Last Sunday, Brazil woke up with the news that two veteran politicians well known in the institutions and underworld of Rio de Janeiro and a former head of the Civil Police of the wonderful city had been arrested as masterminds of the murder of councilor Marielle. Franco, in 2019. The arrest of the duo came as little surprise; the commissioner's was a shock. The police believe that these arrests are the key missing piece to solve the puzzle of the most notorious political assassination in recent years. The police summary, based on the confession of the guy who pulled the trigger, a military policeman named Ronnie Lessa, allows us to reconstruct how the murder was planned, how it was carried out and the maneuvers to hinder the investigations and guarantee impunity for those involved.
The reason
It is a well-stirred Rio cocktail of real estate and criminal interests of local mafias, political conflict and police corruption. Marielle Franco, 38, of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL), came into the crosshairs of the Brazão brothers, federal deputy João Francisco, nicknamed Chiquinho, 62, and Domingos, 59, counselor of the Court of Accounts of Rio, when they perceived her as a threat to their corrupt and criminal interests. They are political chiefs of a neighborhood called Jacarepaguá.
Chiquinho, then a veteran councilor, became enraged in 2018 when Franco voted against a bill to regularize illegal constructions.
Political veterans decide to take action.
The plan
The Brazão brothers hire Lessa, a 53-year-old military police officer who was one of the best shooters in the force and now works as a hitman. The politicians also hired the then homicide chief of the Civil Police, Rival Barbosa, 54, with the task of helping them plan the crime and guaranteeing their subsequent immunity.
Domingos Brazão is one of the many names of suspects that emerge at the beginning of the investigation.
The confessed author of the murder decides to reveal the plot after five years in prison. He says the Brazãos demand that he not kill her entering or leaving the Municipal Chamber to prevent the murder from being considered a crime with political connotations and passing into the hands of the Federal Police. It is in the interest of all those involved that he continue at the local level, in Commissioner Barbosa's homicide division.
Lessa, who lost a leg in a reckoning, tests the submachine gun with which she will eliminate the councilor in a ravine. As payment, the hitman is offered some reclassified land.
The Brazão and Barnosa, arrested on Sunday, proclaim their innocence.
It is no surprise that politicians and police in Rio de Janeiro are involved in illicit activities of all kinds. Already the first samba that was recorded in history, Telephone hair (by telephone), portrayed those corruptions in 1916. It is kept in the National Library.
Infiltration
The Brazãos recruit a militiaman to infiltrate the PSOL and keep a close eye on the councilor while they develop the plan. In Brazil, a militiaman is a paramilitary, an agent of the security forces who goes over to the other side. Some hang up their uniform first, others at the same time. The State pays them to protect citizens while they extort or kill for organized crime.
Marielle stands out for her profile. A black councilor raised in one of the large favelas, Maré, mother of a teenager, bisexual, police abuse monitor and defender of LGBT rights, is a revolution in the City Council, dominated by white men. Among the councilors, Chiquinho Brazão and Carlos Bolsonaro, son of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro.
The execution
The night of March 14, 2018. The councilor, who has just participated in a debate, is driving through the center of Rio in a car. At the wheel, the driver Anderson Torres (those close to him have always done their best so that he would not be forgotten). Behind, with Franco, her press chief.
Lessa is lying in wait. She is in another car driven by a colleague from the military police, Élcio Queiroz. When they head into a curve, they stand to the side. The hitman opens fire. Sitting in the back seat, he fires 13 bullets. Four reach Franco, who dies instantly, like his driver. Miraculously, the journalist survives.
From the first moment it is clear that it is not just another murder, but an execution carried out by professionals. In those first, precious hours, sabotage is underway. The security cameras, which infest the streets of Brazil, do not work.
On the eve of the crime, Commissioner Barbosa, in the Brazão's salary, was promoted. He leaves homicides to assume the leadership of the Rio Civil Police.
The day after
Unknown outside of Rio, the victim is an elected left-wing politician. And, in an environment in which the extreme right advances and gangs of corrupt police extend their dominance in Rio, the crime jumps to the national press. The commotion is great.
Those closest to Marielle, immersed in shock and infinite pain, are received by Commissioner Barbosa. “She promised my husband and me that solving the murder was a matter of honor,” the councilor's mother said this week. The commissioner received them, his other daughter, Anielle Franco, now Minister of Racial Equality; the widow, Mónica Benicio, an architect later elected councilor, and the victim's political godfather. Those close to him take the police officer at his word, they trust him.
The news of his arrest on Sunday fell like a nuclear bomb among those close to him. “No one deserves to die like she was murdered. He has the coolness to plan it, approve the plan and sit down with my mother for coffee and tell her that she is going to solve the case. “What world do we live in?” cried the minister.
The photo of the commissioner the day after, sitting on a sofa with the victim's parents, is one of the most reproduced since the arrest.
Red herrings
The commissioner proclaimed solemnly. “The Civil Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro has the competence and credibility to provide the necessary response to this crime.” The doubts were logical. He is the fourth head of the force in Rio to go to jail in recent years. It is one of the states with the worst crime solving rate. At first, Barbosa also raised suspicions that an investigator put into writing in a confidential report. That's where the thing was.
A month after the murder, the corrupt commissioner plants a false witness, another military police officer. In his testimony, he points to a councilman and a militia member. Some media publish the story that is revealed to be false thanks to an internal affairs investigation. The witness confesses that he lied out of revenge. Images of the case, mobile phones of suspects disappear…
The River that tourists see walking along the beaches of Copacabana or enjoying the carnival has a rotten B side where long-standing mafia families converge, a popular illegal lottery called bug gamethe disputes between drug trafficking gangs and corrupt police gangs… The violence derived from these conflicts over lucrative illicit businesses and territory is daily.
First anniversary
Marielle stands as a unifying symbol of a left that has lost the elections to a far-right deputy who built his career in Rio de Janeiro, Jair Bolsonaro, a retired military officer.
Two days before the anniversary, first arrests, the alleged perpetrators. Lessa, accused of shooting; and his driver. The clue to reach them comes through an anonymous complaint.
Although attention does not wane, the case suffers infinite ups and downs. Among the many police officers and prosecutors who have come and gone in these six years, the two prosecutors who imprison the perpetrators stand out. In 2021, both resigned after denouncing that they suffered external interference.
The case is an extremely sensitive matter.
Small fish
During these six years, the police have arrested other suspects of involvement in the murder. A fire sergeant is jailed for lending the used car, hiding the weapons and helping them get rid of them. They threw them into the sea. The owner of the workshop where the crime car was dismantled is also in prison.
Change of Government in Brasilia
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeats Bolsonaro, assumes the presidency and includes the councilor's sister in his cabinet. The Minister of Justice, a former judge, announced as soon as he took office that he was going to intensify the actions of the Federal Police in the case. The Government promises results for the sixth anniversary. The day arrives and there is no news. They arrive ten days later.
Fat fish
With the confession of the perpetrator, the Federal Police finally knows who ordered her death. Fearful of leaks, she takes all kinds of precautions. She decides to arrest the trio one Sunday morning. Shortly after dawn, the two politicians with long and murky careers and the commissioner who gained the trust of those close to them are arrested at their homes.
All of those who for 2,002 days have asked themselves tirelessly — who killed Marielle? Who ordered to kill her? And why?—they feel a certain relief.
powerful chieftains
And for the small print of the murder, those details that reflect the immense power of the political bosses in Brazil, no matter how dirty their resume may be. Domingos Brazão has been suspended for six years from his life position at the Rio Audit Court for a corruption case. But he punctually receives a monthly salary of 39,000 reais (more than 7,000 euros) and has just won a lawsuit on account of the 420 days of vacation that he obviously has not been able to enjoy. They have paid him 107,000 euros more.
Meanwhile, in Brasilia, Congress debates what to do with his brother Chiquinho's seat, now that the Brazãos have been sent to maximum security prisons. The president of the Chamber of Deputies says that “it is a difficult, sensitive case for all of us.” His lordships are terrified that he is setting a precedent. Each parliamentarian has received a copy of the 479 pages of the police report.
This week, parliamentarian Brazão, expelled from his party, entered by video call into the session in which his colleagues were debating the future of his seat. From prison, he told them that he had a good relationship with Marielle when they met at City Hall and that they only had a minor disagreement. He asked them to keep her record for him.
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