Anísio Abraão David

Aniz Abraão David (Rio de Janeiro, 7 June 1937), better known as Anísio, is an illegal lottery operator (bicheiro) and the honorary president of the Beija-Flor samba school in Nilópolis. He has been the president of the Independent League of Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro (LIESA) from 1985-1987.

From a humble start at the beginning of the 1960s, Anísio and his family became the masters of municipal political power, the controllers of bicho gambling in the Baixada Fluminense and the champions of Rio's carnival. Their support for the military dictatorship and their collaboration in the persecution and prosecution of opponents of the regime, in combination with co-opting of military and police officers to protect their business, helped to advance their rise. The purging of the small bicheiros, with the annexation of their selling points through intimidation and force, and the "takeover" of the Beija Flor samba school, opened up space for their social ascension and the strengthening of their power in Nilópolis.

Early life
At the beginning of the 20th century, many Syrian-Lebanese immigrants settled in Nilópolis, among them the patriarchs of the Sessim and Abraão David families, who established themselves as local merchants in the 1920s. In the 1960s, the family began a career in politics. In 1962, doctor Jorge Sessim David was elected to the state legislature by the UDN. In 1972, Simão Sessim was elected mayor of Nilópolis by ARENA.

Anísio (Simão's cousin) was born Nilópolis as the seventh child in a family with ten children. His parents had migrated from Akkar in Lebanon to Brazil. He started as an orange seller in soccer stadiums and as a shoe-shine boy, before he set up his own little shop. From his humble origins he rose to be a businessman.

Anísio and his brother, Nelson Abraão David, entered the illegal jogo do bicho game, controlling the betting stalls in Nilópolis. The rise of the Abraão-Sessim family in Nilópolis coincided with the rise of Beija-Flor. In the mid-1970s, the samba school came under the control of the Abraão David clan and received financial support from the family. At the same time, Beija-Flor established itself among the elite of Rio's carnival, with expensive and luxurious parades, while the families aligned themselves with the military regime. The link between the public authorities and the samba school was maintained over the years with the election of members of the Abraão-Sessim family, who ran both the city and the samba school.

Bicheiro
Anísio gained control over the illegal bicho game in Nilópolis and the Baixada Fluminense. He was found guilty by judge Denise Frossard in 1993 of involvement in the game, along with 13 other bicho bankers such as Castor de Andrade and Capitão Guimarães. They were held responsible for at least 53 deaths, and were sentenced to six years each, the maximum sentence for racketeering. But in December 1996 they were all back on the streets, granted parole or clemency.

The family continued to wield significant political power in Nilópolis. His brother Farid Abraão David, the president of Beija-Flor for 18 years until his death in 2020, was the mayor of the city from 2001 to 2008 and again from 2017 to 2020. One of his nephews, Ricardo Abraão, the son of Farid, was a state deputy twice, while Simão Sessim was elected to the federal Chamber of Deputies for ten consecutive mandates from 1979 to 2019.

Fixing the 2007 Carnival
Anísio and other bicheiros Antonio Petrus Kalil, or Turcão, and Capitão Guimarães were among 24 people arrested on April 12, 2007, for alleged involvement with illegal numbers games, bingo parlors and the distribution of slot machines. Raids by the Federal Police have uncovered big payoffs to judges, police officers, prosecutors and lawyers from the bosses who run the game. Mounds of documents have been seized and US$6 million in cash has been confiscated.

One of the charges was that bicheiros fixed the results of Rio de Janeiro's 2007 carnival parade. Press reports suggest that Anísio, the president of Beija-Flor that won the competition, used bribes and a hitman to buy and intimidate members of the carnival jury. According to a Federal Police report some of the judges may have been bribed or pressured into favouring Beija-Flor. A gunman working for Beija-Flor's president of honour, Anísio, allegedly threatened some of the judges. According to extracts from a federal police report "some individuals who worked as carnival jurors and refused to accept benefits from Anisio were threatened or had their relatives threatened with death if the Beija-Flor school did not win the 2007 carnival".

New arrest and conviction
He was released while appealing for a habeas corpus, but arrested again on January 11, 2012, for driving while accompanied by an armed security gang. Police were also investigating him for money-laundering. His detention followed a previous failed attempt in which a police helicopter swooped on his penthouse in Copacabana while he was out.

On March 13, 2012, he was sentenced to 48 years in prison and a fine of BRL 11 million (about USD 6 million) for formation of armed gangs, money laundering, smuggling and corruption, together with other bicho bosses Capitão Guimarães and Antônio Petrus Kalil. The sentence was annulled by the Supreme Federal Court, but in December 2012 Anísio, Capitão Guimarães, Kalil and 19 others were again convicted by the Criminal Court in Rio de Janeiro. Anísio was sentenced to 47 years and 9 months for conspiracy and corruption. The judge's sentence said that the bicheiros' criminal organisation had "an intense connection with the state, through the bribing of public officials, including in the police and the judiciary, and even with the political system, through the financing of political campaigns."