Police investigation targets organized crime infiltration of bus companies and city halls

Milton Leite left public life last year, after seven terms as a councilor and having presided over the City Council four times. Currently, he is the president of União Brasil in São Paulo. In July, the former councilor was elected state president of the União Progressista Federation (UP), which brings together União Brasil and Progressistas (PP) and forms one of the largest political forces in the country.

In this third stage, the operation targets the faction's financial and operational control over 12 bus companies with signs of systematic fraud in tenders. The other front focuses on the so-called "tie tune" — a group of lawyers who work directly in crimes and in legitimizing the organization's interests.

In addition to the targets of the arrest warrants, the investigation at this stage points to the involvement of former high-ranking employees of São Paulo City Hall and identified a candidate for deputy, and former candidate for mayor, whose electoral campaign was funded by organized crime.

Today's advance is a direct offshoot of two previous operations. In April 2026, the Civil Police and the Public Ministry carried out Operation Contaminatio, focused on the structure of a fintech managed by the faction. The group's objective was to use the financial technology company to infiltrate city halls and take over management of the receipt of taxes, fees and direct contact with citizens. At that stage, the investigation dismantled the network of money changers and crypto operators used to launder money and arrested a former councilor from Santo André.

The entire investigation began in August 2024, with Operation Decurio. After the seizure of 30 kilos of drugs in Itaquaquecetuba, investigators extracted data from the cell phone of the wife of one of the faction's leaders. The information from the device led to the identification and arrest of leaders of the so-called "Final Tuning" and the discovery of fintech, which turned over around R$8 billion.

It was also in the first phase that initial evidence of the organization's political arm emerged, with the identification of councilor campaigns sponsored by the faction and the involvement of commissioned civil servants in the state's city halls.