Why so many executions inSão Paulo's periphery?
Author: Bruno Paes Manso | Publicado em 2000
Two days before Christmas 1999, three young women, said by the police to be involved in drug traffic, were found dead at 4:30 a.m. in Jardim Herculano, a favela (squatter settlement) at the southern edge of São Paulo. They were found in a garbage dump called Vera Cruz, often used by killers to dispose of corpses. All three women – Elena de Oliveira Franca (33), Fabiana dos Reis Bras (19) and Renata Aparecida Camargo (18) – were nude and had deep bruises on their breasts. The police concluded that they had been beaten with a car jack and then killed execution-style with a gunshot to the back of the head. They had been seized by three hooded men in front of Elena’s house at 3 a.m. and were forced into a car. Relatives said the girls were threatened the week before and that the killers showed up at their house on four occasions looking for them. Two cars – a gray Fiat Palio and blue Ford Fiesta - were found less than a kilometer away from the garbage dump, both with false license plates. The Palio’s doors were covered with blood stains. Police said that one of the killers was identified, but no arrests were made.