Senate probe to end with parting shot at the Supreme Court

A Senate committee investigating organized crime is closing its books today, concluding with a recommendation that has no precedent in Brazilian congressional history: the impeachment of three sitting Supreme Court justices and the prosecutor general.

The panel was created last November to chart the reach of criminal factions and paramilitary mafias across the country. Over 18 sessions, it reviewed hundreds of documents and concluded that roughly 28 million Brazilians live in areas under the influence or control of organized crime — a sprawling failure of the state.

Midway through its work, however, the committee pivoted to Banco Master, the liquidated lender at the center of a fraud investigation that has sucked in a wide range of politicians and, ultimately, members of the Supreme Court. Federal Police have found links between Master's money-laundering operations and the criminal networks the committee was already tracking — giving lawmakers license to tackle the biggest political scandal of the moment.