Tim Lopes - Traffickers Involved

Traffickers Involved

The nine traffickers who were sought by police, and eventually stood trial and put behind bars were: Elias Pereira da Silva, (“Elias Maluco”); André da Cruz Barbosa, (“André Capeta”); Cláudio Orlando do Nascimento, (“Ratinho”); Maurício de Lima Matias, (“Boizinho”); Claudino dos Santos Coelho, (“Xuxa”); Elizeu Felício de Souza, (“Zeu”); Ângelo da Silva, (“Primo”); Reinaldo Amaral de Jesus, (“Cadê”); and Fernando Sátyro da Silva, (“Frei”). (They are ordered in terms of the degree of their culpability in Lopes' torture and murder — with Elias Maluco being the gang leader, and André Capeta being his right-hand man, etc.)

After an intensive, and highly-publicized 3 ½ month man-hunt, Elias Maluco was captured by police in the Favela da Grota on September 19, 2002. On May 25, 2005 he was given a prison sentence of 28½ years.

Of the group of traffickers involved who were subsequently pursued, three were killed by police, and others were sentenced to prison. After their incarceration, anger was expressed through Rio’s media when two of the traffickers were paroled on work release at which point they fled. Both have since been recaptured.

Among those convicted of Lopes' murder, Claudino dos Santos Coelho, "Xuxa," and Cláudio Orlando do Nascimento, "Ratinho," (Little Rat) were each sentenced to 23 years and 6 months incarceration.

Ratinho took an active part in torturing Lopes and was strongly in favor of killing Lopes when they conducted a mock trial. “Ratinho” had been one of the traffickers featured in the "Drug Fair" report from the previous year, which had resulted in a period of police crackdowns (In 2011 he was charged with assault while in prison after throwing boiling water on his girlfriend during a conjugal visit). Claudino dos Santos Coelho (referred to in the media by both nicknames, "Russão", and "Xuxa") escaped from the Bangu penitentiary in Rio's Zona Oeste (West Zone) in February 2013, along with 30 other prisoners by tunneling to a sewer.

Elizeu Felício de Souza, "Zeu", was responsible for setting fire to Lopes' body. In 2007 he was paroled, at which point he fled to the Complexo do Alemão, which was an area outside of police interference at that time. Zeu was later secretly filmed working as a drug trafficker in the Complexo do Alemão. It was only in 2010 when military and police units invaded the network of favelas in the Complexo that they discovered "Zeu" hiding in house in a part of the Complexo known as Coqueiro. He was taken into custody – whose arrest was widely publicized in Rio's media and applauded.

Ângelo Ferreira da Silva, "Primo" who was sentenced to nine years. After he had completed a sixth of his total sentence he was let out of prison on work release, at which point he fled. He was recaptured by police in the Rio suburb of Santa Cruz in May 2010.

Other traffickers implicated in Lopes' torture and murder were André da Cruz Barbosa, o "André Capeta" (André the Devil) who cut Lopes' legs and ordered others to burn the body; Flávio Reginaldo dos Santos, "Buda"; e Maurício de Lima Matias, "Boizinho", who were all killed in confrontations with police.