of all time by the Brazilian Film Critics Association. In 2010,
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: Over four decades after the original's release, a sequel, Light
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: in the Darkness, The Return of the Red Light Bandit,
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: was released, co-directed by Icaro Martins and Helena Ignez, Gonzalo's widow.
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: It offered a postmodern continuation of the myth, further blurring
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: the line between fact and fiction. The Red Light Bandit
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: wasn't just a cinematic character. His life became the subject
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: of books, songs, and public speculations. Journalist Gonzalo Jr. published Infamous,
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: the story of Red Light, the bandit who terrorized Sao Paulo,
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: a detailed account that traced his early years, his descent
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: into crime, and the public narrative that followed. Musicians picked
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: up the thread. The Brazilian rock band Ira released a
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: song titled Rubro Zorro on their 1988 album Seco Acústica,
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: using lyrics pulled directly from Gonzalo's film. Horrorcore artist Patrick
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: Horla also referenced him in the song O Bandito da
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: Lupa Vermilha. These cultural responses didn't just keep the story alive,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: they reinterpreted it for new audiences, turning the red light
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: bandit into a kind of folkloric anti-hero, a symbol that
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: could be used, questioned, and reimagined.
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: Still, behind the.
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: Myth was a real person, obsessed with how he looked.
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: The press would later fixate on this element of vanity,
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: using it to frame him as someone who saw himself
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: as more than just a thief, someone who styled himself
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: as a character to be remembered. Upon his release in
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: the late 1990s, he gave interviews to the press. What
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: emerged was deeply unsettling. He expressed pride in his crimes.
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: He seemed to enjoy recounting what he had done. There
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: was no apology, no visible remorse. His demeanor suggested that
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: the role he had built for himself, the red-light bandit,
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: had never left him. Experts noted the difficulty in diagnosing
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: individuals who commit violent crimes of this scale. Sometimes there
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: is no singular trauma or diagnosis that can explain it.
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: Sometimes the motive is simply that someone stood in the
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: wrong place at the wrong time. In Joan Ocasio's case,
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: the closest the public came to understanding him were his
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: own words, and they offered little comfort. The details of
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: his final days were far less sensational than.
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: The rest of his life.
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: But the legend he left behind continued to ripple through
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: Brazilian culture. He remains one of the most iconic figures
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: in the country's criminal history, not just because of what
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: he did, but because of how thoroughly he was absorbed
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: into a nation's imagination. Through the headlines, the films, the songs,
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: and the interviews, The Red Light Bandit became a story
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: Brazil couldn't stop telling.
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you.