In old mystery novels, it’s usually the butler, gardener or maid that police nab for committing a dastardly crime. In 21st Century São Paulo, Brazil, it’s the helicopter pilot.
After rescuing Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone’s mother-in-law from kidnappers earlier this week, Brazilian authorities arrested the racing tycoon’s pilot on suspicion of involvement, the BBC reports.
Jorge Eurico da Silva Faria was nabbed following the arrest of two kidnappers at an apartment in the nearby town of Cotia. Authorities allege that Silva Faria is the mastermind of the kidnapping.
Police staged a raid to rescue Aparecida Schunck, 67, the mother of Ecclestone’s wife Fabiana Flosi. Schunck, who lives in São Paulo, was snatched from her car and held for ransom for nine days. She was found tied up, but unharmed. The kidnappers demanded $36.5 million in British currency from Ecclestone, but didn’t receive a dime.
Authorities traced phone calls placed between the kidnappers and Schunk’s family to a home divided into five apartments. After viewing security camera footage, they pinpointed the apartment and entered the unit through a garage.
Brazilian media outlet Globo states that Silva Faria was president of the Brazilian Association of Helicopter Pilots until last year, and was in charge of Formula One helicopter operations in São Paulo until 2014.
[Image: Calflier001/Flickr]
That’s a promising start for the Olympics, a Brazilian helicopter pilots association official who did it.
Blame it on Rio.
Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand…
Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking and
When she passes, each one she passes goes “ah”
I hear there are angry birds there, and you gotta give them pork.
I’ve done some work in Brazil… and it is as corrupt as they say. We were told point blank to put as much on a single pallet as possible. They warned us that if we separated our shipment of supplies/parts onto several smaller pallets the pay off to get them out of customs would be too high.
While working there (for 2 weeks) we were in a good neighbor and everything was fine. The food was GREAT, I’ve never ate better in my life, including even Italy (don’t let my wife hear that). But were told not to venture far away and not to wear any jewelry. The traffic was insane in San Pablo, a local working with us had a 2 hour commute each day. In the city they limit who can drive based on your license plate number, there are odd and even days.
Its a shame because the people we worked with all super nice and hard working, as long as football (soccer) was on TV they couldn’t be happier.
I worked with a guy who emigrated from Sao Paulo. He says that people there carry a spare wallet to hand over for robberies. Like squeegee kids, robbers would literally line up and take turns robbing drivers of cars stopped at a stop light. Police? Ha! All it takes it giving them a share of the day’s “profits”.
LOL, that headline “Ecclestone’s Helicopter Chauffeur”
It’s so nice to hear about people with normal, everyday problems. I can’t tell you how many helicopter chauffeurs I’ve had to fire. My business manager is tired of it, and I have to do it myself.
These chauffeurs will just be the end of me.
If you can’t trust your helicopter chauffeur, who can you trust?
My helicopter chauffeur has been fine. Oddly enough, my ship captain actually tried to steal one of my helicopters and blame it on Somali pirates.
#0.0001% problems
Right?
I found out just last week that the dog’s butler was stealing Science Diet to feed his family. The nerve!
Let’s see how much dog food he can steal in Leavenworth, the scoundrel.
On a different note, those in the background check business got a nice bonus just about now……
The only way out, is for the 1%ers to pull a government, and pay those closest to them enough to create an intermediate class with supposedly “protected” wages, pensions and benefits, between the mere equals hordes and themselves the more equals. Just like Kings had their Knights, The Shogun his Samurai and Antebellum plantation owners their slave drivers.
When your mother-in-law is 18 years younger than you are, you must be doing something right!
In this case “doing something right” means sucking all the profits out of the business you manage, leaving your business partners in a multi-billion-dollar-earning sport unable to make payroll. Bernie knows how to make money for himself, but it seems like everyone else involved (racetracks, promoters, governments who subsidise the races, and independent teams) gets left holding the bag.
Bernie is STILL going to turn around and extort a few more million from the Brazil Grand Prix people.
Seems like “mastermind” might be too strong a word to use for these guys. What kind of kidnapper uses a land line from the house you’re holding your captive in to call in the ransom demand?
I am too poor for burner phone…
Better call Saul.
Christ, what a way to ruin your life.
And to end up in a Brazilian prison. Yikes!