I recently interviewed Marcelo Piloto, head of the Comando Vermelho drug-trafficking criminal faction in the Mandela favela in Northern Rio de Janeiro.
In the interview, he asked me to announce that he and many others want to give themselves in and turn over their weapons and territory in return for amnesty. This was going to be part of a larger story coming out later. But when I found out the police plan to invade the favela he runs this Sunday, we decided to publish that part of the interview at the LA Times.
He said that “he and many other drug traffickers would be eager to take advantage of a voluntary demobilization program similar to that available to leftist guerrillas in Colombia.
“I’d do whatever it takes to get some kind of amnesty,” the heavily armed leader said in an interview on his home turf recently. “Any way I can pay my debt to society.”
The rest of the story will come out soon enough, but those are the bits we thought we should get out now.
He is currently wanted and the photo above is up on the Rio police Wanted site. I don’t know where he is.
Click here to continue reading “As police move in on Rio’s favelas, a drug lord seeks amnesty”
