Mobsters shut down Rio neighborhood after cops kill kingpin
Rio de Janeiro – Merchants in a middle class area of Rio de Janeiro closed their doors on Monday after Brazil's largest criminal organization imposed a curfew in response to the police killing of a drug trafficker known as "Fat Family."
Every shop and business along a 5-kilometer (3-mile) stretch in the Catete neighborhood pulled down their protective metal shutters at mid-day, heeding the orders of Comando Vermelho, an outfit with an estimated 50,000 members nationwide.
Comando Vermelho decreed the curfew shortly after police announced that officers had killed 28-year-old Nicolas Labre Pereira de Jesus, a.k.a. Fat Family, who controlled the drug trade in a hillside slum adjacent to Catete.
"The person who can, commands. The person who has sense, obeys," a cabbie told EFE against the backdrop of the deserted street.
Shops, beauty salons, lottery offices, cafes and hardware stores all complied with the order, as did a driving school on Catete Street that posted a sign reading: "Closed for reasons of force majeure. We will be open tomorrow."
One area resident told EFE she had never before seen anything like Monday's curfew in the nearly 40 years she has lived in the neighborhood.
Rio slums dominated by criminal gangs are accustomed to periods of enforced mourning following the deaths of drug kingpins, but it's an unfamiliar experience for Catete, home to Brazil's presidential palace from 1897-1960.
The fatal shooting of Fat Family, which followed three months of intense pursuit by police, took place in São Gonçalo, nearly 40 kilometers (25 miles) from downtown Rio.
Fat Family was initially arrested June 13 after being wounded in a shootout with police.
Taken to Rio's Souza Aguiar municipal hospital for treatment, Fat Family escaped during an assault by more than 20 masked men armed with grenades and assault rifles.
Another patient at the hospital died in the attack, while a paramedic and an off-duty police officer were wounded.
Embarrassed by the drug lord's escape, security forces embarked on a frantic search that led in turn to 11 more deaths before cops caught up with the fugitive.
Rio de Janeiro – Merchants in a middle class area of Rio de Janeiro closed their doors on Monday after Brazil's largest criminal organization imposed a curfew in response to the police killing of a drug trafficker known as "Fat Family."
Every shop and business along a 5-kilometer (3-mile) stretch in the Catete neighborhood pulled down their protective metal shutters at mid-day, heeding the orders of Comando Vermelho, an outfit with an estimated 50,000 members nationwide.
Comando Vermelho decreed the curfew shortly after police announced that officers had killed 28-year-old Nicolas Labre Pereira de Jesus, a.k.a. Fat Family, who controlled the drug trade in a hillside slum adjacent to Catete.
"The person who can, commands. The person who has sense, obeys," a cabbie told EFE against the backdrop of the deserted street.
Shops, beauty salons, lottery offices, cafes and hardware stores all complied with the order, as did a driving school on Catete Street that posted a sign reading: "Closed for reasons of force majeure. We will be open tomorrow."
One area resident told EFE she had never before seen anything like Monday's curfew in the nearly 40 years she has lived in the neighborhood.
Rio slums dominated by criminal gangs are accustomed to periods of enforced mourning following the deaths of drug kingpins, but it's an unfamiliar experience for Catete, home to Brazil's presidential palace from 1897-1960.
The fatal shooting of Fat Family, which followed three months of intense pursuit by police, took place in São Gonçalo, nearly 40 kilometers (25 miles) from downtown Rio.
Fat Family was initially arrested June 13 after being wounded in a shootout with police.
Taken to Rio's Souza Aguiar municipal hospital for treatment, Fat Family escaped during an assault by more than 20 masked men armed with grenades and assault rifles.
Another patient at the hospital died in the attack, while a paramedic and an off-duty police officer were wounded.
Embarrassed by the drug lord's escape, security forces embarked on a frantic search that led in turn to 11 more deaths before cops caught up with the fugitive.
