THIS PROGRAM IS BASED ON ACTUAL EVENTS.
CHARACTERS AND EVENTS WERE ADAPTED FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT.
A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES
♪ You invited me to this pagode ♪
♪ And warned me "There's no poor people in here" ♪
♪ You even asked me to tread lightly ♪
♪ Because I've got some color I'm a bit dark ♪
♪ Here we can really find The cream of the crop ♪
♪ Doctors, gentlemen, even magnates ♪
♪ With all the drinking and the talking ♪
♪ I came to a conclusion ♪
♪ If you cry out, "Stop thief!" ♪
♪ There won't be a soul left, brother ♪
♪ If you cry out, "Stop thief!" ♪
♪ There won't be a soul left ♪
♪ If you cry out, "Stop thief!" ♪
♪ There won't be a soul left, brother ♪
♪ If you cry out, "Stop thief!" ♪
♪ There won't be a soul left ♪
[woman talks on TV]
[Jorge sighs]
Huh, lousy weather.
[Guilhome] Huh?
Lousy weather condition on my route tomorrow.
I'll have to wake up earlier.
Where's your guest?
Right? He hasn't turned up yet.
Isn't that a good thing?
Probably not.
Well...
[Jorge] I think it's good. Oh!
-[Guilhome] What is it? Oh, no... -[Jorge] Damn.
[Guilhome] It's really busted, huh?
That's all right. I got it from a street vendor.
Street vendor?
[they laugh]
Come on, I have to be up in five hours.
Aren't you coming?
[Guilhome inhales deeply, exhales]
I'm worried about Ruffo.
He's crazy, but he always checks in.
[Ruffo] They say bad news travels fast, like a horse.
That is true, but if I were riding a horse
those fuckers wouldn't have stopped me.
[parking brake is pulled]
-Good morning. -Good morning.
License and registration, please.
[Ruffo] Horse, my ass.
The real bad news was Guilhome's car.
[officer] Hmm.
The vehicle registration hasn't been paid.
Well, it's because...
this car actually belongs to a friend. He's also a Fed.
Right, but Feds also have to register their cars.
Sure.
What are we going to do about this? You can't drive this vehicle.
I'll tell you what. If you want, I can help you out.
You'd have a tougher time with my partner. He's stricter.
[officer] I'll talk to him.
[footsteps moving away]
[Ruffo sighs]
[Ruffo] Hey, friend, you know what? I really need to go to Paraguay.
Sure, but you're not driving this car anywhere.
I'll have to get it towed.
Then do it.
If there's actually a tow truck.
I used to be a cop. I know how it is.
[officer 1] He's out of his mind.
-Where's he going? -To Paraguay.
On foot?
FRIENDSHIP BRIDGE 4 KM
[Ruffo] The Friendship Bridge, our link to Paraguay.
The friendly nation decimated by the Brazilian army in the war of 1864.
At that time, Paraguay was the most developed country in Latin America.
But Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay,
not satisfied with merely winning the war,
they also executed all men over 14 years old.
Fucking cowardice.
[Verena] The Friendship Bridge?
Yes.
I wonder if he found out Ibrahim was in Paraguay and went after him?
Why did he leave your car behind?
-I didn't pay the overdue registration. -Jesus, Guilhome.
Guilhome...
Paraguay. Why Paraguay?
[Verena] Humph.
Ibrahim's on the run, he's broke...
Maybe he went back to his roots.
Smuggling goods across the bridge, who knows?
-That's where he started, wasn't it? -Yes.
[Paraguayan folk music plays]
[hubbub of people and cars]
[Ruffo] Huh. The Paraguayan Guarania...
One of the most obnoxious music styles in the world.
Second only to the cacophony that is American heavy metal.
Paraguay is fascinating. The mecca of peddlers,
the Garden of Eden of smugglers.
They wouldn't be playing Ravel in the country of cheap fuckery.
-[in Spanish] Hey, buddy. -Hello.
-How's everything? -Good.
These cigarettes.
How do I get a hold of a larger quantity?
How much larger? I have plenty here. A hundred boxes?
No, no. A lot more.
A large quantity.
Hmm... You could try the market over there.
[Ruffo] But we have Villa-Lobos.
We are the seventh largest economy in the world.
Our fuckery is first grade and much more extensive than theirs.
[Ruffo] Who's the distributor who sells you all these cigarettes?
Who's asking?
Hmm... A friend.
Uh... Never mind. Thank you.
[Ruffo] I followed the trail of the cigarettes, which were their chief export.
We killed them with bullets
and now they were killing us with lung cancer.
That's fair. Friendly nation.
And how are we supposed to catch Ibrahim now in Paraguay?
Rigo, the Department of Justice, and Foreign Affairs.
Two years before we set foot in Paraguay.
[Vander inhales deeply, exhales]
What if Ruffo pulls this off?
How would we explain it to Internal Affairs?
A deputy retired due to mental health issues
takes a colleague's car with overdue registration,
sneaks into Paraguay and nabs a criminal with his bare hands? No way.
I'm going after him.
No, you aren't. You aren't. We're done bailing out Ruffo.
Ruffo always bails us out, doesn't he?
[Ruffo] That was our guy.
The top distributor of the cigarette brand that Ibrahim was buying.
[Ruffo] Do you know the old police saying "follow the money"?
You see, in Paraguay, it's "follow the cigarette."
[Ruffo] From the street vendor to the distributor.
From the distributor to the warehouse.
From the warehouse to the owner of the merchandise
and, who knows, maybe to his clients.
Ibrahim was never one for retail.
If he was buying cigarettes...
he was buying it in bulk, straight from the source.
Ibrahim should be studied by NASA.
Elementary, my dear Watson.
The guy who got him the cigarettes was bound to live in a whorehouse.
A Paraguayan whorehouse...
WELCOME
...which is quite redundant.
[electronic dance music plays]
You know this guy?
[in Spanish] How about a drink with an old friend?
You're no friend of mine.
Maybe your dad's.
It's been 20 years since I last came here.
My old man died 20 years ago.
[Ruffo] Ah.
That's a damn shame.
To your father.
My old man was a son of a bitch.
What brought you here 20 years ago?
Uh... A lot of things, really,
but I used to be in the cigarette business.
I fly planes.
I moved cigarettes from way up there.
And what are you looking for?
The thing is... I've been dying to get back into the cigarette trade.
[woman and man groan loudly]
[she groans loudly]
[man moans, satisfied]
[Ibrahim groans]
[knocking on door]
[they both breathe heavily]
[knocking on door]
[Ibrahim groans]
[Pablo] Queen, there's this guy at the bar
looking to smuggle cigarettes across the border.
If you butt in while I fuck
every time someone comes asking about smuggling cigarettes,
what will become of my life, Pablito?
Ten thousand cases a week!
He's looking to buy product and have someone cross it over too.
[laughing]
Does he want his dick sucked too?
[she laughs]
I'm sorry. I thought it might interest you.
I don't do freight, Pablo.
[Ibrahim] But I do.
Does he have the money on him?
Don't know. I was talking to him at the bar. What do you say?
-Have him wait there for me. -[Pablo] Got it.
Who gave you permission to get dressed? Eh?
[machine beeps]
[loud electronic music plays]
[Ruffo] If the paper shuffler was there, Ibrahim had to be as well.
Now it was a matter of exiting stage left and setting up a stakeout.
Where is this guy?
[Pablo] Disappeared.
He left his drink unfinished. At least he paid for it.
What was he like?
Brazilian.
Says he used to smuggle cigs 20 years ago.
An airplane pilot.
Hey, but that's you.
My doppelganger. A twin brother.
But mamita only made one of me. I'm an original.
Very well. No deal.
What's the matter, papi? Lost your freight?
[Ibrahim laughs]
[Ruffo] I had to bring Ibrahim back to Verena... alive,
but I was on my own this time.
Without a solid plan, there'd be no one left to tell the tale.
The good news: I knew where to find Ibrahim.
The bad news:
by now, he already knew I was after him.
[Guilhome hums]
[ringing tone]
-[Jorge] Hello. -Hi, there.
-[Jorge] What's up? -[Guilhome] Did you arrive safely?
It was terrible, but I'm a hell of a pilot.
[Guilhome] Lots of turbulence, huh?
-Want anything from Paraguay? -[Jorge] You're going to Paraguay?
What would I want from Paraguay, Guilhome?
-See you Saturday, then. -[Jorge] Kisses.
Kisses. Bye.
[Guilhome hums]
[Guilhome] I'm going on a trip. You watch the house, ma'am.
[Ruffo] Brazil and Paraguay have always cooperated.
Paraguay makes use of Brazilian shores and highways
in order to import junk from all over the world.
Guns, ammunition, and whisky made in China.
The cooperation agreement is simple:
we receive, but do not inspect, the containers that are sent their way.
The smuggled goods arrive in Santos, then hauled across the Friendship Bridge
and end up in a warehouse on our friendly nation's soil.
And from there, they're sent back to Brazil tax-free.
Quite a joint endeavor.
[Ruffo] I guess that's what they call Mercosur.
[indistinct talk]
[camera shutter clicks]
INCOMING CALL RUFFO
-[Ruffo] Verena? Hello? -Ruffo? Ruffo!
[Ruffo] Yeah, Verena, I'm bringing you Ibrahim.
[Verena] You can't do this alone.
I'll hand over the Lebanese prick to you at the border.
[Verena] I don't need Ibrahim. I need you, in one piece, away from that place.
You do need Ibrahim. You'll thank me later.
Don't be stupid! Have you counted how many goons he has around him?
[Ruffo] I'll figure out his deal and let you know.
You bring me Ibrahim, and how am I supposed to explain this shit?
Go to Foz, Verena.
Go to Foz now, go on!
[Verena] Don't be stupid. Fucking listen to me!
Ruffo, this isn't going to work!
-I'll tell you the meeting place. -Listen.
Guilhome is going after you.
Guilhome?
Why? This isn't an authorized operation.
I'm here, no one needed to cross the border.
You weren't supposed to cross!
Where is Guilhome, Verena?
[Verena] I don't know. Tell me where he can meet you.
I'm at Luna Hotel.
[Paraguayan folk music plays]
[hubbub of people and cars]
[Ibrahim] Which side controls the river's waters?
Paraguay on this side, and Brazil on that side.
Where's the halfway point?
No one knows.
If someone drowns out there, did they die in Brazil or Paraguay?
What's the difference?
Life belongs to the living.
The fear of dying is worse than death itself, isn't it?
Afraid of dying, Ibra?
Dying is...
an end to the fear of dying.
[in Spanish] Thanks.
Some hot city you got here!
[Ruffo] Don't you pay your registration, you bum?
Interpol's on your ass to get you to pay up.
-[Guilhome laughs] -What are you doing here?
I'm escorting someone called Ruffo back to Brazil. Know him?
I do. You wasted a trip.
-You're really crazy, aren't you? -Just me?
Look, a five "tsar" hotel.
[Guilhome laughs] "International."
[laughing]
[Ruffo yawns]
This isn't a hotel. This is a hideout, right?
[Ruffo yawns]
For a stakeout, it will do just fine.
The Paraguayan police won't be assisting us.
Neither will the navy.
And no one in Brazil can even know we're here.
Isn't that great?
Now...
why would a landlocked country even have a navy?
To protect the smuggled goods that cross the river?
If smuggling is the country's top economic activity...
protecting the economy is protecting national security.
Isn't that what the military is for?
Ibrahim sleeps in a whorehouse.
[Ruffo] The owner of the whorehouse also runs the warehouse.
What's the plan?
Was this the guy you saw the other day? The Brazilian.
Yes.
[Ibrahim] I told you.
-It's got to be love. -[Ibrahim laughs]
If he sleeps with her, she won't sell him out, get it?
[Guilhome] Yes...
[Guilhome] Isn't it better if I sleep on the couch?
No way. Feel free to crash, man.
Or, maybe, we can get another bedroom with a separate bed.
I haven't got the money for that.
No one will reimburse an operation that doesn't even exist.
Have you seen him again?
No.
Find him.
This guy's nothing but trouble.
OK.
-Turn off that light. -No. Leave it on.
I like to sleep with the lights on.
[Guilhome sighs]
[Guilhome groans]
[Ruffo] Now, Paraguay is the country with the bumpiest roads in the world.
It's bad because it fucks up a vehicle's suspension
and a driver's back.
But it's good in that the highways weren't built by Miller & Bretch
with financing from the crooks at the PMDB, PSDB, and PT political parties.
[indistinct talk]
-Hey there. -Hi.
-How much for each? -3,000 guaranis.
I'd like two, please. These are ready, right?
One, two, three... There you go. Thank you.
Thank you.
Mom! There's someone here to see you.
Go ahead.
Perfect.
[sighs] Here you go. Thanks.
-Bye. -Bye.
[in Spanish] Good morning, kid.
[Ruffo] Morning.
Wake up with the chickens, did you?
Yeah. I didn't want to wake you.
I brought us a snack. You eat anything yet?
No.
Here...
Chipas. Paraguayan chipas.
And did you bring me heartburn pills to go along with it?
[Ruffo] I like the glasses!
Blue. Check it out!
[Ruffo] Fancy.
[Ruffo] I like them.
[Guilhome clears throat]
They're for Jorge.
You should have bought two or three pairs. They're dirt cheap here.
Just one pair.
I don't know if he'll like them.
Well... We have a plan.
The plan is to go back home.
No. You go back home.
I'm not leaving without Ibrahim.
You understand my language?
[Ruffo] River coordinates.
Latitude: 27 degrees,
32 minutes,
52 seconds south.
Longitude: 56 degrees,
35 minutes, 17 seconds west.
Got it? They bring the goods across the river.
The Brazilian guard changes shifts in the morning.
They make the crossing during the shift change.
Everything's ready.
[Ruffo] Ibrahim smuggles the goods at six, straight to his riverbank in Foz.
Wait for me there. Guilhome and I will bring Ibrahim over.
Don't do anything, just wait for me on the riverbank.
What am I going to say?
We'll say he gave himself up because of his wife and sister-in-law.
And you both agreed on this version? What if he decides to tell the truth?
[Ruffo] What's he going to do?
Say he came to Paraguay to smuggle cigarettes? Verena...
[Ruffo] It will all work out. Let's do this. Bye.
[Vander sighs]
[Verena sighs]
[Guilhome] Don't you fear for her?
For Verena? Why?
You're sending her to a clandestine port that's being run by criminals, that's all.
Verena is a badass, man.
Verena is a badass.
-[Verena sighs] -I'm coming with you.
-I can't let you go. -I'm going.
No, I'm your boss.
In here.
On Ibrahim's riverbank in Foz do Iguaçu, no one is anyone's boss, Verena.
[indistinct talk]
[Ruffo] In Brazil, on the other hand, there's a whole lot of smooth roads,
built by Miller & Bretch. Unveiled by some corrupt politician
and financed by you and me.
FOZ DO IGUAÇU 30 KM
-[Guilhome] It's summer, isn't it? -[Ruffo] Yeah, summer.
[Guilhome] And then there is winter...
-[whip strikes him] -[groans] Go easy, Queen!
[electronic tango music plays]
[cheering]
[Ibrahim] Ah! Ah. Ah.
[Guilhome] Zero!
[Guilhome groans in pain, then pleasure]
-[Ruffo laughs] -It's a burrito!
-[Guilhome] Hey! -[knocking]
-[Ruffo] I have it here, I got it. -OK.
[Guilhome sighs]
[Guilhome sings]
-[Ruffo] I like this one. -[Guilhome sings]
[engine revs]
[Ruffo] While Ibrahim knew I was after him,
I also knew he was coming after me.
That was the story of our lives.
It always had been and it always will be.
Where are the Brazilians?
They are on the terrace.
-You never saw me here. -OK.
[Pablo cocks his gun]
[fan whirs]
Fucking headache.
What a dumb idea to drink whisky at a time like this.
You're an old man. I'm in shape.
-I have the liver of 12-year-old boy. -Yeah, right.
This old man here is a Mercosur Pinball Champion, you see?
-You want a trophy for that now? -[Guilhome laughs]
I... I knew about Jorge, you know?
-But you didn't say anything, huh? -Because it doesn't matter.
You're my brother, man.
Brotherhood, damn it. Brotherhood till the end.
[Guilhome laughs]
Did you really buy the whole water damage thing?
[laughing] Son of a bitch!
[van's engine starts]
[Vander] This way.
Looks like this is the place, see? 26 south, 52 west.
[Vander] We're here.
Verena has arrived.
She's in position. Let's go.
Wait.
Did you test that gun?
Guns are the one thing in Paraguay you can trust.
They're totally reliable.
I was a jerk to you, wasn't I?
This whole office relationship thing has already not worked for me before.
But you weren't Cláudio's boss, were you?
[Verena] That has nothing to do with it.
Yes... Being the boss complicates things. It's very complicated for me.
[Vander inhales deeply]
You're worried about what happened between us, aren't you?
Look where it got us.
Where has it got us?
I've made my decision.
It's up to you now.
[Ruffo] Hold it right there!
[Guilhome, quietly] Quiet. Keep quiet!
[Guilhome] Nice and quiet.
To the boat! Go!
Fucking Paraguay? You have no imagination!
You came after me, Ruffo? Nothing better to do, huh?
[gunshot]
[Guilhome] Fuck!
[gunshots]
-[gunshots] -[shouting]
[Ruffo] Let's go!
[woman] Stop. Fucking stop!
[boat engine starts]
[Guilhome groans]
[engine revs loudly]
[Ruffo] Yes, I could have dumped his body beneath the Friendship Bridge.
His life would have ended right where it began.
[Guilhome groans]
[groaning]
[Juliano groans]
[groaning]
[gunshot]
[gunshots]
[Verena gasps]
[Ruffo breathes heavily]
[Verena sobs]
[Ruffo's gun drops]
[Ruffo sobs]
[Ruffo screams]
[sobbing]
Take Ibrahim to the interrogation room.
But, before that, make sure to walk him past the other cells.
They already know, Verena.
[crying] But I want them to see him.
[door creaks open]
[door slams shut]
Your henchmen killed Guilhome.
Ruffo killed Juliano.
Ruffo was never there.
You're behind the murder of a federal police officer.
That will be tricky to prove.
Just as it will be tricky to prove that Ruffo got into Paraguay.
[Ibrahim inhales deeply]
Ruffo is always a figment of my imagination, isn't he?
Guilhome's body, on the other hand...
Guilhome was killed in an engagement with Paraguayan criminals.
-[Guilhome] That's one version. -Call it what you like.
That's what happened.
[inhales deeply]
The young lady has developed certain skills.
-You've rubbed off on me. -[Ibrahim laughs]
I'm flattered.
But, when they find out the tricks the young lady's been using, I think...
you'll finally be finished, right?
And there'll be no one left to waste their time talking to you, Ibrahim.
And I thought I was the salesman here.
Are we negotiating?
I want Ricardo Bretch's head.
[Ibrahim laughs]
I'll give you the financial engineering behind Bretch's kickbacks
and confirm your version of our little adventure in Paraguay.
What's that worth to you?
-What are you doing here? -No, what are you doing?
-[Ruffo] What are you doing, Verena? -We have to go on.
[Ruffo] What are you doing? Guilhome is dead, damn it!
Ibrahim is not leaving here, Ibrahim stays!
Ibrahim stays, damn it!
[Ruffo] Guilhome...
[Ruffo clears throat] was...
a great man, a great...
A great friend.
When we lose someone...
as big as Guilhome, just like that...
[Ruffo] I don't know, it seems like...
everything's put into perspective, you know?
[Guilhome sighs]
I don't think I can live without you.
IN MEMORY OF MOISÉS SOARES
BASED ON THE BOOK "LAVA JATO - O JUIZ SERGIO MORO E OS BASTIDORES
DA OPERAÇÃO QUE ABALOU O BRASIL" BY VLADIMIR NETTO
Subtitle translation by Gabriel Schumann, Jonathan Hemming