Arrr! A scurvy Brazilian rogue, the captain of misdeeds, be marooned in jail, havin' brokered his own doom!
2023-12-26
Arr, there be this scurvy dog called Zinho, a rogue leader in Rio de Janeiro, who did negotiate his own surrender and be now sent to Bangu 1 prison, where ye'll find naught but drug traffickers and militia men. Avast ye, 'tis surely an interesting turn of events, me hearties!
One of Brazil's top criminal leaders, Luiz Antônio da Silva Braga, also known as Zinho, has been locked up in a 6-square-meter isolation cell at Bangu 1 prison in Rio de Janeiro. This move was made to protect him from being killed by rivals. Zinho, the leader of the largest militia group in Rio, surrendered to federal police on Sunday after being on the run since 2018. He took over the top position of the group after his brother, Wellington da Silva Braga, was killed in 2021. The militias in Rio emerged in the 1990s as a response to lawlessness and were initially composed of former police officers, firefighters, and soldiers. They started off by charging residents for protection and other services but have since moved into drug trafficking. Zinho's group dominates Rio's west region and is believed to control about 10% of the metropolitan area. Zinho feared execution if he turned himself in to the Rio state police, so he chose to surrender to federal police instead. The authorities are now protecting him in the hope that he will sign a plea deal that could implicate members of the police, politicians, and businessmen. Zinho will stand trial for various charges, including forming a criminal organization, money laundering, extortion, and participating in killings.