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Bad cop ‘milicias’ emerge as new lords of Rio slums FEATURE 11/25/2010

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Bad cop ‘milicias’ emerge as new lords of Rio slums

FEATURE

11/25/2010
RIO DE JANEIRO — “From now on I want two dollars per gas canister. If you don’t pay...!” — the crackling voice on the police intercept picked up here did not need to complete the sentence.

But this time the threat was not from the drug gangs that have long plagued Rio De Janeiro’s slums, but one of several squads of corrupt police, known as “milicias,” that are tightening their grip over much of the city.

The milicias, made up largely of off-duty firefighters, police and prison guards, have emerged as a new mafia and seized control of more than 100 of the city’s 250 largest shantytowns, according to a report published this month by Paulo Storani, a former military police special forces commander.

By way of comparison, the Brazilian city’s largest drug cartel, the Commando Vermelho, controls just 55, it said.

The changing face of organized crime in the seaside city is one of many challenges facing security forces ahead of its hosting of the 2016 Olympics.

“The milicias exist in Rio and they have not ceased to advance since 2000,” said Marcelo Freixo, a state government deputy from Rio who chaired a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the groups in 2008..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101125com7.html

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