Former Drug Lord Gunned Down in Brazil

[emad]

Thursday September 23, 2004 5:46 PM
The Guardian

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - Jose Carlos dos Reis Encina, once Brazil's most notorious drug lords, was gunned down on a major avenue Thursday, police said.

Encina, known universally as Escadinha, or ``stepladder,'' was shot by two gunmen on motorcycles who cut off the car he was driving and opened fire with automatic weapons, police said.

Escadinha gained national notoriety in 1985 when he escaped from the now-dismantled high-security Isla Grande prison in a helicopter that landed in the prison yard.

Escadinha, who was on work release from the Bangu penitentiary, was killed as he headed to his job at a taxi company in downtown Rio.
He was shot on Avenida Brasil, where two top officials of the Bangu penitentiary were gunned down in recent months. Another man, who also worked at the taxi company and was in the car with Escadinha, also was killed. In 2001, Escadinha said he had compiled a dossier naming politically powerful people involved in drug trafficking that would be released if he were killed.

Many of the city's most notorious drug lords are held at the Bangu penitentiary, and many are believed to continue running their drug operations from behind bars.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4509814,00.html