Denise Frossard Loschi (

Carangola Carangola is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion of Zona da Mata. It is a university town, a main urban hub, and a commercial and industrial region. See also * List of municipalities in Minas ...

, October 6, 1950) is a judge and politician from Brazil. She studied law and served as a magistrate in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. She has been a law professor at the

Getúlio Vargas Foundation Getúlio may refer to: * Getulio Agostini (1943-1990), Venezuelan botanist * Getulio Alviani (1939-2018), Italian painter * Getúlio Côrtes (born 1938), Brazilian singer * Getúlio (footballer, 1947-2008), Getúlio Pedro da Cruz, Brazilian footbal ...

. When she retired she started working for

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

. She was the trial judge who on May 14, 1993, convicted 14 notorious racketeers who control the lucrative Jogo do Bicho (the “animal game” – an illegal but popular numbers gamble) in

.Last Samba for Brazil's Powerful Lottery Lords?
Los Angeles Times, May 25, 1993Contraventores já foram condenados há 14 anos
O Globo online, April 13, 2007 The so-called ''bicheiros'' were a notorious source of corruption of police officers, politicians, part of the media and even social organisations such as the

samba school A samba school ( pt, Escola de samba) is a dancing, marching, and drumming (Samba Enredo) club. They practice and often perform in a huge square-Compound (enclosure), compounds ("quadras de samba") and are devoted to practicing and exhibiting sam ...

s, that organise Rio's world-famous

Carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

parades, a huge source of tourist income to both the city and the state). Frossard sentenced them to six years' imprisonment. The sentence recognized the existence of a mafia-type organization in Brazil for the first time.Frossard, Denise
"Women in Organized Crime in Brazil
, in Fiandaca, Giovanni (ed.). ''Women and the Mafia''. Springer, 2007. Editorial pages of Brazilian newspapers praised Frossard's courage to take on the illegal lottery bosses.For Crime Lords, Rio Samba A Bit More Somber
Chicago Tribune, February 13, 1994 "The animal game is a deeply embedded cultural phenomenon with a certain romantic aura, and thus hard to eradicate," according to Frossard. "But it is also a quintessentially Brazilian way of laundering money and contributes greatly to the problem of impunity in this country."
by Larry Rohter, The New York Times, June 7, 2007 Judge Frossard was subjected to pressures from both the political establishment and the Judiciary itself and her life has been threatened. She has been the target of assassination attempts that she attributes to hired guns in the pay of game kingpins. A former military policeman allegedly received an offer of US$270,000 (R$1 million) to kill Frossard, but was arrested before he could commit the murder.
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US State Department, March 31, 2003 After the judgment in 1993, she spent a year in the United States, returning to head the Brazilian branches of

and the Women's Bank. In 2002, she was elected as federal representative for the Socialist People's Party (Partido Popular Socialista, PPS) to the Brazilian Congress. She won the election in the

State of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of ...

with a landslide, winning more votes in that election than any of her colleagues. Her term ended in 2006, after which she ran for governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro. With 32% of the valid votes, she lost in the run-off from

Sérgio Cabral Filho Sérgio de Oliveira Cabral Santos Filho (born January 27, 1963) is a Brazilian politician and a journalist He was elected governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro in the 2006 Brazilian general election and sworn into office on January 1, 2007. ...

, the candidate for the

Brazilian Democratic Movement Party The Brazilian Democratic Movement ( pt, Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, MDB) is a Brazilian political party. It is considered a " big tent party" and it is one of the parties with the greatest representation throughout the national territory, ...

(Partido do Movimento Democrático Brasileiro, PMDB), who won 68% of the votes.Denise Frossard atribui derrota à aliança entre Garotinho e Alckmin
Agência Brasil, October 29, 2006 In 2005 she received the Medalha Tiradentes by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro, for relevant services offered to the State of Rio de Janeiro.Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro
November 29, 2005

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frossard, Denise 1950 births Living people Brazilian women judges 20th-century Brazilian judges Brazilian women in politics Jogo do Bicho Cidadania politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil) from Rio de Janeiro (state) 20th-century women judges