Brazilian TV Host Ordered Killings, Police Say

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CNN) -- Brazilian authorities say drug dealers and other hoodlums were dying to get on Wallace Souza's TV program. Literally.

Souza, a state legislator and former host of a police TV show called "Canal Livre," also was a drug trafficker, officials say. And to get rid of the competition -- and drive up ratings -- he would order that criminal rivals be killed and then would have his camera crews arrive first on the scene, authorities say.

"In truth, they went as far as creating acts," said Thomas Augusto Vasconcelos, intelligence secretary for Amazonas state. "It's been determined that the crimes were committed in order to generate news for the program."

Souza has denied the accusations, and his lawyer has criticized key testimony and questioned the investigation.

"In all the investigations carried out by the public minister and the police, up to now they have not presented any technical evidence of any type," attorney Francisco Balieiro said on Brazilian TV.

State officials say Souza faces charges of forming a criminal gang, corrupting testimony, drug trafficking and illegal possession of firearms. He remains free because of legislative immunity, officials say.

State attorney general Otavio Gomes told the Agencia Folha news outlet that Souza's gang has been linked to six slayings. But prosecutor Pedro Bezerra told the news outlet he could not bring murder charges against Souza for lack of concrete evidence.

The Amazonas State Justice Tribunal, which held a hearing on the accusations, said the criminal complaint was based on testimony by former Souza associate Moacir Jorge da Costa. After Jorge's arrest, he told revealed details of the gang's reputed activities, including slayings.

Souza's lawyer, Balieiro, said police and public ministry officials did not have standing to investigate the TV show host because he is a legislator. Furthermore, Balieiro said, Jorge's testimony was obtained in an irregular manner.

According to the state public minister, who brought the charges against Souza, the legislator's son, Raphael, belonged to the criminal gang. Raphael Souza has been convicted of homicide, drug trafficking and illegal gun possession.

Fifteen people connected with Souza, among them police officers and a chief, have been arrested.

Souza, a former police officer who left the force more than 20 years ago after being implicated in a fuel theft case, received the most votes of any candidate in the last election in Amazonas state. His TV show went off the air last year after the investigation into his possible criminal involvement intensified.

He lives in the jungle city of Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, a region of Brazil known for its prevalent lawlessness. Souza would often rail on his lunchtime show about the killings and other atrocities being committed in the area.

Torture A Hallmark of Drug Kidnappings

"Jaime Andrade was just stepping out of the shower when the men came to snatch him.

The kidnappers took him to a house in a quiet middle-class neighborhood and brutally tortured him for three days. Andrade's case is one of more than 1,000 kidnappings that police in Phoenix, Arizona, have investigated since 2006. The city has become the nation's kidnapping capital as Mexican drug violence seeps into the United States."

[CNN Article]

Gangs Honor Dead With Caps, Crosses

"A baseball cap dangles from a cement cross. The slogan on the hat reads "power, money, respect." On the brim there's the logo of the classic gangster movie "Scarface." Etched on the gravestone, the words: "Jesus Guadalupe Parra. 12 December 1986 to 25 August 2008." "Lupito," as friends and family knew him, went down in a hail of bullets alongside three others in a gunfight with a rival drug gang in Mexico. "

[Rest of article HERE]

Nine Bodies Found In Mexico

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (CNN) -- Nine bodies have been found in a common grave in the desert south of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, according to Chihuahua state prosecutor's spokeswoman Daniela Gonzalez.

Investigators have yet to determine the identities of the seven men and two women found in the grave, Gonzalez said. They have not released information on how they were killed or how long they have been there.

Juarez, which is across the border from El Paso, Texas, has become one of the major battlegrounds as drug cartels fight both each other and Mexican authorities. The conflict has made violence increasingly common in Juarez, Tijuana and other Mexican border towns.

Extreme violence among warring drug cartels and the Mexican government has long plagued Juarez and the state of Chihuahua, but the situation has been getting worse.

Last month, the city's chief of police was obliged to quit after threats from organized crime to kill a policeman every day that he remained on the job.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Consulate in Juarez specifically warned Americans to avoid an area southeast of the city.

"There has been a dramatic increase in drug related violence in the Guadalupe Bravo area and there is no indication that the situation will improve in the near future," the consulate said on its Web site.

[see: 5 human heads discovered in ice chests in central Mexico]

WHACKED!!

5 human heads discovered in ice chests in central Mexico

(CNN) -- Five human heads were found in ice chests on Tuesday under a ficus tree in the central Mexican state of Jalisco, police said.


The grisly find appeared to be the latest indication of drug cartels fighting for supremacy in battles that have left thousands dead.

Police in the municipality of Ixtlahuacan del Rio were informed of the discovery at 2 a.m., the prosecutor's office said in a written statement.
Each head was found in a separate ice chest beside a road leading to the city of Guadalajara, police said.

The tops of the ice chests were inscribed with messages, among them, one that threatened further violence.
"Like these, I am going to finish everyone," says one. "I'm going after you, 'Goyo.'"
Another said, "Here we go, 'Goyo,' idiot."

The victims' eyes were taped shut and the heads had been severed only a few hours before they were discovered, the statement said.
The victims -- all of them men -- were estimated at 30 to 45 years of age.

No bullet wounds were visible and there was no indication the men had been tortured, although experts would need to study the bodies to be sure, it added.
Municipal police said one of the heads appeared to belong to someone known in the community.
Jalisco is near the state of Sinaloa, where the Sinaloa cartel is based.