Pubdate: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 Source: Associated Press (Wire) Section: International News Copyright: 2001 Associated Press Author: Peter Muello, Associated Press Writer KILLINGS RISE AS RIO DE JANEIRO'S DRUG WAR ESCALATES RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - An escalating drug war has left 17 people dead in the past three days, including four men shot to death Monday in a slum near the capital, police said. The four were believed to have links to drug traffickers in the slum known as Juca's Hole, said police in Niteroi, across Guanabara Bay from Rio de Janeiro. On Sunday, police found 13 bodies in a parked minivan in the Vila da Penha district on Rio's poor north side. The eight men and five women were shot and stabbed to death in what police said was a vendetta between rival drug gangs. Police believe the victims died late Saturday or early Sunday. Police Chief Reginaldo Guilherme da Silva of Rio's 38th precinct said the killings were carried out by a gang known as the "Third Command," which had recently lost control of the drug trade at the Quitungo Hill slum to its archrival, the "Red Command." "Most of the victims were involved with trafficking," da Silva said. "They were at a barbecue to commemorate the taking of Quitungo Hill by the Red Command." The two gangs and others, notably the "Friends of Friends," are warring for control of the lucrative cocaine and marijuana trade that thrives in hundreds of Rio shantytowns, known as favelas. Armed with sophisticated automatic weapons smuggled into Brazil - notably the AR-15 assault rifle - traffickers have turned the favelas into virtual fortresses, terrorizing residents with deadly firefights. On Monday, more than 100 police agents were deployed to the Quitungo favela to try to avert more bloodshed. The most recent massacres were especially embarrassing for Rio, which is holding an international meeting of police chiefs to discuss ways to combat crime. As the meeting opened Sunday, Rio de Janeiro state Gov. Anthony Garotinho said 70 percent of some 3,000 people arrested every month have ties to the drug trade. He called on the federal government to come up with a plan to curb the entry of illegal guns and drugs. Josias Quintal, the state's public security secretary, said police efforts were hopeless without a federal plan to deal with the problem at its source - - creating jobs and alternatives to easy drug money. "This massacre is the result" of the ineffective approach, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth