Rafael Soares's phone rang and his blood froze. "Ronnie Lessa Googled you," a federal police contact on the other end of the line told the Brazilian reporter as he stood in his newsroom one morning in 2019.
Any Rio crime journalist worth their salt knew that being investigated by such a man was extremely bad news. Lessa was reputedly one of the city's most in-demand contract killers, a battle-hardened police combatant turned assassin.
Some called Lessa "Perneta" - one leg-because of a bomb attack in which he lost his left limb. A former colleague called him "a killing machine".
"I freaked out... my hands went cold," Soares said of his source's telephone warning. "I didn't tell anyone. Not my mum, not my wife. No one."
But despite this, over the next three years the now 33-year-old reporter decided that Lessa's story - and that of the underworld he inhabited - still desperately needed to be told. Soares embarked on a quest to understand the hitman and to fathom how Rio's police force had managed to churn out highly trained rogue cops who were being recruited by organised crime.
The journalist's findings can be seen in Milicianos, a new book that is part of a growing body of work investigating Rio's mafia-infected underbelly.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 10, 2024-Ausgabe von The Guardian Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 10, 2024-Ausgabe von The Guardian Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Easter Island Monoliths Face Up To New Climate Extremes
The Ahu Tahai moai, on the east side of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is an impressive 4.5 metres high.
From Bad To Worse How Early Election Backfired On PM
Two days after Rishi Sunak stood in Downing Street to announce an early general election, only for the heavens to open, Tory MPs were still scratching their heads in disbelief.
Secrets Of The World's Most Trusting Country
In Danish society, people feel safe enough to leave their babies and bikes out on the street. How did they get to this point?
Ukraine Can Recover With Bolder Support - But Now It's On The Ropes
The mood in Ukraine is sombre these days.
Stark Warning ICJ Ruling Is Third Blow In A Week For Israel As Isolation Grows
The provisional measures issued by the international court of justice (ICJ) ordering an immediate halt to Israel's military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah represent the starkest warning yet to Israel that its offensive risks creating conditions that could be framed as potentially genocidal.
Why I Took To Cannes' Red Carpet To Call Out Sexual Violence
The 77th Cannes film festival reached its climax on Saturday when all eyes were on the Croisette, as the winners of the prestigious Palme d'Or were announced.
From mains to a sweet treat, how to serve up a thrill from the grill
If you don't have a kamado-style barbecue, what interesting things can you make on a simple grill?
Points of origin
Two takes on Covid's early days-one aimed at academics, the other a 'documentary novel' that mixes fiction and fact to powerful effect
Life after lava
Icelanders are famously hardy, but after a series of volcanic eruptions set houses alight and opened up 20-metre-deep fissures in Grindavík, the fishing town near the famous Blue Lagoon, residents are asking if they'll ever be allowed back home
How Church of England's slavery ties went to top of hierarchy
An archbishop of Canterbury in the 18th century approved payments for the purchase of enslaved people for two sugar plantations in Barbados, documents seen by the Observer have revealed.
