A BRAZILIAN STATE BATTLES CRIME IN HIGH PLACES

VITORIA, Brazil - Its murder rate is higher than Colombia's, drug
trafficking is flourishing, the central government is dithering and just
recently a bomb exploded inside the local bar association. So it is hardly
surprising that people here have begun referring to their city as "the
Medellin of Brazil."

Yet many of those responsible for the epidemic of violence and crime here
in the capital of Espirito Santo State are themselves officially defenders
of the law. According to police investigators and lawyers' and human rights
groups, the remnants of the police death squads that once terrorized
Brazil's big cities have migrated here and seized power in the state, and
they are now operating under the banner of a shadowy group known as the
Scuderie Detetive le Cocq, or Shield of Detective le Cocq.

"Cities like Rio and Sao Paulo have serious problems with crime, but there
you can at least say that criminals are criminals and the government is the
government," said Agesandro da Costa Pereira, president of the state bar
association here. "In Espirito Santo, organized crime is the government."

The Scuderie, which was founded in Rio de Janeiro shortly after a military
dictatorship seized power in 1964 and named for a slain police detective,
originally functioned as the public arm of the semiclandestine death squads
that killed petty criminals and government critics, human rights groups
say. It remained a powerful and much feared force until 1985, when
democratic rule returned to Brazil and the group lost the vital political
protection that had allowed it to thrive.

"In relative terms, the Scuderie has wilted and receded in Rio de Janeiro,
ceasing to be a major actor in terms of state politics, and even in the
criminal underworld," said James Cavallaro, the chief Brazilian
representative of the human rights group Global Justice. "But in Espirito
Santo they have grown enormously and ensconced themselves in positions of
authority."

According to computer records seized here in 1993 by a police investigator
who was later forced into hiding by death threats, more than 500 of the
state's most prominent citizens have belonged to the group. Members include
elected officials, judges, prosecutors, police officers and businessmen.

Both the state coroner and the head of the highway police were recently
dismissed by a police task force after their membership was revealed, on
suspicion that they used their offices to cover up crimes.

The president of the Scuderie, a lawyer named Claudius Andre Mendonca
Caballero, did not respond to messages requesting an interview that were
left at his private office and at the group's headquarters here, which is
easily identifiable by the skull and crossbones insignia on its front door.
But in statements to the local press, he has described the Scuderie, which
is legally registered as a nonprofit organization, as a cross between a
social club and a charity that helps police widows and orphans.

In July, the government's human rights council formally recommended that
the federal government intervene here and dissolve the State Legislature
and replace the governor with a federally appointed administrator. Justice
Minister Miguel Reale Jr. supported the proposal but he was overruled by
the government's solicitor general. Mr. Reale resigned in protest, as did
the head of the Federal Police and other top law enforcement officials.

"Organized crime must be celebrating this decision," Mr. Reale said of the
government's reversal.

He described the turnabout as politically motivated, a position echoed by
Amnesty International in a statement that criticized "back-room political
dealing" and "political expediency" in the handling of "a litany of
unpunished abuses and killings."

Brazil is scheduled to hold presidential elections in October, and Rita
Camata, the vice presidential candidate on the government party's ticket,
is a member of Congress from Espirito Santo. Though Ms. Camata has not been
linked to the group herself, a cousin of her husband and other politicians
who are part of the government alliance have been identified by law
enforcement agencies or human rights groups as associates or sympathizers
of the Scuderie.

This is not the first time that the state's unsavory reputation has caused
the federal government embarrassment. Two years ago, Defense Minister Elcio
Alvares, who had earlier been a senator representing Espirito Santo, was
forced to step down after a congressional committee investigating drug
trafficking concluded that he and his law firm's secretary here had ties to
the Scuderie. The committee also ordered indictments of other state officials.

Federal intervention was first requested by the Brazilian bar association
in April, after a lawyer here was shot to death and four court buildings
were set on fire, destroying legal records. The lawyer, Marcelo Denadai,
had been helping government prosecutors in their efforts to revoke the
Scuderie's legal registration, a process that has been dragging on for more
than six years.

Rather than step in directly as the human rights council had urged,
however, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso decided to send a police task
force. That body has been given 90 days to clean up the state, but its
leaders complain of a lack of financing that initially left them unable to
pay investigators.

Jose Carlos Gratz, the speaker of the State Assembly, has been identified
by the congressional committee as an organizer of the corruption scheme and
human rights abuses and did not respond to interview requests. But in
recent declarations to the Brazilian press, he expressed contempt for the
government's recent moves. "As many times as I am elected a deputy, these
chumps are going to have to vote for me" as speaker, he said referring to
his fellow legislators. He described his adversaries as "few, weak and stupid."

Midway between Brazil's second and third largest cities, Espirito Santo is
small but strategically situated. The state has a half-dozen ports that
export products including coffee and iron ore to Europe, which makes it an
attractive target for the drug-trafficking organizations that human rights
groups and government investigators say are allied locally with the Scuderie.

"The cocaine comes here in small loads by bus, brought by passengers from
the states that border Bolivia and Peru," said Iriny Lopes, a human rights
leader here who has received several death threats. "It is a constant flow
that has official protection, and the main destinations are Holland and Italy."

According to federal prosecutors, the Scuderie also controls the numbers
game here, as well as illegal casinos, protection rackets, gun running and
contraband operations. In addition, it is also said to carry out contract
killings, mostly of petty criminals and debtors but also of political critics.

"If you add up all the dead killed just for political reasons, you can talk
of hundreds of people," said Tania Silveira, coordinator of the React
Forum, a coalition of human rights groups here. "The victims include union
leaders, a priest, journalists, lawyers and prosecutors, anyone who gets in
the way."

As a result, this city of 500,000 has in some recent years had the highest
murder rate in Latin America. At its peak during the late 1990's, the
murder rate here, at 107 per 100,000 people, was nearly a dozen times that
of New York City, according to official statistics.

"We hope the federal force's investigation brings things under control,"
Ms. Silveira said. "Because if it doesn't, the Scuderie is going to come
out of this strengthened and emboldened, and those of us who have spoken
out against its activities run a high risk of being added to the list of
the dead."