Pubdate: Tue, 11 Jun 2002
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2002 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390

POLICE: JOURNALIST MURDERED BY DRUG LORD

Brazil: An undercover TV journalist reporting on crime and drugs in 
Rio de Janeiro's shantytowns was tortured and put to death with a 
sword by a drug lord who runs his territory like a medieval fiefdom, 
police said Monday.

Tim Lopes of Globo television was captured June 2 as he tried to 
infiltrate a dance party in the Vila Cruzeiro shantytown where gangs 
sold drugs and staged illicit sex shows.

Lopes, 50, was taken to a nearby shantytown, Favela da Grota, where 
he was shot in the feet, brutally beaten and killed with a 
Samurai-style sword by drug baron Elas Pereira da Silva, known as 
Elas Maluco, or Mad Elas, police said. Gang members then burned 
Lopes' body.

Police confirmed details of the killing from two members of Silva's 
gang who were arrested Sunday.
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