Police kill the leader of the largest armed militia in a Rio de Janeiro favela

The man appointed leader of the largest armed militia in Rio de Janeiro, Rui Paulo Gonçalves Estevan, 33, was killed on the night of Friday, June 7, in an alleged clash with forces from elite groups of the Civil Police (judicial branch). ) Brazilian city. The alleged clash took place in the Rodo favela in the Santa Cruz region, west of the capital Rio de Janeiro.

According to the only existing police version, Pipito, as he was known, and two guards were identified and found in a house in this favela, quickly surrounded by agents of the special forces, including the police department for the suppression of organized crime. Criminal Acts and Undersecretary of Intelligence. Always according to the official version, Pipito and his guards received an arrest warrant, but reacted to a bullet and were shot by agents.

After a shootout that left numerous marks in the area from military weapons used by elite agents, Pipito and his bodyguards were taken in the trunk of a police van to the Rocha Farias hospital. When they arrived, the two guards, although very wounded, were alive and had undergone surgery, but the alleged leader of the dangerous paramilitary group had already been pulled from the van dead, with gunshot wounds all over his body, mainly in the chest area. .

Rui Paulo Goncalves Estevan took over leadership of the city’s largest militia after former leader Luiz Antonio da Silva Braga, known as Zinho, surrendered to authorities on Christmas Eve last year in a surprise and still unclear move. Pipito, Zinho’s right-hand man, took over leadership of the group, but encountered resistance from other members of the criminal organization and began a bloody power dispute with them.

Since the beginning of this year, several of the group’s leaders have been killed on one side or another, with some killings taking place in public places full of people, such as a beach kiosk or a school door. where one of the victims went to pick up his young son, who also died as a result of the attack. The militia to which Pipito belonged, like other rival factions, disputes large areas of the city of Rio de Janeiro with drug gangs, and in the regions it controls, forces residents by force of arms to pay fees for supposed security and buy only water. , prepare gas and Internet packages in the criminal organization’s own stores at prices much higher than market prices, and use only the police’s own transport, consisting of underground vans.