Police warn of infighting over succession to Brazil’s most powerful militia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The death of Wellington da Silva Braga, aka Ecko, pointed out as the head of the largest militia in the country and the target of a Civil Police operation, has generated a dispute over control of the paramilitary group.

Sources connected to the MP-RJ (Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor’s Office) and the Civil Police disclose that a rival group with over one hundred men armed with rifles surrounded the west zone of Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, June 13, the day after the militiaman’s death.

Audios recordings, also forwarded to the authorities, show the panic of those who witnessed the scene.

“Pica, bro. They invaded Manguariba [Ecko’s stronghold in Paciência, in Rio’s North Zone]. Crazy people from the other militia invaded it. They put more than 30 cars, son. All bico [slang referring to large caliber weapons],” said a man.

“I’m not leaving today. I’m staying here in Manguariba. There are many men here. They locked us inside the pizzeria, closed everything. I’m nervous, I’m shaking,” reported a woman, in another recording.

According to the MP-RJ and the Civil Police, a group of criminals led by Danilo Dias Lima, known as Tandera, is trying to take control of the militia. Disque Denúncia, a private non-profit organization that collects anonymous information from the population, increased the reward amount for information leading to his whereabouts to R$5,000 (US$1,000).

However, there is resistance from two of Ecko’s brothers in the deceased militiaman’s line of succession: Luis Antônio da Silva Braga, aka Zinho, and Wallace da Silva Braga, aka Batata, arrested last month.

The prospect of the group’s leadership being taken over by ex-public security agents, who lost control of the militia after the arrest of Toni Angelo Souza de Aguiar in 2013, is not ruled out. The ex-state police officer was transferred in March from the Mossoró federal penitentiary to the Gericinó Complex in Bangu, Rio’s west zone.

“Tandera’s group is in the west zone in an attempt to dominate the territory. But no one yet knows what is going to happen. The only certainty is that there will much bloodshed,” said prosecutor Elisa Ramos Pittaro Neves.

According to prosecutor Neves, Ecko himself took control of the paramilitary group after killing ex-police officers in the line of succession of the country’s largest militia. “He [Ecko] took power by killing many people. It’s a lot of power and a lot of money involved,” she adds.

The group’s expansion into the Baixada Fluminense suburbs to the north of the city of Rio  alone represents an income of over than R$10 million from crimes such as homicide, loan sharking, money laundering and extortion, according to the MP-RJ.

Based on data collected by the hotline, the service’s coordinator Zeca Borges does not rule out a fragmentation of the paramilitary group after Ecko’s death.

“There is even the possibility of former police officers returning to the top of the militia. But a dismantling can also occur, because there are several criminal groups part of the same militia,” he said.

Ecko’s former ally, Tandera was responsible for the militia’s expansion into the municipalities of Baixada Fluminense, which began about four years ago. But he broke off with Ecko in December last year, according to investigations.

UOL disclosed the group’s war over power in an action conducted by Tandera at the behest of Ecko in June 2019. Detail: in the onslaught, there were also about 100 heavily armed militiamen, a practice repeated in the west zone of Rio after the death of the former militia boss killed last Saturday, June 12.

Led by Tandera, two years ago the militia expelled Comando Vermelho (CV) traffickers from 8 communities in Nova Iguaçu along the BR-465, the old Rio-São Paulo highway, an 18 km stretch connecting Rio de Janeiro to the municipalities of Baixada Fluminense.

With adapted cars and rifles projected outward, the militiamen surprised the local drug traffickers, according to the MP-RJ’s complaint, with the help of telephone interceptions authorized by the Justice Department, which recorded the desperation of criminals in the region.

According to information passed on to investigators, Tandera may be behind the disappearance of 3 militiamen 6 months ago. The missing men represented a group from Queimados reported to the MP-RJ, accused of charging for the authorization of asphalt sanitation works since 2018.

This gang is also said to be demanding a R$300,000 bribe per month to authorize the operation of an electric power supply company in the municipalities of Seropédica and Itaguaí, Tandera’s stronghold. According to investigations, the same militia would also be demanding payments to a commercial representative in charge of delivering soft drinks to stores.

Tandera is pointed out by the Civil Police as the person responsible for the disappearance of 3 militia members, who allegedly collected R$1.7 million from extortions in 2019 in the municipality of Queimados (RJ), at the peak of the group’s expansion to Baixada Fluminense.

According to investigations, Tandera would have ordered their deaths after a meeting to charge them for the money collected and for ordering rifles without his authorization.

The bodies were never found. But the Civil Police believes that the corpses may be in one of the militia’s clandestine cemeteries in the region’s rural areas.