The high-profile arrest this week of Rio drug lord Rogério da Silva – known as Rogério 157 – was not celebrated in Rocinha, the favela he once fought to dominate.
Triumphant police officers posed with Da Silva for selfies after he was caught in an operation involving 3,000 troops and police. But in Rocinha the mood was of uncertainty, not celebration.
Many expressed concern that more violence would rock a community that has barely known peace since being taken over by security forces in 2011 in a “pacification” programme which has since fallen apart.
“Everyone is apprehensive,” said a small business owner, one of a number of residents who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. “Everybody is waiting for something and nobody knows what will come.”
Da Silva – who was found hiding under a duvet on Wednesday morning – was wanted for homicide, extortion and drug trafficking, and a $15,000 reward had been offered for his arrest. Police say that he was responsible for a gang war that exploded in the favela earlier this year when he broke ranks with his former boss.
