RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Police said they raided a beachfront mansion Sunday morning, successfully capturing a leader of one of Brazil’s most prolific criminal organizations.
André de Oliveira Macedo, known as “Andre do rap,” is one of the chief traffickers of the criminal organization PCC. Authorities arrested him in a gated community located in the city of Angra dos Reis near Rio de Janeiro. A police spokesperson said that they conducted the operation with the support of agents from the United States and Italy.
Angra dos Reis has long been a tropical escape for some of Brazil’s richest. President Jair Bolsonaro has been known to vacation in the area and has talked of turning the region into “Brazil’s Cancun.”
Macedo is wanted on charges of international drug trafficking and is said to be the principal facilitator of narcotics shipments to Europe by the organization. According to authorities, Macedo was one of the men responsible for negotiating with the Italian mafia to create a partnership between the two criminal organizations.
Along with arresting Macedo, police seized a large yacht evaluated as worth R$ 6 million ($1.5 million) as well as a helicopter estimated at R$ 7 million ($1.75 million.)
Macedo was recently elevated to one of the principal positions in the organization after a previous chief, Rogério Jeremias de Simone, was assassinated by the PCC when leaders discovered that he had been stealing money from the organization.
Police arrested two other unnamed men at the mansion on outstanding warrants.
The PCC is considered to be one of Brazil’s largest criminal organizations and is estimated to have around 30,000 members in 22 of the 27 states in Brazil. The organization was born in the São Paulo prison system but has become one of the principle players in Brazilian and international organized crime.
Macedo is the third leading member of the PCC to be arrested in recent months, with the capture coming shortly after a bloody internal power struggle between the organization’s kingpins.