Tim Lopes - Torture

Torture

The traffickers drove Lopes along a winding back dirt road leading away from the Vila Cruzeiro favela (which is situated in Penha) and into the Complexo do Alemão network of favelas, a distance of about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) on windy roads through hilly terrain (this also being the same route used by groups of fleeing criminals brandishing assault rifles when military police units and the Brazilian military invaded Vila Cruzeiro during the 2010 Rio de Janeiro Security Crisis). Upon arriving at the Favela da Grota, (which was the headquarters of the criminal faction who controlled the Complexo) Tim Lopes was met by Elias Maluco. Once they pulled Lopes out of the car trunk he was recognized by one of the traffickers, Cláudio Orlando do Nascimento, known by the nickname Ratinho "little rat". (Lopes had filmed Ratinho on the street in the Grota the previous year while Ratinho was cleaning an automatic rifle; which was aired as part of the "Feirão das Drogas" report that got so much attention). Also present were other traffickers named Xuxa and Zeu.

Elias Maluco and other traffickers then transported Tim Lopes to a nearby hill within the Complexo called Pedra do Sapo (rock of the toad). The sides of the hill are densely packed with the type of brick shacks typical of favelas, but the geography at the top of the hill features a desolate, grassy plateau with scattered small trees, and a rudimentary soccer field.

The traffickers tied Lopes to a tree. Because this area had been essentially abandoned by Rio's government for several years, and was considered outside the control of law enforcement, as well as the protections of the legal justice system, (a paradigm termed poder paralelo, parallel power), the traffickers leveraged this reality to conduct a tribunal, acting as judge and jury with Elias Maluco as arbiter. The traffickers knew that the impunity of the present moment would only add to Tim Lopes' terror. Ratinho was convinced that this was the same "Tim Lopes" that did the television report in 2001, resulting in his arrest and interference with the gang's drug profits. For this he insisted that Lopes had to die. Lopes pleaded for his life, but he was told that he would die. One of the traffickers who was present, Frei, later told detectives that there were more than twenty people present at the scene, nine of which participated in Lopes' murder.

They proceeded to burn Lopes' eyes with a cigarette. In a "macabre ritual" of violence, using a samurai or a ninja type sword, Elias Maluco proceeded to cut off Tim Lopes' hands, arms, and legs while Lopes was still alive. The other traffickers such as André Capeta and Ratinho also participated in the torture. Police were later told that there was blood on several of the traffickers that were gathered around. Lopes was placed within several tires, covered in diesel gasoline, and set on fire. This process, which had become institutionalized among traffickers within Rio's most violent favelas at the time, was referred to as "microonda" (microwave).