Twelve dead and helicopter downed as Rio de Janeiro drug gangs go to war

[Bozita]

Source: Guardian (UK), The Observer

Twelve dead and helicopter downed as Rio de Janeiro drug gangs go to war
Host city of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics shaken by violence as warlords battle for control of the cocaine trade
Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 17 October 2009 21.48 BST
Article history

Two weeks after Rio de Janeiro celebrated winning the 2016 Olympic Games, the Brazilian city was tonight bracing itself for a further night of violence after an intense gun battle erupted in one of the city's favelas and a police helicopter was shot down, killing two officers.

The violence, intense even by Rio's standards, began in the Morro dos Macacos, a hillside area in northern Rio. The shanty town, controlled by the Amigos dos Amigos (Friends of Friends) drug faction, one of three heavily-armed cocaine gangs that control many of Rio's 1,000-odd slums, was reportedly invaded in the early hours of Saturday morning by members of a rival gang, the Red Command. Police say traffickers from the Red Command were attempting to seize control of the local cocaine trade.

Deafening volleys of automatic gunfire were captured on amateur video, filmed from apartment blocks surrounding the slum. One local newspaper declared it a "War in Rio" on its website.

"We were terrified," Cristina Soares, a 17-year-old resident, told the Rio tabloid newspaper Extra as she fled the area yesterday. "The children were so scared they wanted to leave the house in the middle of all the shooting. Later on things are going to get even worse."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/17/rio-favela-violence-helicopter

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Found a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuBjUyImwoE

[hurricanesfan27]

1. and they want to hold the Olympics here?

What a joke.

[aquart]

8. Gonna be a lotta dead drug dealers.

China cleaned up all sorts of things just for the Olympics.

This is Brazil where the police murdered stray children on the steps of a cathedral.

<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/violent-death-claims-survivors-of-brazils-child-massacres-699359.html>

[atreides1]

14. True

Also a lot of dead cops and civilians who get caught in the cross fire.

[bemildred]

2. Alcohol prohibition worked the same way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine%27s_Day_massacre

[bluestateguy]

3. But the crime rate in Chicago is too high

:eyes:

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Who's pesos are most prevalent ?

[Bozita]

5. Video from what looks to me like a Rio newscast ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaX1pdyuIEc

[teach1st]

6. The Dark Side of Rio

ThiazVids, on Youtube, has some compelling video about the dark side of life in Rio. Caution for violence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZW9QlBTIuY


ThiazVids' blog: http://www.thiazvids.blogspot.com/

[dysfunctional press]

7. i guess that the marathon won't be going thru that neighborhood....

or a lot of others.

maybe they can just do laps in front of copacabana beach.

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. Perhaps Brazil will do well in the 2016 Olympics skeet shooting competition

[glinda]

10. will be good business for drug dealers at the Olympics

[winyanstaz]

11. If they legalized those drugs...the drug dealers would lose...

and the violence would end.

[WriteDown]

13. I'm sure they'd just give up their lucrative business....

and have a fiesta!

[winyanstaz]

18. If drugs were legalized..there would be no money in it for them to be made...

I am sure they would not be happy campers..but then again..who cares if they have a fiesta or not?

[WriteDown]

19. Like there is no illegal cigarette trade or like there is no illegal

prescription drug trade or like there are no bootleg CD's and DVD's being sold?

[winyanstaz]

20. there are no international gang wars going on over a few black market cigarettes...

Its the violence that needs to end. And yes..it will still take most of the profits out of drug deals for criminals....and give it to our governments in taxes...perhaps even lowering the load of taxes on our own backs.
It will also save a fortune in costs to house and feed prisoners as well as end the fear of getting treatment for drug abuse without being penalized.

[WriteDown]

21. Why is there no violence over illegal cigarette sales then?

And why won't drug dealers simply kill legal drug sellers if that becomes the case?

[winyanstaz]

22. there is not enough money it it...

and they would have to kill a whole lot of people if that happened...
Thats like saying...no matter what drug dealers will run around murdering people...and that is simply not the case.
They kill to protect their turf and control the drugs.
If the drugs were not illegal and people could get them anywhere...it would be useless to try to murder all the legal sellers.
The same thing happened when we outlawed booze.
After booze was made legal again...you didnt see the criminal running around murdering all the dealers and liquor stores ...because it was useless..

[bemildred]

23. Yep the profit motive, if there is enough profit, can do amazing things. nt

[Blue_Tires]

12. wow..even by Rio standards, that fight was over the top...

[Regret My New Name]

15. Was this move in part of the clean up plan to prep for the 2016 Olympics?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

16. Why hasn't Obama done anything about this problem?

This is not the change I voted for!!!

[Mz Pip]

17. And the Obamahaters cheered

when Rio got the Olympics over Chicago. Idiots.

Chicago has its problems but nothing compared to Rio.

Still it was a nice gesture to give the nod to a South American country. Maybe this will provide some motivation for Rio to address its problems.